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David Thomas Denny (1832-1903), a transplanted IL farmer, came to Puget Sound even before the Denny Party led by his more celebrated elder brother, Arthur Armstrong Denny (1822-1899). David Denny, John Nathan Low (1820-1888), and Leander Terry (1818-1862) scouted suitable homesteads ahead of the main group, traveling north from Portland, OR, to the Seattle, WA, area on 09/10/1851. When a settlement place had been selected near Alki Point on 09/28/1851, (a town site that would be known early on as "New York,") David Denny sent a note back to OR with Low, telling the main party to come north at once. In the meantime, the youthful, 19-year-old Denny began work on the foundation of this building on 09/28/1851. The house still lacked its roof when Arthur Denny, John and Lydia Low (d. 1901) and 22 others arrived aboard the schooner Exact on 11/13/1851; the party found David, ill, struggling to finish the rudimentary log cabin. For the next few months, this little dwelling sheltered the Denny Brothers and their wives, Louisa and Mary Boren. The Denny clan soon left West Seattle for land claims to the east in an area that would become Downtown Seattle.

The exact location of the Denny Log Cabin has not been pinpointed. (See Paul Dorpat, "Seattle Now and Then,"Accessed 07/31/2012.)

PCAD id: 18016