Human Habitrails
Seattle's Pedestrian Tunnels
In the early part of the twentieth century, Seattleites told the following joke. “What’s the longest tunnel on Earth? Seattle’s Great Northern rail tunnel because it goes from Washington to Virginia. Washington Street to Virginia Street, that is.” Okay, so humor back in the day wasn’t the best (which is why I like it) but those early jokesters recognized what seems to me an overlooked aspect of modern Seattle, that under the city runs a warren of tunnels.
Since the 1880s, workers (aided by a few machines, such as Bertha) have excavated more than 100 tunnels snaking more than 40 miles under Seattle. They were built to move sewage, railroads, water, trains, and busses and include the 17,570-foot-long Lake City Trunk Sewer and the Lake Union Sewer Tunnel, the city’s oldest. (Coincidentally, the Seattle Times ran a story yesterday on the newest tunnel.) I have written about them before but wanted to take a different tack today and look at very short, people-oriented tunnels hiding under our feet. Not all are accessible. (I don’t mention the Underground Tour because the passages are not tunnels; they are areaways.)
Tunnels of Justice - Start high atop Goat Hill, where one can enter from the parking lot or the street (5th and Jefferson) and go down and around, passing through the Chinook Building and King County Administration, ending at the Courthouse, where security may give you a skeptical look, asking how you got there. The entire route is ADA accessible with elevators. Don’t forget to cue the Get Smart theme song.
Con-Rain Tunnel - Not a tunnel, the first section from the Convention Center to Two Union goes through and between buildings and avoids street level. The Two Union-to-Rainier-Tower section is underground but sadly, the wonderful hallways of historical display and photos that used to be in the tunnel have been replaced by a much more limited but still nicely executed panel outside (but still inside) of the PCC in the Rainier Tower.
Columbia Center to 800 Tower - Cutting diagonally under the intersection of Fifth and Columbia, the glass-walled tunnel is the most commercial, linking the Columbia Center food court with stores at 800 Tower. There’s also a connection to the Seattle Municipal Tower, which is supposed to look like a barn but has been described more anatomically. It’s worth visiting the Muni Tower to see the artwork.
Boeing’s Bypass Tunnel - Located under 16th Ave. S., a hundred yards or so north of the Duwamish River, the tunnel was built to allow Boeing employees to move between different facilities.
Aurora Avenue School Tunnel - Back in the day, the city of Seattle used to build bypasses to aid school children in crossing busy streets. As far as I can tell, all were bridges (e.g. MLK and Rainier Ave., Holman and 13th, Delridge and Oregon, and Aurora and 102nd) except for a tunnel under Aurora at 79th. It opened in 1928 (when the street was known as Woodland Park Ave.) for students at Daniel Bagley School. Still there, it’s long been inaccessible, which is too bad but also probably a necessity in our modern world.
Seattle Steam - Unfortunately one cannot access this tunnel but I think it’s still swell to know about it. It goes between the two Seattle Steam plants (now called Enwave Seattle) on Western Avenue, just south of Union Street.
Cobb Building - When I asked at the front desk of The Capital Grille in the Cobb Building about a tunnel going south from the building to a parking garage across the street, I was told “No, there isn’t one.” When I walked into the parking garage, I found the sign below. I wonder if this tunnel is the one referred to in the image above about the Stimson Building, which was in the same location as the parking garage.
Rumors - As one might imagine, rumors abound about tunnels. There was supposedly one connecting The Showbox theater with Pike Place Market, which facilitated the movement of Prohibition era booze. I could not find any evidence for it. I have also heard of many secret tunnels linking buildings in the Chinatown/ID but was told by Marie Wong, who has written extensively about that neighborhood: “The idea of tunnels connecting buildings under Chinatown is really a myth but it’s a very big myth that has followed every Chinatown in the US.” She did tell me though that there are “secret” passages within the buildings of Chinatown.
Formerly the New Washington Hotel, the Josephinum (owned by Catholic Housing Service and now serving low-income people) on Second Avenue was trisected, perhaps, by tunnels. One went north to a swimming pool in the basement of the Moore (students from St. Anne School took swimming lessons, under the guidance of Helene Madison), one south across Stewart to an annex, and the third west across Second. The latter two, which are rumored but not confirmed, were apparently for the movement of barrels of booze in an era when that was the preferred transportation method. There was a speakeasy under what is now the nearby Simply Seattle store, so perhaps the rumors are true.
I suspect there may be other such tunnels, rumored or otherwise. Please let me know if you know of others.
Interview - Feliks Banel interviewed me about this newsletter for his Cascade of History podcast.
Very interesting! And as a strange side note--my husband and I currently own the home near Greenlake the that Helene Madison grew up in!
Wow, many more tunnels than I knew about! I enjoyed the discussion of the tunnels you had with Feliks Banel on his Cascades of History radio show on Sunday...fun stuff.