Yesler Way is an east–west street in Seattle named for Henry Yesler, the founder of Seattle. East–west streets in Seattle south of Yesler Way are prefixed "South";[3] avenues are suffixed with "South" as they cross Yesler Way.[4] The street originates at Alaskan Way on the downtown Seattle waterfront and runs east through Yesler Terrace, the Central District, and Leschi to just east of 32nd Avenue, where the arterial route switches to Lake Dell Avenue. A short residential segment of East Yesler Way, which turns into east of Broadway, exists to the west of Lake Washington Boulevard.
Former name(s) | Mill Street[1] |
---|---|
Namesake | Henry Yesler |
Maintained by | Seattle Department of Transportation |
Length | 2.2 mi (3.5 km)[2] |
Location | Seattle |
West end | Alaskan WayatColman Dock |
Major junctions | BroadwayatYesler Terrace |
East end | Leschi Park |
The line today followed by Yesler Way originally served to demarcate a place where two conflicting surveying efforts met. In the 1850s Arthur Denny and David Maynard, each working independently using different methods, created plats for the settlement that did not neatly overlay. To eventually settle the claims, the two plats were split along this line, with the southern portion following Maynard's east-west layout and the northern portion following the Denny approach of following the shoreline.[5] With the line established, a street formed. When freshly cut logs were sent down the steep street, the street was referred to as Skid Road, which became genericizedasSkid Row in other cities.[6] Another nickname for the street was "dead line" circa the 1890s.[7][8]
The street was renamed Yesler Way and later paved by Patrick J. McHugh in 1903.[9]
avenues south of Yesler Way are followed by 'South' ... Streets south of Yesler Way bear the prefix 'South'
The north/south streets become suffixed with 'South' when they are south of Yesler Way ... East/west streets that are south of Yesler Way are prefixed with 'South'
Yesler Way—the nation's original 'Skid Row' ... Skid Road was christened here in the 1850s, when logs were 'skidded' by horses, mules or oxen down the steep, timber‑lined path to Henry Yesler's thriving sawmill on Elliott Bay.
[In] Seattle's red-light district ... the moral border streets of Yesler and Washington shar[ed] another, special moniker: "the Dead-line" – as in a statement made by the Seattle Telegraph that "There is no law south of the Deadline. Anything goes."
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