Yesler Terrace is a

public housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

development in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington, United States. It was completed in 1941 as the state's first public housing development and the first racially integrated public housing development in the United States. It occupies much of the area formerly known as Yesler Hill, Yesler's Hill, or Profanity Hill. The development is administered by the

Seattle Housing Authority Seattle Housing Authority is an independent public corporation in the city of Seattle, Washington, responsible for public housing for low-income, elderly, and disabled residents. SHA serves more than 25,500 people, just under a third of whom are c ...

, who have been redeveloping the neighborhood into a mixed-income area with multi-story buildings and community amenities since 2013.

Etymology

The name derives ultimately from

Henry Yesler Henry Leiter Yesler (December 2, 1810 – December 16, 1892) was an entrepreneur and a politician, regarded as a founder of the city of Seattle. Yesler served two non-consecutive terms as Mayor of Seattle, and was the city's wealthiest resident ...

, pioneer mill owner.

Yesler Way Yesler Way is an east–west street in Seattle named for Henry Yesler, the founder of Seattle. East–west streets in Seattle south of Yesler Way are prefixed "South"; avenues are suffixed with "South" as they cross Yesler Way. The street origina ...

was originally the

skid road A skid row or skid road is an impoverished area, typically urban, in English-speaking North America whose inhabitants are mostly poor people " on the skids". This specifically refers to poor or homeless, considered disreputable, downtrodden or fo ...

on which logs were skidded down to the mill. The southern part of the hill came to be known as Yesler's Hill, Yesler Hill, or Profanity Hill. These names referred roughly to the part of First Hill south of the original King County Courthouse at 8th Avenue and Terrace Street. Razed in 1931, the courthouse site was roughly the western portion of the present-day

Harborview Medical Center Harborview Medical Center is a public hospital located in the First Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is managed by UW Medicine. Overview Harborview Medical Center is the designated Disaster Control Hospital for Seattl ...

. The name "Profanity Hill" could have its origins from the cursing of the attorneys and litigants at having to climb so steep a grade after missing the

cable car Cable car most commonly refers to the following cable transportation systems: * Aerial lift, such as aerial tramways and gondola lifts, in which the vehicle is suspended in the air from a cable ** Aerial tramway ** Chairlift ** Gondola lift *** Bi ...

, or because of the slum neighborhood known for its uncouth inhabitants to the south where Yesler Terrace is now situated.

Description

Yesler Terrace is located on the southernmost part of

First Hill First Hill is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is named for the hill on which it is located, which in turn is so named for being the first hill encountered while traveling east from downtown Seattle toward Lake Washington ...

, along

immediately east of

downtown Seattle Downtown is the central business district of Seattle, Washington. It is fairly compact compared with other city centers on the U.S. West Coast due to its geographical situation, being hemmed in on the north and east by hills, on the west by ...

. Uphill across

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Califor ...

from Pioneer Square and the International District. Much of the site included Nihonmachi or Japantown until

Executive Order 9066 Executive Order 9066 was a United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. This order authorized the secretary of war to prescribe certain ...

ordered residents to be interned. Yesler Terrace sits on with 561 residential units in 68 buildings, many of which are two-story

rowhouse In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...

s. Unlike most public housing developments, residents have their own private yards.

Yesler Hillclimb

The Yesler Hillclimb is a pedestrian thoroughfare connecting the Little Saigon area of Seattle's Chinatown-International District with Yesler Terrace. The hill climb has a ramp, staircase, and mosaics. In mid 2012, Seattle Housing Authority had hoped to start construction in 2013.

Demographics

As of 2005, there were 1,167 residents. An estimated 38% of households are Asian or Asian American, 40% are African or African American, 11% are

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

, and 3% Native American.

Redevelopment

Talks of redeveloping the 60-year-old Yesler Terrace, which had become the oldest public housing project in the city, began in 2004 amid similar schemes to redevelop

Rainier Vista Rainier may refer to the following: People * Rainier (name), a list of people with the given name or surname Places United States *Rainier, Oregon, a small city *Rainier, Washington, a small city *Rainier Beach, Seattle * Mount Rainier, a stratov ...

, High Point and NewHolly into mixed-income neighborhoods. Formal planning on the project began in 2006 with the hiring of a planning team and recruitment for a citizen review panel. The $1.7 billion redevelopment project of the neighborhood began in 2013, with plans to replace existing homes with 5,000 mixed-income residential units, of office space, and of retail and community space. The new development will include at least 561 units for those earning 30% of the area median income (AMI) or less as well as 290 units for 60% of AMI and 850 units for 80% of AMI. The SHA partnered with private developers including

Vulcan Real Estate Vulcan LLC is a privately held company founded by the Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and his sister Jody Allen in 1986 to establish and oversee the family's diverse business activities and philanthropic endeavors. It includes Vulcan Real Estate ...

to build market rate and 80% housing in the community. The first new building, Kebero Court, opened in May 2015 and was followed by the opening of Raven Terrace in February 2016. The project, the largest such redevelopment in Seattle's history, is anticipated to take up to 15 years for the full buildout. The

First Hill Streetcar The First Hill Streetcar, officially the First Hill Line, is a streetcar route in Seattle, Washington, United States, forming part of the modern Seattle Streetcar system. It travels between several neighborhoods in central Seattle, including th ...

, which began operation in 2016, connects Yesler Terrace to

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...

via

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

, and the International District via Jackson Street. Prior to the start of construction, existing Yesler Terrace residents had organized to oppose any redevelopment plans that would reduce the number of units available to residents with the lowest income.

Parks and recreation

Yesler Terrace Park is a public park operated by

Seattle Parks and Recreation Seattle Parks and Recreation (officially the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR)) is the government department responsible for maintaining the parks, open spaces, and community centers of the city of Seattle, Washington. The department mainta ...

in the redeveloped Yesler Terrace neighborhood. It opened in 2018 and includes playgrounds, garden spaces, basketball courts, and a small soccer pitch. The park cost $5 million to construct and is adjacent to an existing

community center Community centres, community centers, or community halls are public locations where members of a community tend to gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may sometimes be open for the whole co ...

. Ela Lamblin's

stainless steel Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...

gazebo structure ''Whirl Piece: Current Events'' (2005) is installed in the park.

Education

Yesler Terrace is served by three

Seattle Public Schools Seattle Public Schools is the largest Public school (government funded), public school district in the state of Washington (state), Washington. The school district serves almost all of Seattle. Additionally it includes sections of Boulevard Park, ...

schools: Bailey Gatzert Elementary School, Washington Middle School, and Garfield High School. - Compare to the location of Yesler Terrace.

Notes and references

External links

Yesler Terrace
Seattle Housing Authority. Includes links to pages relevant to the current planning process.
Yesler Terrace Park
{{coord, 47, 36, 08, N, 122, 19, 12, W, format=dms, display=title, type:city_region:US-WA Public housing in the United States Residential buildings in Seattle