What do you think?
Rate this book
Lost Seattle
Unearths the buried bones of an invented city that was carved out of hills and bay.
Early Seattleites were neither sentimental nor nostalgic, destroying iconic schools, libraries, entire neighborhoods, and high hills.They ripped out the very muscles of industry and the veins of rails and ferries on which the city was created.
68 vignettes of cast-aside Seattle are given new light, including Japantown, the Kalakala, Joseph Mayer's clock factory, interurban railways, Yesler's mill, Capitol Hill's auto row, Denny Hill, Moran Brothers' shipyard, the Carnegie Central Library, Boeing and the SuperSonics. From the 1880s to the present day.
This richly illustrated book brings these lost buildings, structures and neighborhoods back to life, to reveal the Seattle that once was.
Early Seattleites were neither sentimental nor nostalgic, destroying iconic schools, libraries, entire neighborhoods, and high hills.They ripped out the very muscles of industry and the veins of rails and ferries on which the city was created.
68 vignettes of cast-aside Seattle are given new light, including Japantown, the Kalakala, Joseph Mayer's clock factory, interurban railways, Yesler's mill, Capitol Hill's auto row, Denny Hill, Moran Brothers' shipyard, the Carnegie Central Library, Boeing and the SuperSonics. From the 1880s to the present day.
This richly illustrated book brings these lost buildings, structures and neighborhoods back to life, to reveal the Seattle that once was.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
144 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 2013
About the author
Rob Ketcherside
1 book5 followersRob Ketcherside writes about local history through a series of blended rephotography (then and now) for the Capitol Hill Seattle blog. He has led tours of Seattle's historic clocks for the Seattle Architecture Foundation and neighborhood history for Seattle's Museum of History & Industry. His various contributions at MOHAI--including research of artifacts and photographs--recently earned him Volunteer of the Year. Rob is an appointed member of the Mayor's Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board, stopping more treasures from being lost. He lives in Seattle.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 19, 2016
4.5 stars. If it had included a few more recent events than it did I would have given it 5. I enjoyed this book very much.
The writer is a regular contributor to the Capitol Hill Blog with his column Re:Take combining old and new views.
http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/aut...
He is also a contact of mine on Flickr where he has interesting posts
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tigerzo...
Both sites offer some interesting work by Rob.
Rob has done an excellent job of writing about various Seattle icons that have disappeared. His time frame is from the settlement of Seattle to recent years. He gives a number of shots and a history of each event, place or item.
The book shows how the city developed into the place it is today for better or worse. For me it put into perspective at a current time of fierce development, where so much of what made Seattle the city it is has been demolished in the last 10 years by a new spurt of growth and desire for profit, that the city's history is one of that expansive motivation since its beginning.
From deposing native people, exploitation of a lot of local nature, city fires, entire areas of the city hills re-graded, neighborhoods removed, nearby small cities annexed,massive buildings built then demolished, the city has a restless history and it's only 165 years since founding.
Locals reading this will have some sad or nostalgic moments and those who don't live here will find it interesting to compare to their own cities.
Not in the scope of Rob's book are the multitude tiny local places, homes and sites that are disappearing every day. Maybe he will tackle a volume two.
For me living in an area that felt like a neighborhood, that is disappearing into canyons of 6 story apartments and condos for the affluent, where I'm now an outsider, it's a little sad.
The writer is a regular contributor to the Capitol Hill Blog with his column Re:Take combining old and new views.
http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/aut...
He is also a contact of mine on Flickr where he has interesting posts
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tigerzo...
Both sites offer some interesting work by Rob.
Rob has done an excellent job of writing about various Seattle icons that have disappeared. His time frame is from the settlement of Seattle to recent years. He gives a number of shots and a history of each event, place or item.
The book shows how the city developed into the place it is today for better or worse. For me it put into perspective at a current time of fierce development, where so much of what made Seattle the city it is has been demolished in the last 10 years by a new spurt of growth and desire for profit, that the city's history is one of that expansive motivation since its beginning.
From deposing native people, exploitation of a lot of local nature, city fires, entire areas of the city hills re-graded, neighborhoods removed, nearby small cities annexed,massive buildings built then demolished, the city has a restless history and it's only 165 years since founding.
Locals reading this will have some sad or nostalgic moments and those who don't live here will find it interesting to compare to their own cities.
Not in the scope of Rob's book are the multitude tiny local places, homes and sites that are disappearing every day. Maybe he will tackle a volume two.
For me living in an area that felt like a neighborhood, that is disappearing into canyons of 6 story apartments and condos for the affluent, where I'm now an outsider, it's a little sad.
April 1, 2018
Great pictures and stories about Seattle's landmarks of the past. Worth a read as a Seattelite.
June 19, 2016
If you have lived in SEattle for any amount of time, or if you were born and raised there, like I was, you will definitely want to read this book. There is a lot of history that is quite fascinating. Much of the "lost" buildings and institutions covered in the first two-thirds of the book were lost before I was born, but the last third contained many thins that I had known from my childhood there. The book makes me wish that more of the old landmarks had been saved, because so many of the elegant old buildings from the late 1800s and early 20th century were demolished to make way for modern structures, in some cases for parking garages.
June 2, 2016
Very good history in photos and information? I was amazed to see what this city used to be by founders. Great Book I recommend it!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews