- Seattle’s First Hill rises to the east of Pioneer Square. It has been, in successive years since 1852, forest, timber for Henry Yesler’s sawmill, hill of mansions and high society, Profanity Hill, and Pill Hill – a cluster of hospitals.
- Seattle — Thumbnail History (historylink.org)
Seattle is the largest city in Washington state and its economic capital. Settled in 1851, its deep harbor and acquisition of Puget Sound’s first steam-powered sawmill quickly established it as a center of trade and industry. It gained the Territorial University (now University of Washington) in 1861, but was snubbed by the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1874 when it picked Tacoma as its western terminus. Despite this, the town prospered thanks to independent railroad development fueled by local coal deposits…