page_title: Great Seattle Fire
section_title: Early Seattle
hierarchical_section_title: Great Seattle Fire / Early Seattle
caption_attribution_description: English: Shows the Occidental Hotel on right, Korn block on left, Yesler-Leary Building, center. Original photographer unknown. The following day this part of the city was destroyed by fire. Subjects (LCTGM): Streets--Hotels--Washington (State)--Seattle; Business districts--Washington (State)--Seattle Subjects (LCSH): Yesler Way (Seattle, Wash.)&#160;; Washington (State)--Seattle&#160;; Occidental Hotel (Seattle, Wash.)&#160;; Yesler-Leary Building (Seattle, Wash.)
context_page_description: The Great Seattle Fire was a fire that destroyed the entire central business district of Seattle, Washington on June 6, 1889. The conflagration lasted for less than a day, burning through the afternoon and into the night, and during the same summer as the Great Spokane Fire and the Great Ellensburg Fire. Seattle quickly rebuilt using brick buildings that sat 20 feet above the original street level. Its population swelled during reconstruction, becoming the largest city in the newly-admitted state of Washington.
context_section_description: In the fall of 1851, the Denny Party arrived at Alki Point in what is now the state of Washington.  After spending a miserable winter on the western shores of Elliott Bay, the party relocated to the eastern shores and established the settlement that would become Seattle.  Early Seattle was dominated by the logging industry.  The combination of a safe bay and an abundance of coniferous trees made Seattle the perfect location for shipping lumber to California.  In 1852, Henry Yesler began construction of the first steam-powered mill in the Pacific Northwest. Because of the easy access to lumber, nearly every building was constructed of the affordable, but combustible timber.  Additionally, because the area was at or below sea level, the fledgling town was a frequent victim of massive floods, requiring buildings to be built on wooden stilts.  The town also used hollowed out scrap logs propped up on wooden braces as sewer and water pipes, increasing the combustible loading.
caption: Looking west on Mill Street (today's Yesler Way) across Front Street (today's First Avenue) June 5, 1889, one day before this district burned. Korn block on left; Yesler-Leary Building, center; Occidental Hotel, right.
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