Seattle, Past to Present

Seattle, Past to Present by Roger Sale

This history of Seattle written nearly 50 years ago seems remarkably current. Many of the concerns and politics seem familiar today. We've gone from Boeing to Microsoft to Amazon. Seattle has continued to grow in part because it was there. It grew during the Yukon gold rush because it was already of sufficient size to support those coming through. It has grown during the tech boom because it already had a tech economy present.

Seattle is less than 200 years old, with the politics different than many east coast cities. Seattle has never had a "boss". Initially everybody lived close together. Rich and poor would intermingle. Then things started to change. Places like the Highlands were built to keep the rich away from the poor. Things moved towards a "separate" culture.  Cars, freeways and suburbs came to exacerbate this situation. Progressive good government advocates came to be replaced by more left-wing socialist tendencies.

Seattle was initially in competition with Tacoma. Seattle did manage to get the University, while Tacoma got the railroad first. However, Seattle was persistent, and got its own railroad. It was also able to keep growing, while Tacoma stagnated.

Seattle has a history of remaking itself. Tide flats were filled in. Hills were leveled. Canals were dug. Some of these changes may not have been so useful. There have also been plans that have never been carried out. There was the Bogue plan which would have created a system of parks and subways and made a great city ahead of its time. Alas, it was defeated at the polls, thanks in part to "anti-elite" writing. (Ironically, the "elite" had not mobilized enough behind it because they did not have enough to gain individually.)  There were also plans for leveling many hills and bulldozing areas to make more freeways. We are probably much better off that these never came to be.

When this was written in 1976, the future of Seattle did not look strong. There were concerns about Seattle not growing and innovating as it should, though there was still potential. It appears that some of the potential has been exercised, though plenty of concerns remain.