The Columbia Branch of the Seattle Public Library opened December 30, 1915. It was one of eight Seattle library buildings built with money donated by steel magnate and noted library philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. This photo shows the library under construction, with the Rainier Valley streetcar rails running in front of it. Rainier Avenue was at that time a planked road alongside the tracks. It is just visible on the far right of the photo.
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/x08bLibrary045.jpg/image_large': { caption: 'When we went back in 2004 we found the Columbia Library under construction again. An addition was added to the back of the building as part of the city-wide “Libraries For All” bond issue. The branch was closed for 13 months during construction, and reopened in August 2004. In this photo the nearly completed expansion is visible behind the old library building. The streetcar tracks are long gone, and Rainier Avenue has been regraded, reducing the steep slope in front of the library.
Photo by Kerry Zimmerman
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/37th-North-for-upload.jpg/image_large': { caption: 'This view of Columbia City was taken from the foot of Hitt’s Hill, looking north toward the old Columbia School building. It’s a primitive scene: a muddy road veers around an oddly listing tree. Crooked planked sidewalks wind along in front of the wooden houses. The only sign of modernity is the line of utility poles marching down the hill.
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/North-on-37th-053.jpg/image_large': { caption: 'In this updated version of the 1908 scene, the hill has been graded, the streets have been paved, and the utility poles have been moved to the west side of 37th Avenue. The large flat-roofed building on the right was built in 1979 as an expansion of the plastics factory that began operating in the old streetcar barn at Rainier and Hudson in 1955. The old Columbia School was torn down in 1922 after a new one-storey school was built behind it – the new building’s slender white smokestack is visible on the far left.
One feature remains in this altered landscape: the gabled Womach house just beyond the plastics plant, visible in the 1908 photo behind the second utility pole. Even this building has changed: in 2002 it was lifted off its foundation and a lower story was built beneath it.
Photo by Kerry Zimmerman
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/x09aRelief_Line_1932.jpg/image_large': { caption: 'In May of 1932, as the Great Depression deepened, Seattle’s first relief office opened in the Toby Building on Edmunds Street in Columbia City. Over 200 people lined up for assistance. This photograph was taken from the roof of the building across the street.
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/x09bStarbucks_Roof040.jpg/image_large': { caption: 'The relief line is gone, but the rest of the view is much the same. The Toby Building is still there, now home to the Technology Access Foundation. The large peaked house at the far end of Edmonds is still there as well. The house with the arched front porch has been moved over one lot to the east. A two-story brick apartment building has been built in its old location next to the Toby Building.
Photo by Kerry Zimmerman
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/G-BinteriorN.jpg/image_large': { caption: '
Grayson & Brown operated in Columbia City for nearly a hundred years, selling everything from refrigerators to paint thinner. Here the employees stand behind the merchandise tables, in front of the arches that separated the two halves of the store.
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/bookworm.jpg/image_large': { caption: '
Owner Jim Holmes (center) and two customers at Bookworm Exchange, Columbia City\'s used bookstore.
Photo by Joanne Petrina
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/G-B96.68.01_1.jpg/image_large': { caption: '
Owner Arthur Anderson (left) stands with an employee of Grayson & Brown in the furniture section of the store.
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/bullstewart.jpg/image_large': { caption: '
Buzz Anderson, J.B., Flo Stewart, and Bull Stewart at the Stewart\'s gym, Columbia City Fitness. Buzz\'s family operated Grayson & Brown Hardware in the same location for three generations. Note the arches are still visible, though the wall has been filled in.
Photo by Joanne Petrina
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/Loughs-Grocery1937.jpg/image_large': { caption: 'Hillman City began as a stop on the Rainier Valley Streetcar line in the 1890s. The area was platted by the notorious real estate developer and con man C.D. Hillman. Hillman\'s brother Homer lived for a time in the peak-roofed house just behind Lough’s in this photo. Though smaller than Columbia City to the north, Hillman City was a thriving business district with a real estate office, grocery and hardware store, bakery, tile factory, movie theater – even an opera house.
This building housed a cigar factory in the early 1900s. From 1933 to 1953 Lough’s Grocery and Meat Market operated here, as this 1937 photograph shows. Lough’s was a classic neighborhood grocery store, with salespeople who wrapped up your produce for you, a butcher who made his own corned beef and sausages, barrels full of pickles, monthly grocery bills instead of cash sales, and home delivery service. By the 1950s these establishments were being pushed out by supermarkets, which offered lower prices and minimal service.
Puget Sound Regional Archives Photo
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/x07blees_martial037.jpg/image_large': { caption: 'In the 1980s, the Lough’s building became one of Hillman City’s most prominent landmarks, the Hillman City Boxing Gym. Owner Bob Jarvis trained fighters from all over the region, including the young Martin O’Malley, whose mother encouraged him to take up boxing because it was “safer than skateboarding.” Jarvis also promoted women’s boxing matches and a controversial “mixed match” between Margaret MacGregor and Loi Chow in 1999. The building received a facelift in 2002 and is now home to Lee’s Martial Arts Academy, providing instruction in Karate and Tae Kwon Do. Homer Hillman’s house is still there too.
Photo by Kerry Zimmerman
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/Rainier-Beach-Station-for-u.jpg/image_large': { caption: 'Rainier Beach was first settled by the Dunlap family in the 1860s. After the streetcar line reached Rainier Beach in 1891, a small community grew up around the station at 57th Avenue, pictured here. With Lake Washington so close, boats remained an important form of transport.
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/x10aRB_57th_1940.jpg/image_large': { caption: '
Many things have changed in 40 years. The lake was lowered 9 feet in 1916 when the Montlake Cut was completed. Rainier Avenue was put in next to the streetcar rails shortly after that. The rails were torn up in 1937 and replaced by trolley buses on Rainier Avenue.
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/x10bRainer_Beach_Curve_cropped.jpg/image_large': { caption: '
In 2004 the intersection of Rainier and 57th Avenue boasted a drive-thru espresso stand and a Tae Kwon Do studio. Just to the northwest, on land that was once underwater, lies a newly redeveloped shopping center anchored by a Safeway.
Photo by Kerry Zimmerman
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/Colliers-Station.jpg/image_large': { caption: 'Here the Rainier Valley streetcar runs along Lake Washington from Rainier Beach on its way to Renton. In 1936 the streetcar was nearing the end of its time; the last car clattered through Columbia City at 1:45 am on January 1, 1937. A narrow road above the tracks runs past Collier’s service station, the unique cobblestone building built by master bricklayer Earl Collier in 1929.
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/x01bColliers_Station052.jpg/image_large': { caption: 'Collier’s Station and the house behind it are still there, but everything else has changed. The land once occupied by the streetcar tracks has been filled in and developed. These lakefront homes are obscured by the fence on the right. The road in front of Collier’s Station has become Rainier Avenue, an arterial route that takes travelers to Renton, just as the old streetcar did.
Photo by Kerry Zimmerman
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/Lakewood-Marina-for-upload.jpg/image_large': { caption: 'The original Lakewood dock was built around 1900 and served as a terminal for ferries that served Leschi, Kennydale, and other locations around the Lake Washington. Real estate developers also
chartered boats to bring potential home buyers to the newly platted Lakewood neighborhood. By the 1920s the boat-house in the 1928 photo had been built. Lake Washington Boulevard runs along
the bottom right of the photo. Ohlner Island is nearly concealed behind the trees on the left; Seward Park is visible across the water.
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/Lakewood-Marina041.jpg/image_large': { caption: '
In 1962 the old Lakewood boathouse was moved up to 46th Ave, where it is now a residence. The new boathouse was built on Ohlner Island, with the new dock slightly north of the old location. The lakeshore has been filled in to the north of the dock, making Lake Washington Boulevard appear to be further inland. Seward Park remains the same.
Photo by Kerry Zimmerman
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/x05amt_baker_dock_1909.jpg/image_large': { caption: '
The first Mount Baker Boathouse was built in 1909. The first storey housed canoes, while the second storey was a residence. It was torn down in 1946. The building across the cove on the far left of the photo is the Spring Hill Pump House, which originally pumped water up to the reservoir on Spring Hill, now Beacon Hill. After the Seattle fire of 1889 proved the reservoir inadequate to meet the city’s needs, Seattle began to get its water from the Cedar River in 1901. The old pump house served as a bathhouse until it was torn down in 1965.
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/x05bMt_Baker_Dock_2003.jpg/image_large': { caption: 'The 1909 photograph was taken before Lake Washington was lowered 9 feet by the completion of the Montlake Cut. Technically, we should have taken the 2003 photograph from higher up the bank, where the lake level used to be. But from the higher view-point, the new bathhouse all but obscures the scene. Instead, the new photo was taken from the foot of the dock, with the current bathhouse behind the viewer. The Spring Hill Pump House has been torn down, and the I-90 floating bridge is visible in the distance.
Photo by Kerry Zimmerman
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/x03aFranklin_High_from_Beacon_Hill_1913.jpg/image_large': { caption: 'This 1912 photo was taken from Cheasty Boulevard just after Franklin High School was built. At that time, the Mount Baker neighborhood was just beginning to be developed as a carefully planned upper-income community. Developers laid out graceful, curving boulevards that afforded spectacular views. Owners had to build single-family residences worth at least $2000 ($5000 for some lots), set back at least 25 feet from the street. These requirements would later shape the area’s distinctive character, but in this photo, most of those magnificent homes are yet to be built.
The low building in front of Franklin houses Malmo’s Nursery, which operated at 31st and Mt. Baker Boulevard from 1906 to 1917. (Franklin’s gym occupies the site now.) Malmo’s cultivation grounds extend to the left, adding to the rural feel of the scene.
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/KimballParkingLot.jpg/image_large': { caption: 'This image proved quite difficult to recapture. The heavily logged landscape of 1912 (note the stumps) has now been obscured by buildings, pavement, and trees. Our fearless rephotography team climbed chain-link fences, tramped through muddy woods, talked their way onto the decks of strangers and the roofs of tall buildings, and finally clambered up a steep bank above Kimball Elementary School to capture this charming view. Franklin is just barely visible through the trees at center right.
Photo by Kerry Zimmerman
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/Rainier-at-Genessee-c-1925.jpg/image_large': { caption: 'This 1925 photo shows the Genesee streetcar – affectionately known as the “Dinky” – turning east onto Genesee Street from Rainier Avenue. The corners of the intersection are lined with gracefully curving rows of storefronts, including a pharmacy.
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/Johnnys049.jpg/image_large': { caption: '
After the buildings on the east side of Rainier at Genesee were torn down, the intersection suffered years of neglect. Neighborhood activists and business leaders fought crime, painted out graffiti, and worked to encourage investment in the area.
Today the northeast corner of Genesee and Rainier Avenue is home to an Asian mall, whose parking lot is visible in the 2004 photo. The southeast corner is anchored by a new Walgreens drug store and a Tully’s coffee. Johny’s Nails occupies the southwest corner. The Genessee “Dinky” streetcar has been replaced by the #39 bus.
Photo by Kerry Zimmerman
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/x06aColumbia_Park_1966_bw.jpg/image_large': { caption: 'The land for Columbia Park was deeded to the town of Columbia by Kate and Frank Black in 1891 when the town was founded. For decades it was an unsightly ravine that was slowly filled with garbage. Sewage from Columbia School ran into the creek at the bottom of the ravine, which emptied into Lake Washington at Wetmore Slough (now Genesee Park). Neighbors repeatedly begged the city to deal with the problem. In the late 1930s the semi-official dump was finally capped.
In 1966 the view from the north through the park toward Columbia School was wide open and unobstructed. At this time there were plans afoot to build an office building at the north end of the park, on the corner of Rainier and Alaska. The Boys’ Club of Seattle was petitioning to build a physical education plant at the south end of the park on Edmonds Street. These plans were abandoned after citizens protested and the Blacks’ original deed was upheld by the courts.
' }, 'http://www.rainiervalleyhistory.org/stories/exhibits/double-exposures/x06bColumbia_City_Arborway050.jpg/image_large': { caption: 'Columbia Park in the 21st century reveals nothing of its controversial past. Columbia School is just visible through the trees that line the west side of the park. The parking lot behind the pines on the east side of the park is home to the Columbia City Farmers Market. On Wednesday evenings in the summer, market shoppers and their children spill out into the park, finally fulfilling the century-old vision of Kate and Frank Black.
Photo by Kerry Zimmerman
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