SEATTLE — As the country celebrates America’s Independence Day, residents in Seattle and beyond have more than one reason to celebrate. There are a number of historical markers that make the day significant throughout the Puget Sound area, including the completion of Smith Tower and the naming of Lake Union and Lake Washington. Continue on to read more local history recaps from HistoryLink.org.
Seattle residents celebrate Independence Day on July 4, 1854, and adopt names for Lake Union and Lake Washington
By Walt Crowley
On the Fourth of July, 1854, most of Seattle's few hundred residents gather to celebrate near a lake called Tenas Chuck ("little waters"). Thomas Mercer (1813-1898) addresses the group and proposes naming the larger lake to the east, known variously as Hyas Chuck, Geneva, and D'wamish, as Lake Washington. He also proposes renaming Tenas Chuck as Lake Union because he believes that a canal will ultimately connect it to Lake Washington and to Puget Sound.
Settlers approved the new lake names, which were formally adopted a few weeks later. Mercer's vision of a canal was not fully realized for many decades. Work began on the Lake Washington Ship Canal in 1911, and the Government Locks, now named for engineer Hiram M. Chittenden (1858-1917), were dedicated on July 4, 1917.
The canal was declared complete in 1934, 80 years after Mercer first proposed it.
Smith Tower officially opens in Seattle on July 4, 1914
By Alan J. Stein
On July 4, 1914, the 462-foot-high Smith Tower, located in downtown Seattle, is officially opened by its owner, Burns Lyman Smith (1880-1941). Located at 506 2nd Avenue, the building has taken three and a half years to construct. The Smith Tower is built with 1,400 doors, 2,000 windows, and 40,000 feet of molding. The building sits on 1,276 Raymond concrete piles measuring 22 feet in length. The American Bridge Company produced the tower's steel in a Pittsburgh plant and shipped it on 164 railroad cars, each carrying about 28 tons.
SS Roosevelt leads a marine parade through the Ballard Locks to dedicate the Lake Washington Ship Canal on July 4, 1917
By David B. William
On July 4, 1917, the SS Roosevelt passes through the Government Locks in Ballard, kicking off celebrations to dedicate the locks and Lake Washington Ship Canal, which have been open since mid-1916. The ship pauses at the locks for dignitaries to make speeches that highlight the importance of the great day. Additional speeches follow at the Fremont Bridge and then the Roosevelt leads more than 200 boats on a grand parade through the Montlake Cut and down Lake Washington to Leschi Park in Southeast Seattle. One newspaper estimates that half of Seattle's population lines the shores for the festivities.
William Boeing reportedly takes his first airplane ride on July 4, 1915
By Walt Crowley
On July 4, 1915, pilot Terah Maroney gives airplane rides to William E. Boeing (1881-1956) and U.S. Navy Lieutenant Conrad Westervelt in a small seaplane based on Lake Washington. Some historians doubt this date because it was a Sunday, and believe Boeing's first flight occurred later. Regardless, inspired by their first taste of flight, Boeing and Westervelt would join forces to found what would become the Boeing Airplane Company in 1916.
Sources for “Seattle residents celebrate Independence Day on July 4, 1854, and adopt names for Lake Union and Lake Washington”
Clarence Bagley, History of Seattle (Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1916).
Note: This essay was revised slightly on May 3, 2012.
Sources for “Smith Tower officially opens in Seattle on July 4, 1914”
"L. C. Smith Dies at Home in Syracuse," The Seattle Times, November 6, 1910, p. 25; "Smith Tells Story of Big Skyscraper," The Seattle Times, February 23, 1912, pp. 5, 10; "Smith to Begin Work on Another Giant Building," The Seattle Times, February 17, 1913, p. 1; "Gill Leisurely Climbs to Top of Skyscraper," The Seattle Times, April 1, 1914, pp. 1, 3; "Cruisers of Japanese Training Squadron Due to Arrive Here June 27 for Ten Days' Visit," The Seattle Times, June 21, 1914, p. 22; "Smith Building Opening Brings Joy to the Builder," The Seattle Times, July 4, 1914, pp. 1, 2; "Kuroi Sees City From Smith Building Peak," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 4, 1914, p. 2; "Smith Tower is Magnet for Big Holiday Crowd," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 4, 1914, p. 2; "As War Roars, Smith Promises Eating Palace," The Seattle Times, August 7, 1914, pp. 1, 3; HistoryLink.org Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History, " Smith Tower (Seattle)" (by John Pastier), http://www.historylink.org/ (accessed February 8, 2013).
Sources for “SS Roosevelt leads a marine parade through the Ballard Locks to dedicate the Lake Washington Ship Canal on July 4, 1917”
"Peary and the Roosevelt: When Man and Ship Were One," Panama Canal Review, Vol. 15, No. 6, August 1965, pp. 14-16, 22; "Name Change at Locks is Approved, The Seattle Times, July 25, 1956, p. 19; "Seattle's Ship Way, Dream of Years, Opened," The Seattle Times, July 4, 1917, pp. 1, 9, 12; "First Ocean-going Vessel Passes Into Lake," The Seattle Times, July 5, 1917, p. 14; "City's Big Waterway Dedicated," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 5, 1917, pp. 1, 2, 9; "Piles Asserts Canal Pageant Incomparable," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 5, 1917, p. 7; David B. Williams, Jennifer Ott, and the Staff of HistoryLink, Waterway: The Story of Seattle's Locks and Ship Canal (Seattle: HistoryLink, forthcoming, June 2017); HistoryLink.org Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History, "Lake Washington Ship Canal (Seattle)" (by David B. Williams) and "Seattle's Fremont Bridge opens to traffic on June 15, 1917" (by Priscilla Long), http://www.historylink.org/ (accessed February 5, 2017).
Note: This essay replaces an earlier essay on the same subject.
Sources for “William Boeing reportedly takes his first airplane ride on July 4, 1915”
Harold Mansfield, Vision: The Story of Boeing (New York: Popular Press, 1966), 7-11; Robert Serling, Legend & Legacy: The Story of Boeing and Its People (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992), 1-2.
Note: The original version of this essay incorrectly stated the year of Boeing's first flight as 1914 (based on Mansfield, who interviewed Conrad Westervelt in 1956). Site visitor Jules James and Boeing archivist Mike Lombardi aided HistoryLink in confirming that W. E. Boeing more likely took his first airplane flight on July 4, 1915, a date also reported in the August 30, 1915, edition of Aerial Age Weekly. However, other historians such as Paul Spitzer are not convinced because July 4 fell on a Sunday in 1915 and pilots such as Maroney would have been in high demand for demonstration flights. The file was corrected on August 24, 2001, and emended again on June 12, 2006.
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