Conclusion

Though it can never be entirely complete, I hope to have explained the story of Block 5 and its changes over time. From the story of the area, I’ve found a few main points have emerged. First, even the most boring block in a neighborhood could once have been a raging strip in the past- the interesting tidbits I uncovered in this research indicate Block 5 could likely have been such a case. This leads to my second discovery from this work, that change within an urban landscape is almost guaranteed. While progress marches on- or in the case of the recent U District rezone, marches up- what matters is that future change takes into account the changes that came before it. Finally, from learning this site’s history, one can see that the drivers of change within the U District for the last 80 years have been the students- the “heyday” of Block 5 was when it was the most student oriented. Community stakeholders and historians alike may see this as an indicator of where the ideal U District is headed, as we move towards new changes in the neighborhood, and Seattle as a whole.