Mayor Wes Uhlman at Pike Place Market anniversary celebration, August 1977 (Item 36726, Seattle Municipal Archives)
Wes Uhlman was born in 1935 in Cashmere, Washington. He attended Aberdeen High School, Seattle Pacific College, and the University of Washington, where he served as president of the Young Democrats. He married a classmate, Leila Hammond, and returned to UW for law school in 1956.
In 1958, as a 23-year-old law student, he defeated incumbent Republican Hartney Oakes to represent the 32nd district in the Washington State House of Representatives, becoming the youngest member of the State Legislature. He served four terms before running for, and winning, a seat in the Washington State Senate.
Uhlman was elected Mayor in 1969, the youngest chief executive in Seattle's history and the first Democrat in almost 30 years. He was immediately faced with a host of problems ranging from racial tensions and large anti-war demonstrations to a police scandal and an economic downturn. He responded by overhauling the city bureaucracy, encouraging increased citizen participation in government, and expanding social services. He was a strong believer in affirmative action, and the percentage of City workers who were minorities doubled during his time in office.
He left the mayor's office in 1977 after serving two terms that included an unsuccessful run for governor in 1976. After his political career, he worked in law and real estate development.
These records help illustrate many of Seattle's major issues and challenges in the 1970s, including economic woes and unemployment, transportation and land use, and the Forward Thrust projects. The emerging historic preservation movement can be seen in records relating to Pioneer Square and the thwarted redevelopment of Pike Place market. Civil rights-related issues are represented by records relating to desegregation, redlining, affirmative action, and gay rights. And increasing concerns about the health of the environment are reflected in files about pollution, Earth Day, and new environmental policies.
Digitized photos include Uhlman's 1971 trip to Jerusalem, Isreal. Fifty
images have been digitized and are available to view on our digital platform.
View 5287-04 online
Uhlman's records have been organized into the following series:
Records are open to the public.
[Item and date], Wesley Uhlman Mayoral Records, Record Series [5287-XX]. Box [number], Folder [number]. Seattle Municipal Archives.
These records were originally donated to the University of Washington. They were transferred to the Seattle Municipal Archives in 2006.
Publications were pulled from the collection and are cataloged
separately in the
A small number of Uhlman's early mayoral records are contained in Record Series 5210-01.
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.
Correspondence with city departments regarding ongoing operations as well as specific issues and events. The largest section of records covers the Executive Department, which includes the office and activities of the Mayor as well as subsidiary agencies like the Citizens Service Bureau, the Office of Policy Planning, and the Office of Management and Budget. Mayoral staffers' files are also included.
Records relating to the Department of Community Development go into detail about the city's neighborhood improvement and urban renewal projects, including the Westlake and Yesler-Atlantic projects, as well as the plan to redevelop Pike Place Market. Materials from the Lighting Department cover issues including Ross Dam and labor strikes. Police Department files include citizen complaints as well as discussions of gambling and hollow point bullets. Other departments heavily represented in the records include Engineering, Legislative (City Council), Human Resources (social services), and Personnel.
Records are arranged alphabetically by department.
Correspondence, reports, and other records related to the issues, programs, and organizations that were part of the work of the Mayor's Office during Uhlman's tenure. Topics range in scale from large transportation projects and the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial to individual parks and fire stations.
The records include correspondence with and about local organizations such as the Downtown Seattle Development Association, Seattle Convention and Visitors Bureau, League of Women Voters, and Central Area Motivation Program (CAMP). The mayor's work with organizations such as the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Japan-American Conference of Mayors, National League of Cities, and Seattle-King County Economic Opportunity Board is also documented. The work of boards and commissions as varied as the Seattle-King County Youth Commission, the Mayor's Maritime Advisory Committee, the Building Code Advisory Board, and the Mayor's Task Force on Arson is represented here as well.
Additionally, the records contain correspondence with other local governmental entities, including King County, Metro, the Port of Seattle, and Washington State agencies. There is also documentation of the city's contacts with the federal government, especially HUD and the Departments of Labor and Transportation. The records also include routine mayoral correspondence such as thank you letters, congratulations, responses to invitations, condolences, and letters of introduction.
The emergence of a number of issues and movements can be traced in these records, including the creation of environmental policy and the codification of historic preservation in the city. Civil rights and related issues are documented in records relating to demonstrations, affirmative action, redlining, school desegregation, the Black Panthers, and the city's first Gay Pride proclamation. Transportation projects are detailed in files about Interstate 90, rapid transit, and freeway projects, and records about Fort Lawton, Sand Point, and the Kingdome relate to major land use issues of the day. Other topics represented in this series include Forward Thrust, drug abuse, housing, city charter amendments, the Burke-Gilman Trail, major league baseball, the municipal building, neighborhood issues, Seafair, sister cities, and the city's animal shelter.
Records are arranged alphabetically by subject.
Series contains correspondence with individuals and institutions, filed by letter. Many of these are from citizens who wrote to the mayor about a particular issue of concern to them. Other miscellaneous correspondence, sorted by year, is also included.
Photographs collected from the Wesley Uhlman Departmental Correspondence and other series. Included are photos of Mayor Uhlman's trip to Israel in 1971 among other images of Seattle in the 1960s.
Ceremonial documents issued by the Mayor honoring individuals and organizations, and celebrating special events. Records include a copy of the proclamation and, in some cases, information about the honoree or the event being celebrated. Proclamations exist for 1969-1970 and 1976-1977. The earliest proclamations are arranged alphabetically, while those from 1976 and 1977 are filed in rough chronological order.