West Seattle beginnings: Humphrey Post Office (later Youngstown) opens on January 13, 1903.

HistoryLink.org Essay 577 : Printer-Friendly Format

On January 13, 1903, Humphrey Post Office opens. John W. Reed is appointed the first postmaster. Humphrey, renamed Youngstown on July 19, 1905, is located in present-day West Seattle three miles south of the business district of Seattle within the future city limits.

During 1904, the Seattle Steel Company started manufacturing steel, the first to be produced in King County. The company, owned by William Piggott (1860-1929), was located in Youngstown.

In 1907, Youngstown was annexed to Seattle.

Sources:
Guy Reed Ramsey, "Postmarked Washington, 1850-1960," Microfilm (Olympia: Washington State Library, February, 1966), 668-669.

By Greg Lange, January 01, 1999

Travel through time (chronological order):
< Browse to Previous Essay | Browse to Next Essay >

Related Topics: Infrastructure | Government & Politics | Cities & Towns |

Licensing: This essay is licensed under a Creative Commons license that encourages reproduction with attribution. Credit should be given to both HistoryLink.org and to the author, and sources must be included with any reproduction. Click the icon for more info. Please note that this Creative Commons license applies to text only, and not to images. For more information regarding individual photos or images, please contact the source noted in the image credit.

Youngstown, West Seattle, 1908
Photo by Asahel Curtis, Courtesy UW Special Collections (Neg. No. A.Curtis 11540)