Beach homes on waterfront, Seattle, 1903 (MOHAI 9690)

Predating the settlement that became the city of Seattle, the Duwamish had an encampment with 2 longhouses situated along the north central waterfront, roughly at the intersection of present-day Bell Street and Alaskan Way. By around the 1860s, the longhouses were gone, leaving only modest beach structures. In the 1890s the waterfront from Pike Street north to Broad Street had developed into a community of small homes made from scrounged materials, including those deposited by the tides. Chief Chief Si’ahl's (Chief Seattle) daughter Kikisoblu (Princess Angeline) continued to live in the area until she died in 1896. The area was cleared around 1903 in conjunction with the regrading of Denny Hill and construction of the north approach to the Great Northern Railway tunnel beneath the city.
This image taken from the beach near Broad Street and facing southeast, shows several of the beach homes with various bits of flotsam and jetsam lining the beach.
Handwritten on negative: Water Front, Seattle- W, Feb. 2- 1903

Caption information source: https://pauldorpat.com/2010/10/page/6
Caption information source: Central_Waterfront,_Seattle
Subjects (LCTGM): Dwellings--Washington (State)--Seattle; Waterfronts--Washington (State)--Seattle