Bill Speidel (1912-1988), founder of Seattle’s Underground Tour, was an author, historian, preservationist, entrepreneur, and publisher. In addition to the Underground Tour, Speidel is known for his irreverent books on early Seattle history, and for his work to preserve the historic Pioneer Square neighborhood.
A Seattle native, Speidel attended John Muir Elementary School and Franklin High School, and graduated from the University of Washington in 1936. After graduation, he wrote columns for the Seattle Star and Seattle Times until 1946, when he opened a public relations business with an office in Pioneer Square.
In 1952, Speidel purchased ownership of the entertainment weekly Seattle Guide, and in 1955 he started the Nettle Creek Publishing Company. Nettle Creek published all Speidel’s books - three books on regional dining and three on Seattle history (“Sons of the Profits,” “Doc Maynard: The Man Who Invented Seattle,” and “Through the Eye of the Needle”).
Speidel’s research led him to investigate rumors of buildings and tunnels buried when the levels of some downtown streets were raised after the 1889 Great Seattle Fire. With the help of volunteers, he explored and began to clear out this “underground city,” and sparked public interest for the endeavor with a 1963 article in the Seattle Times. In August 1964, Speidel held the first public tour for about 500 curious customers, each donating one dollar. The Seattle Underground Tour became an official business in 1965, with scheduled tours led by local college students hired as guides.
Bill Speidel was also a passionate preservationist who worked to improve conditions in Pioneer Square and save its deteriorating historic buildings from demolition. Speidel worked with other local preservationists to save the neighborhood from planners proposing to completely rebuild the Pioneer Square neighborhood. In 1970, the group succeeded in having the neighborhood added to the National Register of Historic Places. The same year, Pioneer Square officially became a City Preservation District, which led to the restoration of several historical buildings.
After Bill Speidel’s death in 1988, his daughter Sunny Speidel took over leadership of the Underground Tour. As of 2024, guides at Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour continue to provide guided walking tours several times each day.
The collection consists largely of materials related Bill Speidel's Underground Tour, but also includes some materials about other Bill Speidel Enterprises businesses, including the Seattle Guide, and Doc Maynard's Public House, as well as papers and clippings related to the Pioneer Square neighborhood. Materials about the Underground Tour include notes and plans from 1964-65 about the inception of the tour; correspondence; photographs of Underground Tour spaces, staff, and tour participants; events at Doc Maynard's Public House; and ephemera such as schedules and tickets, promotional materials, invitations, and Underground Tour Valentine cards.
Arranged in 7 series:
The Museum of History & Industry is the owner of the materials in the Sophie Frye Bass Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from MOHAI before any reproduction use. The museum does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.
The collection is open to the public by appointment.
Bill Speidel's Underground Tour Collection, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle
The collection was donated by Sunny Speidel in 2015.
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.
Includes internal and external correspondence; information related to tour guides; schedules; informational booklets; promotional materials; histories of the Tour; materials from Tour anniversary celebrations; and other ephemera.
Drafts, notes, lists, plans, related to the Underground Tour, mostly by Bill Speidel.
Correspondence with individuals outside of the organization about the Underground Tour.
Corresponding to and from people outside of the organization about the Underground Tour.
One bill, plus four pages about budgeting
Memos, job descriptions, and instructions and guidance for tour guides
Compilations of humorous comments from Underground Tour comment books.
Business card, staff event flier, employee trivia, job descriptions.
Notes about Seattle history, Pioneer Square, and the Underground Tour
Handwritten notes and book references.
Photocopy of a list of international and local people and settings.
Includes "Seattle Underground" by Bill Speidel, 1968, and "Up From the Ashes: Underground Tour Companion Book," 1999.
Includes schedule, postcard, "Discovering Pioneer Square" newspaper, history and fact sheet, copies of articles.
Essays, biographies, drawings and production notes for use in brochure
Includes Seattle tourism rack cards and brochures which mention the Underground Tour, and a Fall 2002 copy of Seattle Compass, a Japanese-language guide.
Documentation of Underground Tour "Adopt-a-Highway" sign on Interstate 5 near Exit 183.
Fact sheet, program, and Proclamation from Mayor Charles Royer.
Invitation, flier, stickers, and button.
Letter and booklet for staff from Sunny Speidel; information sheet.
Materials from other businesses owned and run by Bill Speidel and his successors.
Letterhead for Bill Speidel Enterprises, Nettle Creek Publishing, and Zasu Restaurant and Bar
Correspondence, memos, notes, financial information, and ephemera related to the Seattle Guide
Booklet published by G.O. Guy druggist to accompany a case of medicines, advising prospective miners on treatment of various ailments.
Twelve boxes plus 26 pages of color slides, which includes many duplicate slides. Includes photos of various views of the Underground Tour, of people taking the tour, of the Pioneer Square pergola, and other tour and Pioneer Square views.
Photo for reference only, may not be reproduced
Photographs of women with magenta hair standing on end.
The audiovisual materials consist of copies on CDs and DVDs created by Bill Speidel Enterprises from analog audio and video recordings. Some of the DVDs contain content recorded, probably on videotape, from broadcast television.
Titles are copied from text printed on the CDs. Each entry represents one CD; each CD may include one or both sides of an audiotape.
Tape was recorded over with non-related lecture
Titles are copied from text printed on the DVDs. Each entry represents one DVD unless otherwise indicated; each DVD may include part or all of a videotape.
These DVDs do not contain content described by disc label and were probably made from videotapes that had been recorded over.
Labeled content begins at 0:40:00.
Labeled content ends 0:39:40; rest of runtime is part of 1972 film "The Night Strangler," set in Seattle (see also Videos #16, 21, 37.1)
Made-for-TV movie, partially filmed in Seattle Underground/Pioneer Square.
Mike and Maty Show -- Bill Nye segment at 0:35:30
Labeled content ends at 0:03:25.
1972 film "The Night Strangler," set in Seattle (see Videos #7, 21, 37.1)
A&E special on prohibition
1972 film "The Night Strangler," set in Seattle (see Videos #7, 16, 37.1)
Labeled content begins 0:39:55.
Labeled content begins 2:03:03; 1985 TV miniseries "Mussolini."
Labeled content begins 0:59:14 .
1972 film "The Night Strangler," set in Seattle (see Videos #7, 16, 21)
1972 film "The Night Strangler," set in Seattle (see Videos #7, 16, 37.1)
Newspaper clippings collected by Bill Speidel and others about events and issues related to the Pioneer Square neighborhood.