Seattle's Museum of History and Innovation has, as its name says, two focuses which somewhat intersect but, to me, more often felt like two museums living in one building, at the edge of Lake Union.
While there's a lot to be learned on the innovation side (and a good bit of self-promotion by area companies such as Boeing, Starbucks and Amazon, whose work is spotlighted there) I really felt more at home in the exhibits tracing the history of the Seattle area and its peoples. But that shouldn't stop anyone else from having a look at that side!
The first and most obvious thing when you enter the museum is a 65-foot sculpture (it weighs 5.5 tons) that stands from floor to ceiling of the barn-like World War II-era Naval Reserve building that houses the museum. It's the Wawona sculpture, put together from bits of old-growth Douglas fir timber, salvaged from a historic schooner that was too far gone to save in 2009.
Wawona is far from the only maritime reminder in the museum, since so much of the area's history revolves around its role as a shipping point for Alaska, the Pacific and more. The figureheads above, all from ships with Seattle histories, hang out from balconies over the main exhibit area.
The Museum's building is on Lake Union, now largely surrounded by parks and residences, but for a century a highly-industrialized area with timber, coal and shipbuilding businesses. Lake Union Drydock Company, shown above, developed after Lake Union was connected to Elliott Bay by a canal; at its peak it churned out hundreds of small to medium ships, including 80% of the Navy's minesweepers. The maritime industry provided many kinds of jobs in the area.
Looking over the edge, the main floor shows off a variety of local nostalgia and signage, as well as early Boeing mailplanes, Lake Washington speedboats and, you'll pardon the pun, a Toe Truck. Yes, that's what it's called; it was a regular participant in parades over the years.
Around the balcony are a series of area history exhibits, as well as some opportunities for interactive play for kids. A number of the exhibits display 'stores' of particular trades such as photography and carpentry.
The arrival of the railroad was a major boost for Seattle, achieved through a lot of local campaigning after rival Tacoma was picked as the first destination. Access to rail meant that products of the region could more easily reach the city for shipment elsewhere, as well as giving Seattle more access to an inland market.
Logging and coal mining were big industries in the area in the 1870s and 1880s and helped fuel Seattle's first big boom time. But when logging temporarily hit the skids in the 1880s, it left many out of work, and the Museum's exhibits make clear what that led to: a sharp rise in racism, and the violent expulsion of nearly all Chinese workers from the area where they had previously been welcomed as needed extra labor.
Chinese workers were not the only ones heavily affected both by Seattle's success and expansion, and by its tough times. The native tribes of the area often found their land usurped and the streams and forests they depended on turned to other uses or polluted.
But the 19th century wasn't finished with Seattle yet: Two more huge events shaped the city's future. The first came in 1889, when much of Seattle looked like the first image below—a rough collection of wooden buildings stretching down steep hills toward the bay. A small fire in a workshop, spread by burning chemicals and fanned by high winds destroyed most of the city overnight.
The city rebuilt fairly quickly, turning to masonry rather than wood in most cases. Hills were leveled off and systems laid to get water to any future fires. A number of families, such as the Yeslers (some of whose family treasures are below) rose to prominence; you can trace them in a number Seattle street names. In all, things were pretty much back in shape for the 'next big thing.'
That next big thing was the Alaska Gold Rush in 1898. Seattle was perfectly positioned to become, in essence, the capital of the gold rush, a major port for passengers and shipping, and a fairly short journey to the rugged mining areas of Alaska and the Yukon. Seattle merchants and shipowners made fortunes from the Gold Rush, by mining the miners, not the gold. They sold the supplies, provided transportation, and collected again on the way out as miners returned home, successful or not!
After the rush was over, Seattle was a bigger, busier town, investing some of its wealth in new buildings for government and for the University of Washington, and developing parks, including Madrona park, designed by the architects of New York's Central Park and Prospect Park. But despite all the 'good works,' the city was also a wide-open center for gambling, prostitution, saloons and corrupt cops and government officials.
The city also continued, as exhibits show, with big engineering works: Canals and locks to connect the lakes fully to the sea, and more grading and leveling of hills.
The era between the Gold Rush and World War I also saw big changes in the area's transportation, with the development of an extensive trolley and cable car network, and then the development of automobile-based facilities including some unusual plank roads and viaducts.
During World War I, the Seattle area was an important center for shipbuilding and for shipping food and other material for the war effort; the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 made it more accessible.
But when the war was over, Seattle became the scene of one of the most significant strikes in U.S. labor history. With the end of the war, employers began to cut wages and lay off workers, many of whom had joined unions. In 1919, shipyard workers called a strike, and the city's other unions joined in. Although the strike ended unsuccessfully after five days, it was the first general strike in North America.
The exhibits include this amazing machine, whose purpose I could never have guessed: It's a fish processing machine that automatically slit and gutted salmon and made thousands of local workers redundant. Because many of the workers were Chinese, the machine gained the racist name of 'Iron Chink.'
As in the rest of America, Prohibition arrived in the 1920s, along with all sorts of violations, ranging from home-brew to sophisticated commercial smuggling from Canada. As a city with a somewhat rowdy nightlife history, Seattle never made it hard to get a drink, and celebrated when Prohibition ended.
But the end of Prohibition came with the Great Depression; as elsewhere, thousands lost jobs and homes, and many lived in makeshift 'Hoovervilles.' New Deal measures, including the Works Progress Administration provided jobs and new hope for many as the economy slowly recovered.
Another section of the exhibits covers Seattle in World War II, including home-front rationing and conservation measures. It also covers the forced relocation of Seattle's Japanese and Japanese-descended population to internment camps.
Coverage of the postwar years includes the revived and growing car culture that led to new highways, sprawling suburbs, and for many, including communities of color, relocation forced by urban development. Overhanging it all: fears of nuclear war, complete with shelter drills in classrooms.
At the end, the exhibits focus on reform and civil rights movements from the 1970s forward. In some ways, the end of the 'march of time' may be the best time to take a look at the museum's 'innovation' side with more context.
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