A to Z of Must-Do Travel Experiences – U for ‘Underground City of Seattle’
{ Tags: Seattle Underground, Underground City \ Jun30 }
Underneath downtown Seattle is a network of underground passageways and basements that lead back to the city’s origins in the mid-1800s. At the time all the buildings were made of wood, and as a result, after a huge fire in 1889, much of the city had been damaged.
Instead of rebuilding over the damaged area, the city’s leaders gave instructions to rebuild that part of the city one to two stories above the original street. At first, merchants and pedestrians continued to use the undamaged portions of the old street level to do business, and as a sidewalk. However in 1907, the city condemned the now underground area for fear of pneumonic plague.
The only activities that remained on the old street were that of storage, as well as a host of other illegal activities such as gambling dens, illegal drinking establishments and opium dens. The underground was left to gradually deteriorate.
Today, a small portion of the underground city has been restored, and is accessible to the public on guided tours.