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Pioneer Square
 Seattle's 1st Neighborhood

Pioneer Square, located at the southern end of downtown Seattle, is considered Seattle’s first neighborhood, established in 1852. As Seattle’s commercial core took shape around the natural deep-water harbor, timber, and the Klondike Goldrush, Pioneer Square quickly grew, shaped by a mix of people, businesses, and cultures inherent to being a port city.

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After the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, most of the neighborhood was rebuilt in the Richardsonian-Romanesque style. Pioneer Square’s colorful past is one of brothels and bureaucrats, corruption and community, artists and Arctic explorers, Skid Road, and subterranean sidewalks.

 

Today you can find a lively neighborhood filled with art galleries, small shops selling one-of-a-kind gifts, unique restaurants and services, boutique hotels, tourist attractions, and a thriving residential community.

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Map below courtesy of Seattle Municipal Archives, item 1289, 1956 Central Business District map by Seattle Planning Commission.

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Pioneer Square planning work

Northeast Pioneer Square Framework Plan

2022

Alliance for Pioneer Square

Your Pioneer Square: 2025 & COVID-19 Response Plan

2021

Alliance for Pioneer Square

Washington Landing Revised Pre-Concept

2021

Yesler Crescent (NE PSQ) Public Life Study Executive Summary

2019

SDOT

Pioneer Square East to West Streets

2018

Waterfront Tribal Roundtable presentation

2017

Office of the Waterfront

Pioneer Square 2020 Neighborhood Plan

2016

Alliance for Pioneer Square

Pioneer Square Parks & Gateways Concept Plan

2016

Alliance for Pioneer Square

Washington Landings Design Summary

2015

Office of the Waterfront

Washington Landings History

2015

Pioneer Square Street Concept Plans, Research and Inventory

2015

Alliance for Pioneer Square

Pioneer Square Street Concept Plans

2015

International Sustainability Institute

Pioneer Square Active Streets Strategy

2013

International Sustainability Institute

Strategic Plan for Realizing the Waterfront Seattle Vision

2012

Central Waterfront Committee

Pioneer Square Neighborhood Plan

1998

Pioneer Square Planning Committee

Neighborhood Partners

City of Seattle links

Selected History Links

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