Editing Cascade, Seattle (section)

== History ==
[[File:Seattle - 1206 Republican Street 02.jpg|thumb|This unprepossessing house at 1206 Republican St. dates from 1890. Demolished in late 2008, it was the oldest surviving building in the Cascade Neighborhood.<ref>[http://web1.seattle.gov/DPD/historicalsite/QueryResult.aspx?ID=-366606994 Summary for 1206 Republican ST / Parcel ID 2467400237], Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. Accessed online 4 February 2008.</ref>]]
[[File:Seattle - Hemrich Bro's Brewing Co - 1900.jpg|thumb|Hemrich Brothers' Brewing Company (built 1897, pictured 1900),<ref>''Seattle and the Orient'' (1900), The Times Printing Company (Seattle), p. 71.</ref> Howard Ave. N. (now Yale Ave. N.), between Republican and Mercer Streets]]
[[File:Seattle - St Spiridon 04.jpg|thumb|St. Spiridon Russian Orthodox Cathedral. The cathedral is listed as a [[List of Landmarks in Seattle|Seattle Landmark]].]]
[[File:Seattle - Cascade People's Center 01.jpg|thumb|Cascade People's Center and [[Immanuel Lutheran Church (Seattle, Washington)|Immanuel Lutheran Church]]. The church is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].]]
[[File:SLU Streetcar at maintenance facility.jpg|thumb|[[South Lake Union Streetcar]] barn, 2007]]
[[File:Seattle School District Supply Center 01.jpg|thumb|Seattle School District Supply Center, the building that replaced the Cascade School]]
Cascade grew up in the late 19th and early 20th century as a blue-collar neighborhood with a mixture of housing and one of the city's first industrial areas. It was the original home of [[St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church]] (built 1919–1921; congregation moved 1963; demolished 1995), and remains the home of St. Spiridon Russian Orthodox Cathedral (established 1895, present church completed 1938) and [[Immanuel Lutheran Church (Seattle, Washington)|Immanuel Lutheran Church]] (established 1890, present church completed 1912).<ref name=CNC-hist /><ref name=Fiset>Louis Fiset, [http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=3178 Seattle Neighborhoods: Cascade and South Lake Union – Thumbnail History], HistoryLink, April 9, 2001. Accessed 3 February 2008.</ref><ref>Dorothea Mootafes, Theodora Dracopoulos Argue, Paul Plumis, Perry Scarlatos, Peggy Falangus Tramountanas, eds., ''A History of Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church and Her People'', Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, 2007 (1996). p. 65, 73, 128–131.</ref><ref>[http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/historicalsite/QueryResult.aspx?ID=-203911192 Summary for 1310 Harrison ST / Parcel ID 6847700030], Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. Accessed 3 February 2008. This is a description of the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Education Building adjacent to St. Spiridon, and mentions the construction date of the latter.</ref><ref>Walt Crowley,
''National Trust Guide Seattle: America's Guide for Architecture and History'' (1998), John Wiley and Sons, {{ISBN|0-471-18044-0}}, p.167.</ref>

=== Pioneers ===
Like most of Seattle, the Cascade Neighborhood was originally heavily forested. In the 1860s, [[David Denny]] and [[Thomas Mercer]] first claimed portions of this land. However, initial development was a bit west of Cascade, at southwest Lake Union, which became a transportation nexus and where Denny established the lake's first sawmill. By the 1880s, more mills and more cleared land led to the origin of Cascade as a residential and industrial neighborhood, tied into water transportation.<ref name=Fiset />

Another notable pioneer was Margaret Pontius, known for her extensive work as what would now be called a [[Foster care|foster parent]]. She and her husband, Rezius Pontius, lived in the neighborhood by 1885, and by 1889 had built a [[Queen Anne style architecture in the United States|Queen Anne style]] mansion, designed by John Parkinson, along Denny Way near what is now Yale Avenue.<ref>{{Harvnb|Link|2004|p=4}}</ref>

Cascade was settled largely by [[Russian Americans|Russians]] (some via [[Alaska]]<ref name="Link 2004 5">{{Harvnb|Link|2004|p=5}}</ref>), [[Swedish Americans|Swedes]], [[Norwegian Americans|Norwegians]], and [[Greek Americans|Greeks]]. In 1894, the Cascade School (also designed by Parkinson<ref name="Link 2004 5" />) opened and the neighborhood acquired a name. As the neighborhood grew, the school expanded in 1904 and 1908.<ref name=Fiset /> Cascade businesses in this era included sawmills, shingle mills, and boat yards along the lake, as well as cabinetry and furniture shops, grocery stores, laundries, and boarding houses.<ref>{{Harvnb|Link|2004|p=7}}</ref>

Both landscape architect [[John Charles Olmsted|John C. Olmsted]] (in 1903) and city planner [[Virgil Bogue]] (in 1910–1911) believed that the neighborhood was best suited for industrial use, although Olmsted unsuccessfully proposed that there also be a small park on the lake.<ref name=Fiset /> [[Regrading in Seattle|Denny Regrade No. 1]] (completed 1911) took out nearly half of Denny Hill, making Cascade more accessible from downtown Seattle.<ref>{{Harvnb|Link|2004|p=8}}</ref> The Ford plant, designed by John Graham Sr. and built in 1914, was the [[Ford Motor Company]]'s first factory built west of the [[Mississippi River]].<ref name="Link 2004 9">{{Harvnb|Link|2004|p=9}}</ref> When the [[Lake Washington Ship Canal]] opened in 1917, maritime and industrial uses intensified. The area also became the center for the city's large laundries, as well as smaller machine shops.<ref name=Fiset /> Cascade-area laundries played a crucial role in Seattle labor history, with a successful fight for the [[8-hour day]] in the years 1917 through 1918.<ref name="Link 2004 9" />

=== Great Depression ===
When the [[Great Depression]] coincided with the decline of the extractive economy in Greater Seattle, Cascade began to decline both economically and in terms of population, with its most stable remaining industries being shipbuilding and other marine activities.<ref name=Fiset /> Howard Wright General Contractors were operating out of 409 Yale Avenue N, where they are still located as of 2008. There was also a business district between the 300 and 600 blocks of Eastlake, mainly on the west side of the street, including grocery stores, a pharmacy, a meat shop, automobile repair, furniture repair, a cabinetmaker, a beauty parlor, a barbershop, several drinking establishments, and a dye works. Although no buildings remain on the east side of the street, which abuts Interstate 5, many of these west-side buildings survive. However, with the freeway cutting it off from Capitol Hill, this is much less of a business district today.<ref>{{Harvnb|Link|2004|pp=13–14}}</ref>

=== Postwar period ===
The decline of the depression years was briefly arrested by [[World War II]], as the [[U.S. Navy]] built a reserve center on the site of David Denny's former mill, just west of Cascade and [[Kenworth#History|Kenworth]] expanded a factory on Mercer Street. Decline resumed after the war, and was greatly exacerbated when the April 13, 1949 earthquake caused structural damage to the Cascade School.<ref name=Fiset /> Controversy ensued over whether or not to repair the school, but it was ultimately demolished since local businesses led by the [[Seattle Times]] desired an increasingly industrial rather than residential character neighborhood.<ref>{{Harvnb|Link|2004|p=14}}</ref> The school was replaced by a warehouse for the school district, while [[#Cascade Playground|its playground]] remained as a public park.<ref name=Fiset />

The year 1949 also saw the first seeds of the "new" Cascade Neighborhood that would emerge almost half a century later: the Washington Teachers Credit Union was established, with quarters on Eastlake Avenue. It would become the Washington School Employees Credit Union (1963), and eventually part of [[PEMCO]] Financial Services, still based in the Cascade Neighborhood as of 2008.<ref name=Fiset />

New zoning ordinances based on the 1956 Comprehensive Plan of [[Seattle]] forbade any new residential uses in Cascade Neighborhood. The plan also recommended two new freeways through the area. On the northern edge, the [[Bay Freeway (Seattle)|Bay Freeway]] would cover roughly nine city blocks between Mercer and Valley Streets, with ramps connecting to the [[Washington State Route 99|Aurora Freeway]] which had been constructed in 1932. The city lacked funding for the project and plans were eventually scrapped along with the [[Reginald H. Thomson#R.H. Thomson Expressway|R.H. Thomson Expressway]]. The second freeway was [[Interstate 5]], which was constructed in 1962. More than seven blocks of residences and retail businesses on the east side of Eastlake were razed to make way for [[Interstate 5]]. The freeway cut Cascade off entirely from neighboring [[Capitol Hill, Seattle|Capitol Hill]].<ref name=Fiset /> Previously they had been tied together by multiple streets and stairways.<ref>Insurance Maps of Seattle, Washington, Volume 4, Sanborn Map Company, 1917–June 1950, sheets 441, 442, 451, 468, 470, 471, 484, 485, 486; especially 471, 486.</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Link|2004|pp=14–15}}</ref> (The upper half-block of the [[East Republican Street Stairway|E. Republican Street Stairway]] or Republican Hill Climb east of Melrose Ave E. remains east of the freeway, and has status as a [[List of Landmarks in Seattle|city landmark]]; it once extended two blocks farther, down to Eastlake Ave E.<ref>[https://www.cityofseattle.gov/neighborhoods/preservation/e.htm Landmarks Alphabetical Listing for E] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721035316/https://www.cityofseattle.gov/neighborhoods/preservation/e.htm |date=2011-07-21 }}, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods. Retrieved on 2008-02-06.</ref><ref>Paul Dorpat, [http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=3261 Seattle Neighborhoods: Republican Hill Climb between Capitol Hill and the Cascade Neighborhood completed on February 25, 1910], HistoryLink, 6 May 2001. Retrieved on 2008-02-06.</ref>) Currently, the only remaining direct route between the two is Denny Way at the south border of the neighborhood.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20020918185412/http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~public/nmaps/html/NN-1230L.htm Map NN-1230-L], Seattle City Clerk's Neighborhood Map Atlas, Seattle City Clerk's Office. Retrieved 6 February 2008.</ref>

=== 1960s ===
The [[Seattle Times Building]] had been built in 1930 just west of Fairview Avenue.''[[The Seattle Times]]'';<ref name="Link 2004 12">{{Harvnb|Link|2004|p=12}}</ref> in the 1960s, the ''[[Seattle Times|Times]]'' purchased and razed acres of homes near its headquarters for parking lots and future development opportunities.<ref name=Fiset /> (One building they purchased was, for a time, operated as the Seattle Concert Theater, but even that was "hastily razed" in the early 1980s to "head off a landmarks designation".<ref>Eric Scigliano, [http://www.seattleweekly.com/2001-06-20/news/publisher-s-prerogative.php Publisher's prerogative] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516065902/http://www.seattleweekly.com/2001-06-20/news/publisher-s-prerogative.php/ |date=2011-05-16 }}, ''Seattle Weekly'', 20 June 2001. Accessed online 6 February 2008.</ref>) Karin Link remarks: "The relationship between the ''Seattle Times'' and the Cascade Neighborhood is still considered problematic."<ref>{{Harvnb|Link|2004|p=16}}</ref>

In the 1960s, the [[University of Washington]]'s College of Architecture and Urban Planning described the area as "blighted".<ref>{{Harvnb|Link|2004|p=15}}</ref> The 1969 [[Bay Freeway (Seattle)|Bay Freeway]] plan for a proposed elevated freeway to connect Interstate 5 with [[Seattle Center]] would have cut off the neighborhood from the Lake, but was voted down in 1972. Cascade struggled on as a blue-collar residential and light industrial neighborhood.<ref name=Fiset />

=== 1970s ===
In the early 1970s, activists including a [[University of Washington]] student named [[Frank Chopp]] began the Cascade Shelter Project, setting up geodesic domes on vacant lots to live in. A 1975 report by Folke Nyberg and [[Victor Steinbrueck]] included Cascade as a historic residential section of Seattle,<ref>Folke Nyberg and Victor Steinbrueck, An Urban Resource Inventory for Seattle (Seattle: Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority, 1975). Retrieved on 2011-06-04 from http://www.historicseattle.org/resources/neighborhoodinventories.aspx {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928024503/http://www.historicseattle.org/resources/neighborhoodinventories.aspx |date=2011-09-28 }} .</ref> and in 1977 the Housing In Cascade study by [[Paul Schell]], then Director of [[Seattle]] Department of Community Development, recommended a "Special Review District" in Cascade.<ref>Housing in Cascade : Cascade Neighborhood Study prepared for the Seattle Department of Community Development / Richardson Associates, Northwest American, Northwest Environmental Technology Laboratories. Available from UW Libraries, HT177.S6 H69.</ref> However, the city council took no action on the proposal.

=== 1980s ===
As the local economy strengthened in the late 1980s, Cascade's cheap land and central location began to attract new uses. The northwest corner of the neighborhood became the campus of the [[Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center]]<ref name=Fiset /> and at the north tip of Cascade, the old City Light Steam Plant (a decommissioned electrical generation facility) became the headquarters of Zymogenetics.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zymogenetics.com/news/steam-plant.html |title=ZymoGenetics' Steam Plant Facility: A Brief History. Zymogenetics |access-date=2008-02-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509075358/http://www.zymogenetics.com/news/steam-plant.html |archive-date=2008-05-09 }}.</ref> [[Gentrification]] had begun. Although a proposal to transform a north–south corridor just west of Cascade into a {{convert|74|acre|ha|adj=on}} park was twice defeated by the voters (in 1995 and in 1996), gentrification continued apace, largely driven by tech billionaire and developer [[Paul Allen]]'s Vulcan Northwest group.<ref name=Fiset />

=== 1990s ===
Two large changes in the south part of Cascade in the 1990s were the demolition of the old St. Demetrios Church (along with the Overall Laundry) to build the new REI flagship store, and the demolition of the 1907 wood-frame Lillian Apartments by Vulcan Northwest. The demolition was opposed by [[low-income housing]] advocates.<ref>{{Harvnb|Link|2004|pp=16–17}}</ref>