Seattle 2.0 Was a Temporary Fix
After the fire left the entire city in ruin, Seattle citizens set out to build a new town out of stone and brick. The streets were very narrow, almost like wide alleyways that were just big enough for a horse drawn carriage. Remember- this city design wasn’t meant to last a hundred years. They knew it was a new city that would only be around for 10 to 20 years at the most, but they still wanted to make the most of it. Buildings were decorated with signs in the windows of their stores, and they tried to make the best out of their environment, even though they knew it would only be temporary.
Once the city was finally ready to start construction on raising the streets, it could not all happen at once. Dirt had to be carried in and leveled. This required so much man power, it was going to take forever without the benefit of modern technology. So, for years, certain sections of the city had raised streets, and others did not. Back then, they did not have proper signs and road blockades to warn people to stay away, so people knew to watch their step. They had ladders to help people climb down to the underground city if there were stores they wanted to go to. Seventeen people died from “involuntary suicide”, which meant they had their head stuck in a newspaper and fell down the 15-foot curb.
While they were raising the streets, many of the new sidewalks were installed with “pavement lights” of glass. This served as skylights down to the parts of the city that were still underground. They glass was originally clear when it was first installed, but it has changed to become purple over the years.
Men were moving to Seattle at a rapid rate, because they desperately needed labor to help rebuild city, and it was a great opportunity for job seekers. At one point, there were 10 men for every one woman, so there were literally not enough girls to go around. Prostitution was in high demand. Lou Graham was a madam who ran one of the biggest brothels in the Seattle Underground. She became a millionaire and accounted for the majority of the taxes that paid for rebuilding the new city. Her sex workers were also paying taxes on their own wages, and were listed as “seamstresses” on the books. Without these sex workers, the new city may never be as grand as it is today.
During the Gold Rush, Seattle profited a lot off of the miners passing through the city who needed supplies while they traveled from Canada down to California. Normally, the businesses made a combined $300,000 per year in sales. After the Gold Rush, it went up to $25 million. After inflation, that is a tremendous amount of money. Lucky for them, this windfall of money came at a time when they desperately needed to build the new infrastructure of Seattle 3.0.
By the early 1900’s, the Bubonic plague was beginning to spread. The city had been lucky for a very long time, since the fire killed the majority of rats in the city, but the Seattle Underground was beginning to see a few new furry creatures scampering around. Citizens became worried that if people continued to hang out down there, they could possibly catch the plague. The city decided to condemn the underground city, but that didn’t last for long.