Who would have thought that almost 120 years ago the folks in Seattle would have been among the first Americans to shop in a rudimentary version of what's evolved into the shopping mall? And while it was a byproduct of rebuilding efforts after the Great Seattle Fire, underground sidewalks and shopping were part of the area around Seattle's Pioneer Square for a few years in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Girlawhirl took the tour and found out all the details…
The bustling city of Seattle, situated on Elliot Bay had a great location, but truth be told, the downtown area was prone to flooding. And with the introduction of toilets – which used gravity as part of the ‘processing' system – sewage was becoming a big problem in the lower lying areas of town. But on June 6, 1889, the Great Seattle Fire struck, and the city had bigger problems to deal with.
The stone buildings around Pioneer Square survived the fire, but when rebuilding began, city leaders decided to raise street levels so that the flooding and sewage problems could be corrected. And so stairways were built from the new higher streets down to the old street level, so shoppers could have access to shop entrances that were now underground.
At first, the sidewalks, which were so much lower than the streets were incredibly dangerous, with carriages, people and horses often falling down onto them. Eventually a new set of sidewalks at the higher street level was
built and the lower walkways were fully enclosed and lit by ‘windows' in the sidewalks above. In preparation for the World's Fair in 1909, the Underground was closed off in 1907. But it was a perfect place for illegal activities, which thrived below the streets.