- Seattle Neighborhoods: Pioneer Square — Thumbnail History (historylink.org)
First settled in 1852, Pioneer Square encompasses the birthplace of modern Seattle and its first downtown. Most of the Square’s buildings were erected within a decade of the disastrous Great Fire of June 6, 1889. The district began a slow decline during World War I and became better known as a derelict “Skid Road.” Preservationists rallied in the 1960s to save the area’s exquisite ensemble of Victorian and Edwardian Era architecture from “urban renewal.” Pioneer Square was protected by a 30-acre Historic District in 1969, followed by a slightly larger Special Review District. The core of the neighborhood lies between Cherry Street on the north, 2nd Avenue on the east, Alaskan Way on the west, and S. King Street on the south.