Pike Place Market opened August 17th, 1907, and is one of the oldest continuously operated public farmers’ markets in the United States. In 1963, a proposal was put forward to demolish Pike Place and replace it with a new development. Significant community opposition led by the “Friends of the Market” spurred the passage of a historic preservation ordinance in 1971 which designated the market a local landmark historic district and created the Pike Place Market Preservation Development Authority.
Pike Place Public Market
Points of Interest 
Butterworth Building
The Butterworth & Sons mortuary opened in 1903 as the city’s first purpose-built mortuary building and housed the first elevator on the west coast of the United States, used to transport bodies. Designed by John Graham, Sr., it was Graham’s first commercial building commission in Seattle.
Alaska Trade Building
The Alaska Trade Building was designed by J.C. Taft in 1909 and built for James H. Steele, a building contractor. The building is significant for its association with the personalities and history of the “Seattle Union Record,” unique as the only labor-owned daily newspaper. The “Record” was a powerful voice in the community and played an important role in labor activities by providing means of communication and generating a feeling of unity in labor, and by giving laboring men a sense of place in the community at the same time notifying Seattle of labor’s aspirations. The paper expired in 1928.
Points of Interest
Butterworth Building
The Butterworth & Sons mortuary opened in 1903 as the city’s first purpose-built mortuary building and housed the first elevator on the west coast of the United States, used to transport bodies. Designed by John Graham, Sr., it was Graham’s first commercial building commission in Seattle.
Alaska Trade Building
The Alaska Trade Building was designed by J.C. Taft in 1909 and built for James H. Steele, a building contractor. The building is significant for its association with the personalities and history of the “Seattle Union Record,” unique as the only labor-owned daily newspaper. The “Record” was a powerful voice in the community and played an important role in labor activities by providing means of communication and generating a feeling of unity in labor, and by giving laboring men a sense of place in the community at the same time notifying Seattle of labor’s aspirations. The paper expired in 1928.
