Seattle Underground

As Seattle Underground The underground passages and cellars are designated in the center of Seattle, which are caused by the raising of roads and sidewalks around 1900. They were long time unused, but in recent decades become a tourist attraction.

History

Seattle is right on the Elliot Bay and thus at sea level, which is why it was often flooded at high tide. Also in 1881, introduced sewage system with water flushing was functional only at low tide, at high tide the toilets flushed backwards.

The business district in the city center with its wooden houses, the so-called " business district ", burned the Great Fire of Seattle on June 6, 1889 the way down. The city banned then wooden building and decided parts of the city " to raise ", thereby solving the problems. For this, the bluffs were removed Puget Sound to go. The streets were filled with the tailings and were given a more even gradient.

Since this field work but only slowly came, the new buildings were built, starting from the old street level. Through the subsequent lifting of the roads by up to ten meters, localized extremely dangerous height difference between the street and sidewalk, so covering the sidewalks on the new street level over time and the entrances were moved to higher, now " walk-in " stories originated. The former ground floors became basements.

Gallery

An old meat market