West Seattle Murals

West Seattle has a bunch of great murals and they have been featured in the book West Seattle 101 and on the West Seattle Blog .

(The Barnecut's Mural isn't included in the original 11 West Seattle historical murals.)

The Murals of West Seattle were created to represent images of West Seattle’s past. Spearheaded by Earl Cruzen and funded by a partnership between the West Seattle Junction Association, the City of Seattle’s Neighborhood Grants Program, and many local businesses, The 11 Murals employed gifted artists from all over the United States and the project won a national Neighborhood of the Year Award from Neighborhoods, USA in 1992.

1. West Seattle Ferries

2. The Junction

3. Midnight call

4. Mosquito Boat Land

5. The First Duwamish Bridge

6. Morgan Street Market

7. Alki in the Twenties

8. Tuesday’s Bank Day

9. The Hi-Yu Parade

10. The Old Mud Hole

11. Press Day

I was out and about today and got some photos of some of the murals that were not pictured on West Seattle Blog.


MOSQUITO BOAT LANDING

Located at California and Alaska, this mural depicts a 1910 Sunday landing of the S.S. Clan McDonald at Alki. The paddle-wheeled vessel provided the major form of turn-of-the-century transportation around Puget Sound.

MIDNIGHT CALL

Painted by local artist Don Barrie, this mural was created from an old photograph of a horse-drawn rig leaving the Junction Station from its mural location at 44th and Alaska. It has a 3-D element which is really cool, but it needs refurbishing, it is quite faded.

TUESDAY’S BANK DAY

Anyone who can recollect school days of the ’20s knows all about “bank day.” This mural is located at California and Oregon (on the north side of the Chase bank building) and depicts a 1923 classroom as students line up to make “deposits.”

PRESS DAY

This mural depicts the West Seattle Herald pre-WWII. It is located on 44th between Alaska and Edmunds.

The Old Mud Hole

Located at 44th and Alaska, this mural depicts the swimming pool in Lincoln Park installed by local philanthropist Laurence Colman. A tide gate filled the pool with saltwater from Puget Sound.

The heated, saltwater Colman Pool began as a tide-fed swimming hole in 1929, and was periodically hosed out by the fire department to rid it of accumulating mud and debris. It became so popular that residents began asking for a concrete bottom and sides - much to the chagrin of the city, which wanted to abandon it entirely. The pool took final concrete form in 1941, when Kenneth Colman, son of Laurence, donated $150,000 to have it built in honor of his father.