Asahel Curtis was the most prominent Seattle photographer of the early twentieth century, as well as a noted outdoorsman and regional booster. Born in Minnesota in 1874, he moved to Washington Territory in 1888. Asahel's brother, Edward, supported the family by opening a photography studio in Seattle, and Asahel went to work for him in 1894. In 1897, the brothers agreed that Asahel should go to the Yukon and document the Klondike Gold Rush. Asahel remained there for two years, alternately taking pictures and working a small and largely unproductive claim. The brothers parted ways after a bitter disagreement over the rights to Asahel's Yukon photos, which Edward had published under his own name. Edward later became nationally recognized for his twenty-volume series of photos of Native Americans. Asahel also enjoyed a successful career as a photographer, although he did not receive the acclaim that Edward did. He married Florence Carney in 1902 and opened his own studio in 1911. He was hired by a number of local companies, organizations, and wealthy individuals to take portraits and promotional photos. Asahel became more widely known for his high-quality images of the Washington landscape that were published nationally.
Asahel Curtis had a deep appreciation of Mt. Rainier and for several decades he directed both his appreciation for scenic beauty and efforts at regional boosterism into the development of Mt. Rainier National Park. Curtis was a founding member of the Mountaineers, a mountain-climbing group which also promoted the preservation of wilderness areas. Curtis was active in the affairs of the club for the first several years after its founding in 1906. He led the Mountaineers on climbs of Mt. Rainier and organized a committee within the club on Mt. Rainier National Park. However, his involvement in the Seattle-Tacoma Rainier National Park Committee (later the Rainier National Park Advisory Board) strained his relations with the group. The committee, which Curtis chaired from 1912 to 1936, was formed by community business interests to exploit the park's tourism potential. Curtis, through the committee, sought to promote accessibility to the park and to increase tourism by building roads. His opposition to the expansion of Olympic National Park in the late 1930s led to a further deterioration of relations with the Mountaineers. It also caused a rift between Curtis and his fellow Mt. Rainier boosters and effectively ended his involement in park affairs.
Curtis's advocacy was not limited to the development of Mt. Rainier National Park. While serving as the offical photographer for the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, he also chaired its Development Committee and its Highway Committee for many years. His interests reached beyond the Puget Sound region. Curtis owned a small orchard in Ellensburg, and he believed that the landscape of Central Washington could be improved by building irrigation projects to turn the arid region into cropland. The Washington Irrigation Association thus chose Curtis to be its president in the 1920s. He also participated in the affairs of the Washington State Good Roads Association, serving as its president in 1932 and 1933. Asahel Curtis died in 1941.
The album documents many historic buildings in the downtown Seattle area. The album has been dated to after 1900 (Cyrus Clapp building, page 34), and before 1903-1904 (Bonney & Stewart Undertakers, page 23). It probably dates closer to the 1903 opening of the Hotel Washington (page 48).
The album consists of a sequence of photographs that document Seattle street scenes up and down 3rd and 4th Avenues between Yesler and Pine, on both sides of the street; the photos look up and down the named streets as well. The photographs are arranged together in the album so as to present a continuous view of each street. The buildings shown include: Plymouth Congregational Church, First Presbyterian Church, Shorey's Old Book Store, New Western Hotel, Telephone Building, Third Avenue Theatre, Seattle Theatre, St. Elmo Hotel, Old City Hall and Police Station.
Most pages consist of two photographic prints forming a panoramic image.
Entire collection can be viewed on the Libraries’ Digital Collections website. Permission of Visual Materials Curator is required to view originals. Contact Special Collections for more information.
Restrictions may exist on reproduction, quotation, or publication. Contact Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries for details.
Processed by Megan Churchwell, 2009.
Two or more photos appear originally to have been on this page.
Caption probably referring to owner reads: Mrs. [illegible] Gifford
These homes were replaced by the Carnegie Library in 1905-1906.
Businesses include the Telephone Building and Young Plumbing, Gas, and Steam Fitting.
The house was replaced by the Independence Telephone Co. by 1905.
A. Curtis 285 cropped.
Businesses include J. Jesperson Tailor, Globe Laundry, Geo. Mass and Co. Seals and Rubber Stamps, Earl Wing cigar factory, French hand laundry, and German-American Investment with Buttner, Attorney.
Businesses include Dellar Barbers Supply Co., J.D. Warnsholdt and Sons, Tailors, Ray's Cafe/Ray's Restaurant, the Normandy Hotel, Dalbey's Oyster Cafe and Coffee Parlor.
Shows streetcar line running down James St. and the side of the Normandy Hotel.
Includes: Occidental Hotel, Kane & Gross Merchant Tailor, and Oxford Tailor.
Businesses include a confectionery shop, a tobacconnist's shop, and the Bonney & Stewart Undertakers.
Glue spots still evident where photo was pasted. Photo presumably would have shown the front of the building of Bonney & Stewart, Undertakers.
Shows 700 block businesses including: Turkish bath/Alley Restaurant, Bonney & Stewart Undertakers, and Lyon House/Lyon Building.
Bonney & Stewart built a brick building at the 3rd Ave. and Columbia St. site, where the Seattle Chamber of Commerce building now stands. Bonney & Stewart moved into the building in 1893. Ten years later, the name of the business changed when Harry W. Watson bought out Stewart. The Bonney-Watson business still exists, and is now one of the oldest surviving Seattle businesses.
In 1910, the Lyon House was replaced by the Lyon Building which still stands today.
Right hand Item25 is a cropped version of A. Curtis 313. Photo in left hand photo is cropped version of A. Curtis 312.
Businesses include Kinsel Bros. Drugs, H. Hassenpflug, Tailor, I.X.L. Creamery, New Western Hotel, and the Electric Laundry Co.
The small homes or businesses shown here were replaced by the Marion Building by 1905.
Includes M.A. Hart's Hand Laundry.
Businesses include a barber's shop and Home Bakery.
Businesses shown include a real estate firm and Carpenter Shg. Part of the Frederick & Nelson building on 2nd Ave. and Madison St. can be seen in this photo.
Businesses include: C&E News Depot, Morgan's Exchange Real Estate, and Block Bros. Manufacturers.
The Frederick & Nelson department store was located in the Rialto Building at 2nd Ave. and Madison St. The store moved to a new building on 5th Ave. in 1918.
Businesses include: Mills, Randall & Co., Carpenters and
Contractors, the Albemarle Hotel, Routman Plumbing Co., Puget Sound Investment
Co., and the
The
Businesses include: the Cyrus F. Clapp Building (built in 1900), the New York Notion Co., and Howard D. Thomas Co. Carpets.
No caption. This may be a view looking down Seneca St. from 1st Ave., or it may be the first half of the block from Seneca St. to University St. on the west side of 3rd Ave.
Right hand photo is A. Curtis 345B.
This is the site of the 1201 3rd Ave. Tower, previously known as the WAMU Tower.
The Hotel Brooklyn still stands at 1222 2nd Ave. This Romanesque Revival building is one of the few surviving structures that were built immediately after the Great Fire. The building was designated a city landmark in 1986, but was altered to accomodate the construction of the Washington Mutual Tower. Only the primary facades remain.
Businesses include: W.O. Hardin Real Estate, a coal seller, the Snoqualmie Building containing the Snoqualmie Pharmacy, and Hewitt's Restaurant.
Businesses include: the Snoqualmie Hotel Bar, Gustave Neal Paint Co., and Snoqualmie Hotel/Dentist. The view also shows streetcar lines, a brick street, and a W.O.W. banner in the background.
Businesses include: Butterworth Undertakers/Butterworth & Sons Embalmers and W.O. Nelson Plumbing.
Item47-cropped version of left hand side of the photo at A. Curtis 358.
Businesses include: the Lyndhurst Building, Wm. Hensel Jr., Grocer, Superior Cafe, Colson's Restaurant, Ideal Restaurant, Western Laundry, and a shop selling groceries, fruits, and confectionery.
This hotel was previously known as the Denny Hotel, before the Panic of 1893 halted work before the completion of the interior. The hotel was left uncompleted for a decade, before developer James A. Moore bought the hotel. He completed and renamed the 100 room building as the Washington Hotel. Moore personally handed over the first hotel room keys to President Teddy Roosevelt on May 23, 1903. The building survived only until 1906, when the western part of Denny Hill was leveled. Today the historic Moore Theater occupies this location.
Businesses include: Walker Portrait Studio, Delmonico Oyster/Chop House, Secondhand Furniture, the Washington Furnished Rooms, Martin & Fox Auctioneers, Puget Sound Marble & Granite Co., and Seattle Undertaking Co.
Right hand side of Item50 in A. Curtis 348.
Right hand side of Item51 in A. Curtis 346.
Businesses include: Plymouth Congregational Church and the University House Building which housed a furrier and the Pacific Picture Frame Co.
Story is about a public showing of "early Seattle scenes" at the Green Lake Fieldhouse. The Territorial University Building was built in 1861, and was replaced by the Olympic Hotel.
Businesses include: Conklin House, A.R. Smith Cash Grocery, Pacific Paper Box Co., Theosophical Society, a telephone company, and Theo. Turner Steam Carpet Beating.
Businesses include: Kee Wass Laundry, D.H. King Plumbing, a shoeing forge, a wallpaper and paper hanging business, and the Third Avenue Theater at the corner of 3rd Ave. and Madison St.
The Third Avenue Theater opened in 1890 and ran as a family theater with "polite vaudeville," farce, and melodrama. The theater did not survive the 1906-1907 Third Avenue regrade.
Includes: First M.E. Church, C.F. Stolting Wallpaper/Painting, and J. Kenney Boot & Shoe Repair. An Actor's Relief poster is in window of otherwise unidentified business.
Includes: C. Miller Cigar Manufacturer, Smith-Premier Typewriter, G.H. Hoover & Co., and Washington Electric Supply and Mantel Co.
Probably between Columbia St. and Cherry St. on the east side of 3rd Ave. View shows the Anchor Printing Co. at 712 3rd Ave. and a plumbing business.
The Seattle Theater was replaced by the Arctic Building in 1915.
Is also A. Curtis 394.
Is also A. Curtis 292.
Includes: James McGough House and Sign Painting, Good Health Restaurant, and Battle Creek Sanitarium Treatment Rooms. Businesses shown are next door to the St. Elmo Hotel.
Includes a modiste's shop and The American Tailors. The large commerical building depicted is possibly the Scurrey Building.
Seattle pioneer Henry Yesler commissioned William Boone to build his house. Completed in 1884, the mansion occupied the whole block between James St. and Jefferson St., and between 3rd and 4th avenues. It was the largest home in Seattle in 1884. From 1899 to 1901, the building housed the Seattle Public Library until the mansion burned down on January 2, 1901.
Photo probably taken from 3rd Ave. near the intersection with James St.
Photo probably taken from corner of Jefferson St. and Third Ave.
Left hand photo is a cropped version in A. Curtis 278.
Right hand photo is a cropped version in A. Curtis 277.
Full photograph in SEA3041.
Caption: Old Police Station.
This was Seattle's second location for City Hall. Before the city purchased the building in 1891, the building was the King County Courthouse. The building was nicknamed "Katzenjammer Castle" because of the city's many subsequent renovations and additions to it.
Notation in lower left corner of image: Curtis X119.
Notation in lower left corner of image: Curtis X101.
Faded caption unreadable.
Between 1888 and 1940, a cable car line ran from Pioneer Square to Leschi Park.
The Anderson Steamboat Co. boats are visible in this photo.