Pike Place Public Market
The Pike Place Market is a 9 acre historic district. There are over 400 residents that live in the Market as well as merchants, farmers, performers, and restaurateurs. It operates much like a small city, with a Council that oversees the district, constituents that vote on important issues, and advocacy groups that support the many industries in the Market. Social services are an important part of the Market. A preschool, clinic, food bank, senior center and affordable housing are all in the district. The community has grown and changed in the last 100 years. Despite the changes, the original intent of the Market is still present commercially. It remains a place where the consumer can meet the producer.
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August 17th, 1907, was opening day for Seattle's Public Market. Only 8 farmers showed up to sell, and over 2,000 people came to buy.
Picture from the Seattle Municipal Archives 33293
There is an account of one farmer placing a tin can out to collect coins and then hiding behind his horse and cart to stay out of the way of the stampede of customers. The second farmer to arrive was a Japanese man who was so overtaken by customers; they climbed on top of his cart and started throwing vegetables into the crowd. Throwing things at the Market is nothing new.
The next day, 40 farmers gathered in the streets.
By the 1920’s and into the 1930’s, even through The Great Depression, over 3000 farmers showed up daily to sell. Other competing Markets sprung up and you can see their names on the faces of buildings today; Corner Market, Sanitary Market and the Triangle Market.
Seattle's Public Market received it's first private investments by a couple of smart brothers who made it rich during the Klondike Goldrush. These two brothers, the Goodwin brothers, had a eye for civic investments. They served as shareholders and built Seattle’s Public Market.
There were 26,000 light bulbs originally in the ceilings. The entire Market was designed to look like a theater.
The Market has gone through transformations many times, but many of the original architectural details are still visible. Much of Seattle, as well, has been rebuilt to support the city’s growth, the waterfront has been filled in, the hills and cliffs surrounding downtown, taken down. The original topography of Seattle is no longer visible.
Around the Market, in the early part of the 1900’s, there were a few men's hotels, theaters, and some larger where houses in the district, not much else. At the turn of that century, farmers were having a horrible time making a living wage. They would come in to the city, after traveling long hours to get here, only to have their goods purchased by the where houses for half of what they were quoted before leaving. It was the onion farmers who received the most attention in the Seattle Times and other publications.
Taking the ghost tour at night gives people a chance to see the architectural details of the Market and get a sense for the land it is built on. The crowds packed into the Arcades are gone and the spirits of the buildings wander.