Unfortunately, restless business owners began rebuilding before the city had a chance to start their elevated renovations. And the owners were building at the old street level.

It was decided to build the city up without shutting down what lay below. This meant that some sidewalks and storefronts were as deep as 36 feet beneath a newer, higher version of the neighborhood upon completion. By building up brick and wooden walls to elevate the street level, Seattle had created a bona fide underground city. Visitors climbed ladders down to the lower level streets and stores, until a series of entrances was built to grant access to the subterranean section of town. The city eventually condemned the underground city on the grounds that it seemed like a breeding pit for any number of diseases, particularly bubonic plague, which had been sweeping the city. For decades, the underground has sat unused, just beneath the surface of the very much active Pioneer Square.

Starting in the 1960s, local entrepreneurs began running tours of the underground city, appropriately named the Underground Tour, which has become a popular tourist activity. Recently, tour organizers began offering the Underworld Tour, which is an adult geared version of the tour that speaks frankly about the tunnels’ use by drug and prostitution kingpins.

Penny Truitt, a tour guide of Seattle’s underbelly, showed us around when we visited the city.
One of the first things we asked Penny about was why it was necessary in the first place to elevate the city. She told us of the havoc the constant flooding wreaked on the area’s infrastructure – and particularly on its plumbing.

“Yeah, you could call it a big problem. Out toilets literally flushed in reverse during really high tides,” Penny informed us. “It turns out when you lay a sewer system you should have the exit point above the highest tide. I think the Romans had that down. Seattle, you know, we’re all about trial and error.”

How large was the problem? “At one point, about ten percent of the population claimed to be working as, ah, seamstresses,” Penny admitted. “Over 2,000 seamstresses, all but six living in the same three block area.”

It just goes to prove what we’ve always said here at Weird WA: When you’ve got a lot of gold and a lot of frontier people, you’ve got to get your britches stitched.

These days, the underground version of Pioneer Square still stands, although access is limited to the public. Rumors swirl that it has become a de facto home for Seattle’s homeless population, who use it for shelter, especially during bad weather.

Weird Washington