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The Virginia Inn is the cornerstone of the Livingston-Baker
Building, which was built in 1901 according to King County building records.
Photo-historian par excellence, Paul Dorpat, discovered the “boat in the
street” photograph which is thought to be from the Seattle P-I in 1906.
This scene was staged to protest the muddy and still unpaved streets which
existed after one of the last sluicings of the Denny Regrade. The signs read
“Sure Cure for Rheumatism/Mud Baths,” “Hog Waller Station,”
and “Take the Ferry to the Virginia Bar/Paradise for Hunters/Herdman and
McNamara.” William Herdman and John McNamara were the original owners, and
if McNamara was truly Irish, “The Virginia Bar” existed at least as
early as the inn upstairs for which the bar must have served as office.
In the photograph it’s interesting to note the Duwamish cedar
dugout canoe, complete with Duwamish fisherman, and one can’t help but
wonder about the wooden spoked wagon in the background going down Virginia
Street in heavy mud. |
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