Overview

Located in a row of businesses lining the west side of Commercial Street, the W.A. Jennings Grocery Store was notable for being an early brick structure in the city. In 1878, most other businesses in this part of Pioneer Square were timber framed and clad in wood, much of it milled in the nearby Yesler Mill.

Building History

W.A. Jennings sold groceries and hardware in this one-story, brick retail building, located on Seattle's main commercial street in 1878, He made additional profits selling wine, liquors and cigars. The neighboring San Francisco Store would go on to be the Toklas and Singerman menswear store, one of Seattle's most successful clothing retailers between 1875 and 1920.

Born in New York State, William A. Jennings (born c. 1847) lived in San Francisco, CA, by 1860, where his father David A. Jennings (born c. 1817 in NY) worked as a merchant. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1860; Census Place: San Francisco District 4, San Francisco, California; Roll: M653_68; Page: 1117; Family History Library Film: 803068, accessed 08/27/2022.) By 1870, he worked as a 23-year-old dry-goods merchant in Port Madison, WA, a lumber town on Bainbridge Island. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1870; Census Place: Port Madison, Kitsap, Washington Territory; Roll: M593_1683; Page: 131A, accessed 08/27/2022.) He had relocated to Seattle before 1878, where he set up this retail store.

PCAD id: 23213