Pier 1, Seattle Explained

Pier 1, Seattle, Washington
Locale:Seattle, Washington
Type:Shipping pier and warehouse
Owner:Northern Pacific Railway
Length:8401NaN1
Width:1001NaN1

Pier 1 in Seattle, Washington (after May 1, 1944, Pier 50) was an important shipping terminal.

Location

Pier 1 was located at the foot of Washington Street. Pier 1 was immediately to the north of Pier A and immediately to the south of Pier 2.

History

Pier 1 and Pier 2 to its north were built between 1901 and 1904, replacing Yesler's Wharf.[1] According to Paul Dorpat, the first tenant of Pier 1 was the Luckenback/Luckenbach Steamship Co. (he gives both spellings) for their intercoastal service.[2] Alaska Steam Ship Company was there as early as the first decade of the 20th century, when they shared the pier with the Port Angeles-Victoria Line and the Vancouver Line.

In 1917, Pier 1 was owned by the Northern Pacific Railway, and operated bv the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company, the Pacific-Alaska Navigation Co., and the Port Angeles Transportation Co, and was also the headquarters of the port warden. Pier 1 measured 840by, and had a warehouse measuring 840by, with a cargo capacity of 20,000 tons. Twenty (20) railway cars could be loaded on the racks that were on the pier, which was equipped with adjustable slips. In 1917, Pier 1 was equipped with then-modern waiting rooms and offices. The pier was also the headquarters of the port warden. The depth of water at Pier 1 was at low tide.[3]

In the late 1940s, Alaska Steamship Co. moved to Pier 42 and Nippon Yusen Kaisha used this pier until September 17, 1960 as port of call for the Hikawa Maru, the only Japanese passenger ship to survive the WWII. In 1971, the pier was owned and/or operated by Seattle Piers, Inc. and, along with Pier 51, was the proposed site for a World Trade Center,[4] which was ultimately built elsewhere. The pier was torn down early 1980s to expand the Washington State Ferries terminal at Pier 52 (Colman Dock).

References

47.6008°N -122.3364°W

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Context Statement: The Central Waterfront . ((Thomas Street History Services)) . Seattle Department of Neighborhoods . March 15, 2023 . November 2006. Updated January 2007.
  2. Book: Paul Dorpat

    . The Seattle Waterfront: An Illustrated History. Paul Dorpat. Paul Dorpat. 3. 198. 2005. http://www.edge-archive.com/books/SWH/3.pdf. August 2, 2019.

  3. https://books.google.com/books?id=SS8ZAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Port+Angeles%22+Waterhouse&pg=PA24 Beaton, Welford, ed. Frank Waterhouse & Company's Pacific Ports: A Commercial Geography (1917), at pages 27 to 37.
  4. Web site: Seattle Harbor Directory. Seattle Municipal Archives. 1971. 2022-10-18. Map also available as .