Seattle & San Juan Islands photograph collection, 1909-1922

Edward Willits Hubbard (1889-1928) was a Pioneer Air Mail Pilot for the Pacific Northwest. He was born in San Francisco, CA on January 3, 1889, and moved to Seattle in 1907. In November 1915 he became the first pupil in the Aviation School of the Northwest and the first to obtain an aviator’s license from the Aero Club of America. He was a test pilot and mechanic for the Boeing Airplane Company. In 1919, he flew many notable members of Seattle around the city and up into Victoria, B.C. Boeing built the B-1 aircraft for Hubbard’s International Air Mail route between Seattle and Victoria. This was the only B-1 ever built and it is held by the Seattle Historical Society and on display at MOHAI. He was awarded an Air Mail contract in 1920 which he ran until the late 1920s. Hubbard was responsible for putting Boeing into the commercial market producing mail planes (notably the Model 40) instead of just military aircraft. He died in 1928 after complications from a stomach surgery.

The Seattle Giants were a minor league baseball team that played in various leagues from 1910 to 1920. Based in Seattle, Washington, United States, they played in the Northwestern League from 1910 to 1917, the Pacific Coast International League in 1918 and 1920, and the Northwest International League in 1919. Two of their ballparks were Yesler Way Park and Dugdale Field. WWI threw most professional leagues into chaos, and so brought into existence the Seattle Shipbuilders’ League which had an amateur club in each of the four largest shipyards in the city. Over 10,000 men were employed in these shipyards, and the shipyards owners encouraged the formation of the league believing it would improve moral of their employees. Opening day saw over 4,500 people in attendance.