Block 16 History
Dublin Core
Title
Block 16 History
Creator
William Perry
Source
William Perry
Publisher
William Perry
Date
2/17/17
Rights
Copyrights held by William Perry
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
William Perry
Audio report:
Block 16 is nestled in between the World Renowned University of Washington, along 15th Street NE, and University Way NE, also known as the “Ave”. With residential housing filling the block in the late 1880s and early 1900s, Block 16 has been sitting on highly sought after land ever since the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. The University Temple was a prominent building in the early 1900’s not only because it was a center of religion, but how it sored over all the other buildings around it. The Ave also went under renovations as it was paved in 1909. Not before long, the houses along Columbus Avenue, now University way NE, were torn down and replaced with into one to two story shops. One building specifically located on the South west corner of block 16 has had an interesting history on the Ave. Initially serving as a post office, the store was bought by Beatrice Kutz in the 60’s which led to the formation of the book store “Puss N’ Books”. It was rumored to be named after the several overweight cats who populated the store. Then, in 1970, the building became the “ID”, a bookstore which was known for its left-wing political views. On May 5th, 1970 the I-5 came to a stand still when over 5,000 students and teachers marched along the interstate, protesting the Vietnam War. In order to disperse the people, the Seattle Police maced the crowds, resulting in herds of people running back to the ID bookstore to have their eyes cleansed with water. Keeping the trend of bookstores alive, Magus books is currently located in the building along with Bull Dog News. Although the original post office for the University district was on the south-west corner, a new post office was built in 1937 at the corner of University way and NE 43rd Street. Despite the numerous houses that were on Block 16 in the early 20th century, it has a mere three residential buildings, which hold approximately 70 people, according to city-data.com. Block 16 was also the original Starting point for the University District Street Fair which ran along University Way and to this day is the longest running street fair in the country. Locations like this are what give the University District its unique personality. Just as Block 16 went through major changes in the yearly 1900’s, I foresee another rise of gentrification in the near future for block 16
Audio report:
Block 16 is nestled in between the World Renowned University of Washington, along 15th Street NE, and University Way NE, also known as the “Ave”. With residential housing filling the block in the late 1880s and early 1900s, Block 16 has been sitting on highly sought after land ever since the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. The University Temple was a prominent building in the early 1900’s not only because it was a center of religion, but how it sored over all the other buildings around it. The Ave also went under renovations as it was paved in 1909. Not before long, the houses along Columbus Avenue, now University way NE, were torn down and replaced with into one to two story shops. One building specifically located on the South west corner of block 16 has had an interesting history on the Ave. Initially serving as a post office, the store was bought by Beatrice Kutz in the 60’s which led to the formation of the book store “Puss N’ Books”. It was rumored to be named after the several overweight cats who populated the store. Then, in 1970, the building became the “ID”, a bookstore which was known for its left-wing political views. On May 5th, 1970 the I-5 came to a stand still when over 5,000 students and teachers marched along the interstate, protesting the Vietnam War. In order to disperse the people, the Seattle Police maced the crowds, resulting in herds of people running back to the ID bookstore to have their eyes cleansed with water. Keeping the trend of bookstores alive, Magus books is currently located in the building along with Bull Dog News. Although the original post office for the University district was on the south-west corner, a new post office was built in 1937 at the corner of University way and NE 43rd Street. Despite the numerous houses that were on Block 16 in the early 20th century, it has a mere three residential buildings, which hold approximately 70 people, according to city-data.com. Block 16 was also the original Starting point for the University District Street Fair which ran along University Way and to this day is the longest running street fair in the country. Locations like this are what give the University District its unique personality. Just as Block 16 went through major changes in the yearly 1900’s, I foresee another rise of gentrification in the near future for block 16
Files
Citation
William Perry, “Block 16 History,” University District Stories, accessed November 28, 2024, https://courses.washington.edu/hstaa208/items/show/815.