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IN 1891, Cort's Casino, stood between Jackson and Yesler Avenues on Lake Washington in Seattle. (See Polk's Seattle Directory Company's Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1891, p. 249.)

In 1890, John Cort (1859-1929), a Seattle box-house owner, sought to enter the market for "legitimate" theatre in the city. Cort advertised in Polk's Seattle City Directory (1890) that the Lake Washington Casino would provide "First-Class Comedy, Burlesque and Variety" and "New Star Artists Weekly" each day of the week. The ad was assuring audiences that the performances at the Lake Washington Casino were both wholesome (in contrast to those of his Pioneer Square box-houses) and rotated for freshness. The Lake Washington Casino was in operation from 1890-1894 under this name, and as the "Leschi Park Pavilion" between 1894-1904. (See Eugene Clinton Elliott, "Appendix I," A History of Variety-Vaudeville in Seattle from the Beginning to 1914, Appendix I, [Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1944], p.66.)

PCAD id: 18438