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Overview

This store at 1117 1st Avenue was an important outfitter for miners seeking their fortunes in the gold fields of Alaska and the Klondike. News of the gold strike reached Seattle in 1897, and by 1898, gold fever had revived the economy of Seattle (slowed by the Depression of 1893), spurring the start of many businesses geared to outfitting adventurers for cold climates.

Building Notes

This company placed a classified ad under the category "Alaska Outfitters" in the Seattle Times, 08/22/1908, p. 17. The ad indicated that the Seattle Woolen Mill Store was located at 1117 1st Avenue, between Spring Street and Seneca Street, and stocked "Complete clothing and bedding outfits for Alaska. Pioneer manufacturers of miners' and lumbermen's pure wool clothing." (See "Alaska Outfitters," Seattle Times, 08/22/1908, p. 17.) Before the construction of the Colonial Hotel, the Seattle Woolen Mills had its offices in the preceding commercial building at 1117-1119 1st Avenue, before moving to the neighboring Grand Pacific Hotel in 1899.