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On March 6, 1908, Seattle Mayor William Hickman Moore (1861-1946) signs an ordinance granting the Union Pacific Railway the right to enter the city. For years, the Union Pacific considered Seattle, among other contenders on Puget Sound, as its Western terminus.

The ordinance includes bills governing the new Union Station site between 4th Avenue and 5th Avenue near Main Street, the closure of surrounding streets, and the construction of a tunnel approximately 5,400 feet long.

Construction of the tunnel, which passed under a portion of the city, had begun months before, in anticipation of the ordinance.

Sources:

Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 7, 1908, p. 1.

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