Market's history finds a home at center

After they sang folk ballads, snipped the colorful ribbon and rolled up the metal doors, Ed Suguro strolled from story panel to story panel, soaking up 92 years of Pike Place Market history.

At yesterday's debut of the Market's new Heritage Center, Suguro, 62, of Seattle, could relate to the grainy black-and-white photos, the poster narratives and interactive touch screens.

Suguro's grandfather was among the Market's early Japanese farmers who sold berries, flowers and corn in stalls along Pike Place.

A visitor at the newly opened Heritage Center at Pike Place Market on Western Avenue looks over an exhibit, 92 years after the Market opened.
Meryl Schenker/P-I

In the 1910s, the Japanese represented 1.1 percent of the state's population, yet they produced 75 percent of the region's berries and vegetables, according to one of the history panels.

Suguro, who helped research the Japanese narratives, was among the 300 Market officials, residents and shoppers celebrating the Heritage Center's opening with a noontime glass of fruit punch and a reflection on the Market's colorful and sometimes contentious legacy.

The 950-square-foot building sits at 1531 Western Ave., above the Market's food bank and next to the senior citizen assisted-living center.

It cost $400,000.

"It's hard not to like it," said Phil Ginsberg, a T-shirt artist and one of the more than 600 Market business people.

"I like what it's trying to do -- telling someone who has never been here what it used to be about and what it should be about."

Seattle Mayor Paul Schell and King County Executive Ron Sims visited to pay homage to the newest of the more than dozen buildings within the Market's historical district.

Yesterday's celebration also marked the 92nd birthday of the Seattle icon, which draws 9 million visitors annually.

"It's not just the buildings that are important," Sims said. "We can't forget we have farmers in King County who bring food here."

The center's architecture was shaped to mimic the Main Arcade's multiple entrances and durable building materials such as concrete and steel, said one of the two architects, Scot Carr.

The Pike Place Market Foundation, the Market's fund-raising arm, raised the construction money from corporate and individual donors. The city also pitched in with $48,000 in matching funds.

Inside, the 23 panels do not

detail the many Market squabbles through the years, which included fights over expansion and space and conflicts between the many personalities there.

But they do offer a historical portrait of the nation's oldest public market. Highlights include:

In 1907, Frank Goodwin designed the first farmer stalls along Pike Street's sidewalks. Four years later, the famous covered arcade stretched from Pike Street to Stewart Street. A shallow trough still carries the runoff water from the farmers' tables, where running water is used.

In 1914, the four-story Main Arcade is built, descending from Pike Place to Western Avenue. The Market boomed until World War II.

World War II devastated JapaneseAmerican farmers at the Market. Eight days after the Pearl Harbor bombing on Dec. 7, 1941, a suspicious fire destroyed the Sanitary Market. Newspapers speculated Japanese Americans started the blaze, but, in retrospect, it seemed more likely Japanese Americans were the targets, a panel said.

In November, 1971, residents approved a ballot initiative to save the Market, preserving it as a historical district. Today, nearly 500 people live in the Market's nine-acre district, which includes child-care facilities, low-income housing and a medical clinic.

Veteran Market musician Jim Hinde, who serenaded the crowd with folk tunes before the ribbon-cutting, said the history center is a "cool idea."

"It's advertising in a way, but it's interesting, too," he said.