At 2:45 p.m. on June 6, 1889, a fire started in the basement of a downtown building that would irrevocably change the history of the entire town, inadvertently helping it to become the city of Seattle we know today. As we hit the 125th Anniversary of this tragic event, let's take a look back at what the world of 1889 Seattle looked like and see what kind of devastation the fire caused. Rudyard Kipling just happened to pass through Seattle shortly after the fire and called it "a horrible black smudge, as though a Hand had come down and rubbed the place smooth. I know now what being wiped out means." What a difference 125 years make...
· Seattle's Great Fire [HistoryLink]
· 125 Years Ago This Month, Seattle Burned Down [SLOG]
· Seattle Municipal Archives
· Full Sepia Tones archive
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