In addition to petitions for sewer, lights, and water, petitions for the improvements of streets, especially Ferdinand Street, are frequent in the records of the City of Columbia. These five girls, names not known, are standing on Ferdinand Street, half a block east of Rainier. The planked sidwalk is in the background. Rainier Valley Historical Society 93.001.404
In 1907, the city of Seattle annexed the municipalities of West Seattle, Ballard, South Park, Southeast Seattle, and Columbia City as well as Ravenna Park and vicinity and unincorporated southeast neighborhoods, thereby doubling its land area amid a dramatic surge in population.
These and several other landmark events are recapped in a series of eight large exhibit panels produced by HistoryLink in partnership with Seattle Municipal Archives for the Mayor's Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs.
The exhibit panels can be viewed online at HistoryLink.org. Street banners were hung throughout Seattle neighborhoods in 2007 to commemorate the centennial of their annexations.
