By the early 1900s, housing stretched across much of the top of Queen Anne. The hilltop offered working-class residents affordable homes within close reach of downtown Seattle.

By 1937, Queen Anne's famed Counterbalance streetcar was nearing the end of the line. Within a few years, electric buses and the automobile would take over Queen Anne Avenue.

By 1889, much of the hill had been logged. New homes began to dot the slopes, which real estate agents claimed had the best views anywhere in Seattle.

Trolley tracks up Queen Anne Avenue were laid about 1902, the year the street was widened to permit two-way buggy and transit traffic. Wide wooden sidewalks lined both sides of the street. From about 1900 through 1920, streetcars were the preferred way to get around Seattle.

The Kinnear Mansion at 809 Queen Anne Ave. was one of Seattle's most elegant homes. Built on Queen Anne's south slope in about 1880 by George Kinnear, a pioneer real estate agent, the house was torn down in 1958 to make way for Bayview Manor, a retirement home.

The playground outside the Warren Avenue School in 1905 was not much more than a big sand lot with a wooden swingset. The school also offered special education for visually impaired students. The school was torn down in 1959 to make way for the Seattle Coliseum, built for the 1962 World's Fair.

Queen Anne residents had a spectacular view of Elliott Bay and West Seattle in about 1889, less than 40 years after the Denny party landed at Alki.