Seattle- Underground Tour

While on the Duck Tour, our guide pointed out a line of people in Pioneer Square and said they were there for the Underground Tour. In the 1800's Seattle was originally built on the low salt flats and it was a really bad place for sewage and other purposes. One night, there was an accidental fire that burned 25 city blocks. The city officials decided they wanted to rebuild the city the proper way at an elevated level. Business owners didn't like the rebuild plan because they were told it would take 10 years and they didn't want to wait, so they started rebuilding their businesses at the original lower land level. The city owned the land in between the businesses for roads and sidewalks, so they rebuilt the roads at the elevated level of about 15 feet above the businesses. So when you wanted to shop in Seattle, you had to get out of your car and climb down a ladder to go to the shops and businesses.

Long story short, some of the underground areas still exist as Seattle was eventually fully rebuilt at the elevated level.

Click Here to learn more about the Underground Tour on Wikipedia.


This is the start of the Underground Tour. It was pretty much like being in a really old basement.


Old-time bathroom.



This was probably the most interesting thing to see on the tour. This is one original wall decoration left.


A lot of the tour just looked like rubble. The story about the city was more interesting than what was left to see and walk through.



A picture of the wooden building city before the fire that destroyed it.




An old saw.



The views though some tiles on the sidewalk above.


The same sidewalk tiles from above ground.


Merchants Cafe is Seattle's oldest restaurant - est.1890