President Harrison Visits Seattle

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The Evergreen Arch, built to welcome Pres. Harrison to Seattle

On May 6, 1891, at 1:35 p.m., escorted by 100 ships and boats, President Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901), on board the steamship City of Seattle, arrives at Yesler Wharf for a four hour visit to Seattle. President Harrison is the 23rd President of the United States (1889-1893), the second to visit Seattle.

On November 11, 1889, President Harrison had signed the enabling act for Washington to become a state. He was touring the country -- he left Washington D.C. on April 13 -- and visited some 200 cities in the South and up the Pacific Coast before arriving in Seattle.

Seattle Decked Out

The procession moves past the intersection at Yesler Way and 1st Avenue.

The whole city was decorated for the President’s visit. Yesler wharf “looks like a miniature Puget Sound forest, being studded with young evergreens” of Douglas fir and cedar. "A Golden Eagle 36 feet wide from wingtip to wingtip and 15 feet high is mounted on the Yesler wharf warehouse" (Seattle Press-Times).

It rained during most of the President’s visit. “The day was bad, the streets were muddy, the decorations were bedraggled -- everything was damp save the ardor of the people. Patriotic spirit rose superior to adverse conditions, and the president and his party were given such an ovation as this part of the country never saw before. The streets were thronged with eager thousands and there was not a face or a voice that did not express a welcome” (Post-Intelligencer, May 7 1891).

A Surging Sea of Humanity

The President disembarked, got into a carriage which proceeded up Yesler Way to 2nd Avenue (renamed Occidental Avenue) where he stopped briefly at the welcome arch. “Surrounding the arch in every direction was a surging sea of humanity. Men, women, and children, regardless of rain and mud, pushed and elbowed each other in their anxiety to catch a glimpse of the chief of the nation. Every available space at the windows and on the roofs of all the adjacent buildings was crowded. Men and boys perched like swallows on dangerous window ledges, and on the arms of the telegraph poles roosted numerous other venturesome individuals” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 7 1891).

The Evergreen State

In honor of the “Evergreen State” the Arch was made of evergreens and adorned with flags of United States, England, Ireland, Germany, and France with a sign that stated “Our Country, One and Inseparable.” Two U.S flags used during the Indian Wars of 1855-1856 were prominently displayed. To the left of the 75-foot high Arch, school girls sang a welcome song composed for the occasion.

Princess Angeline

Chief Seattle's daughter, Angeline, was seated to the right of the arch. The Post-Intelligencer of the day described her as “Angeline, last of the race of royal barbarians who once ruled in the bays and forests of the Sound.”

Originally she was going to dress in native dress but, as the Post-Intelligencer continued, “[t]hough shriveled and almost bent double with age, she was gaily attired in a blue gingham dress with a bright red shawl over her round shoulders and a red bandanna over her head ... . The piece of withered royalty gazed from the other side with a wondering air at the chief magistrate while he in turn, having been appraised of a meeting with the daughter of the one-time ruler of the broad lands about the Duwamish, returned the gaze with every appearance of being interested” (Post-Intelligencer, May 7 1891).

Princess Angeline remained there for most of the afternoon as a great attraction to out-of-town people. Nearby was a “life-sized picture of old Chief Seattle seated in a canoe, representing him as he arrived in Seattle” (Seattle Press-Times).

President Harrison Sees the City

The President and his entourage took the privately owned Yesler Street (renamed Yesler Way) cable car line to Lake Washington and toured the lake on the steamer Kirkland. They returned to downtown Seattle on the privately owned Madison Street cable car line, and transferred to a carriage. There was a parade to greet the thousands of people who came out to see the President. The Presidential carriage moved south along 2nd Avenue, turned north on Front Street (renamed 1st Avenue), and then turned up Union Street to go up to the University of Washington Campus (located downtown between Union and Seneca Streets and 3rd and 5th Avenues), where the President was to give a speech.

Second Avenue was lined with Douglas fir and cedar trees emitting “the wholesome fragrance of the forest” (Seattle Press-Times). The buildings along the route were covered with bunting, flags, and other decorations. Strings of flags were stretched across Front Street along the President's route.

The President’s Speech

At University of Washington, according to the Post-Intelligencer, “[t]here were as many white people gathered on that ten acres of ground as the whole state of Washington contained twenty years ago.” It was estimated that 35,000 were in attendance. Because of the crush of people it took the President 30 minutes to reach the grandstand. After brief introductions, President Harrison stepped forward to speak. He mentioned that he visited Seattle six years ago, before he was President.

President Harrison spoke as follows:

“You were then largely a prospective city. Some substantial and promising improvements had been begun, but it was a period of expectancy rather than of realization ... . It is a matter of amazement to look upon these towering substantial granite and iron structures in which the great business of your city is transacted. That disaster [Great Seattle Fire of 1889], as it seemed to you, which swept away a large portion of the business part of your city, was like the afflictions that come to the saints, a blessing in disguise ... . You have improved the disaster by rearing structures and completing edifices that were unthought of before ... . I fully appreciate the importance of this great body of water upon which your city is situated. This Sound, this inland sea, must be in the future the highway, the entrepot, of a great commerce. I do most sincerely believe that we are entering now upon a new development that will put the American flag upon the seas and bring to our ports in American bottoms a largely increased share of the commerce of the world… Your demonstration today under these unfavorable environments has been most creditable to your city. We have certainly seen nothing in a journey characterized by great demonstrations to surpass this magnificent scene” (Post-Intelligencer, May 7, 1891).

After the speech the President immediately departed for his train at the Lake Shore & Eastern train depot at the foot of Columbia Street. The President left Seattle for Boise, Idaho at 5:17 p.m.