Pike Place Market

What is Pike Place Market?

The Market was opened on August 17, 1907 as a city-sponsored experiment to help reduce the high cost of local produce. As it became an instant attraction mile wide, the Market became beneficial to the residents and farmers.

Pike Place Market is one of Seattle’s top attraction and home of many. Today, the Market is a hectic yet joyful environment, which gives visitors of the community’s eclectic and diverse livelihoods, arts, cultures, and backgrounds. And while this ‘little’ Market could be seen as a highly focused embodiment of the city’s current outlook, few may be aware of the location’s deeper history. The Pike Place Market has been shaped by a long history of people, of many backgrounds, passing through and even inhibiting its buildings; for more than a century, the Market and its community have shaped one another, for better and for worse.

In this collection of essays, many historical topics about Pike Place Market are brought the attention of the readers. In one of the five sections, you will read about the labor put forth to build and expand what the Market had been. While the first weeks of the Market were hectic and overcrowded, three men took it upon themselves when they saw an opportunity to make money.
Looking on in the collection of work, the readers will read about the history of women in the Market and Downtown Seattle area and come to realize that until the 1900’s, women had not had a right to vote, own a business, or have a rightful view from society. It will also be seen that Seattle has a deep-rooted history of prostitution, which many women turned to as there were no other jobs for them. In another section from this collection of work, the readers will come to see that in the early 20th century, immigrants from all over the world were making their way to the U.S., where many found their way to Seattle. The Pike Place Market provided many immigrants with some semblance of financial opportunity and formed an inseparable relationship with them. Though, this was not the case for all following the war, immigrant struggled to keep jobs but those who did continued to shape the history, culture, and economy of the Market. Now that the Market has such a large impact on the community, preserving the community and buildings has been an important role for all those associated with the Market. In this essay, the reader will come to see the shift in focuses between building the viaduct, planning to build skyscrapers in place of the Marker and creating the Preservation and Development Authority (PDA) while also keeping many landmarks untouched. Since its foundation, Pike Place Market has been deeply influenced by race and ethnic relations. When racial and ethnic relations were when harmonious, the Market has prospered. But when these relations were strained, the Market nearly collapsed.