Regrading in Seattle

Common card · No. 227124

The topography of central Seattle was radically altered by a series of regrades in the late 19th century and into the 20th. This might have been the largest such alteration of urban terrain at the time. The heart of Seattle is on an isthmus between the city's chief harbor—the saltwater Elliott Bay (an inlet of Puget Sound)—and the fresh water of Lake Washington. Capitol Hill, First Hill, and Beacon Hill collectively constitute a ridge along this isthmus (see Seven hills of Seattle). In addition, at the time the city was founded, the steep Denny Hill stood in the area now known as Belltown or the Denny Regrade. When European settlers first came to Seattle in the early 1850s, the tides of Elliott Bay lapped at the base of Beacon Hill. The original location of the settlement that became Seattle—today's Pioneer Square—was a low-lying island. A series of regrades leveled paths for roads, demolished Denny Hill, and turned much of Jackson Hill (a remnant of which remains along Main Street in the...

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