The Public Utilities Department was created in 1908 to regulate utility companies -- including telephone, telegraph, railway, gas, sewers, and electric utilities -- doing business in the City of Seattle. A Superintendent of Public Utilities was appointed to oversee all franchise work in the City, keeping records of start and end dates on jobs as well as maps and drawings showing the location of each utility. The Superintendent also dealt with franchise applications, submitting applications regarding each to the Board of Public Works.
The department also administered the Municipal Street Railway System from 1919 until 1932, when the Public Utilities Department was abolished.
Annual reports are quite lengthy and include reports on railroad franchise applications as well as other franchise obligations, including street railways and cable lines. Power lines and telephone service are also discussed. Included as appendices are lists of related legislation (both pending and passed) relating to public utilities, as well as other statistics on telephone, lighting, and heating systems.
The 1912 report, which is published, contains photographs of the Weights and Measures Division. Pictured are scales and scale testing, short weight milk bottles, relative weight of packaged and bulk goods, and relative weight of ten-cent loaves of bread. Weights and Measures are discussed in every report.
The 1913 report also includes photographs of the business district and testing gas meters. The 1915 report includes photographs of the Holgate Street Bridge, Pike Street Footbridge, Seattle Boulevard Viaduct, Lander Street Bridge, and Wheeler Street Bridge. The reports for the years 1918-1922 contain discussion of jitney services. In the 1923 report, traffic regulation and speed of street railway transportation are discussed, as are telephone, traffic and gas issues.
Superintendents of the Public Utilities Department included: A.V. Bouillon (1908); A.L. Valentine (1908-); Thomas Murphine (1918?-); Carl H. Reeves (1919?); George Russell (-1923); C.R. Jackson (1923-); and A.E. Pierce (acting superintendent; 1931?).
Researchers should note that Municipal Street Railway System annual reports are in a separate series.
Annual reports are arranged chronologically by year.
Records are open to the public.
[Item and date], Public Utilities Department Annual Reports, Record Series 1802-H9. Box [number], Folder [number]. Seattle Municipal Archives.
Records were originally filed with the City Clerk in the Comptroller/Clerk's Files (CFs) and were removed to create this record series.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.