In 1889, a devastating fire swept through Seattle, destroying the entirety of the city’s downtown business district and waterfront. When the city rebuilt, they kept the lessons of the fire in mind. Wooden buildings were replaced with brick, a professional fire department was established, and the streets were raised up to 22 feet to level out the hilly city. But what happened to the buried streets?
You can still visit them today by taking Bill Spiedel’s Underground Tour. This 75-minute guided walking tour takes visitors through the interconnected tunnels of what used to be street-level Seattle. The Seattle underground is not publicly accessible, so this tour is an opportunity to step into an immersive time capsule of a more rugged time.
The Seattle Underground Tour takes place in the Pioneer Square area, one of Seattle’s most historic districts. Pioneer Square was the home of Seattle’s original downtown and dates back to 1852. Today Pioneer Square is known as one of the nation’s best places for viewing Romanesque Revival-style urban architecture and has been designated a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. Also located in Pioneer Square is the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park and Waterfall Garden Park, located on the site of the first UPS headquarters, which was founded in Pioneer Square in 1907. Pioneer Square is a 15-minute walk from Pike Place Market and right next door to the Seattle Chinatown-International District.
Fifi Ding is a journalist and travel writer. She has interviewed numerous figures in the world of entertainment and genre fiction, including actor Nathan Fillion and manga artist Hiro Mashima.