Browse photographs from the Paul Dorpat Collection which documents the history of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. At this time, a small sampling of images has been digitized while the collection is actively being processed.
Seattle floating bridge, August 28, 1963
This photograph was taken on the opening day of the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, later the SR 520 bridge, from the west side looking east across Lake Washington towards Medina.
Identifier: spl_dor_00052
Date: 1963-08-28
View this itemAerial view of downtown Seattle east from Safeco Plaza, July 15, 1981
Views east towards First Hill and Capitol Hill.
Identifier: spl_dor_00040
Date: 1981-07-15
View this itemS. Washington St. east from 4th Ave. S., May 30, 1968
View of S. Washington St. looking east from 4th Ave. S. with the Terrace View Hotel and Astor Hotel visible in the distance. The Astor Hotel was designed by architects Thompson & Thompson and built in the Japantown section of Seattle's Chinatown-International District in 1909, featuring a 400-seat cultural and performing arts theater, the Nippon Kan Theater. The theater served as a Japanese community center until 1942, when it was boarded up during the Japanese American internment.
Identifier: spl_dor_00011
Date: 1968-05-30
View this itemJapanese Tea Garden, Arboretum, June 11, 1967
Pond at the Seattle Japanese Garden (opened in 1960) located in the Washington Park Arboretum
Identifier: spl_dor_00042
Date: 1967-06-11
View this itemRow of colorful houses at 92nd Ave. N. and College Way N., March 31, 1997
Photograph shows a row of homes in the Northgate neighborhood, all built in the 1980s. This image was used in the March 24, 2012 Now & Then column "Row Houses on 5th." (https://pauldorpat.com/2012/03/24/seattle-now-then-row-houses-on-5th/) The caption provided was "A modern sort of row - this one near North Seattle Community College (on the byway - rather than the freeway - to Costco.)"
Identifier: spl_dor_00041
Date: 1997-03-31
View this itemFrank Cunningham Interview, September 15, 1986
Frank Cunningham (1922-2013) was a fixture in the Seattle rowing scene. Cunningham grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts and attended Harvard and was part of the varsity rowing team. He interrupted his college education to serve in the Marine Corps during World War II. Following the war he moved to Seattle where he began working at Boeing and met his wife, Jane. He earned his graduate degree in teaching from the University of Washington and began a career in education. He also coached the rowing team at Lakeside school where he was also a humanities teacher. Several of his students later became Olympian rowers. He received the medal of honor from the U.S. Rowing Association in 2010 and was included in their Hall of Fame. In 2012, he was honored by the Washington State Senate for his teaching and coaching career.
Identifier: spl_ds_fcunningham_01
Date: 1986-09-15
View this itemMunicipal Plans Commission of the City of Seattle map showing Smith's Cove-West Point District and Railroad Avenue, 1911
Map showing proposed city improvements under the Plan of Seattle, commonly known as the Bogue Plan. Designed by Virgil Bogue, Seattle's municipal plans director, the Bogue Plan proposed a series of improvements aimed at beautifying the city and making it making it more cohesive after years of rapid growth and industrialization. The plan worked in tandem with the Olmsted Brothers new system of parks, begun in 1903, and proposed new government buildings, an improved city center and an interurban road connecting the city together. The plan was rejected by voters in 1912.
Identifier: spl_maps_2465533_10
Date: 1911
View this itemCanadian ships lighted at Piers 90 and 91, August 9, 1964
Identifier: spl_dor_00044
Date: 1964-08-09
View this itemWhite-Henry-Stuart Building being demolished, November 14, 1975
View from University St. looking north on 4th Ave. The White-Henry-Stuart Building appears on the right covered with scaffolding.
Identifier: spl_dor_00020
Date: 1975-11-14
View this itemOlympic National Life Building demolition, March 28, 1982
The aftermath of Seattle's first implosion demolition in Seattle. Onlookers gaze at the remaining two stories of the Olympic National Life Building after the implosion.
Identifier: spl_dor_00026
Date: 1982-03-28
View this item