One of the fun things I get to do at work is historical research on property for environmental issues that can adversely affect the value of the property. A great resource is the Puget Sound Archives.
Puget Sound Archives
They have old King County Assessor records that date back to 1937 and up to about 1973. They usually have a little photograph of the old building that occupied the property. In some cases, the building is still there. Here's some things I've run across in my research.
This photo is from 1937. Little did this guy know, but the underground storage tanks he's standing over are probably leaking providing me with job security for future contamination cleanup.
This photo is also from 1937. This is just up the hill from downtown Seattle. This was a Japanese neighborhood at the time. The two children appear to be of Japanese ancestry. One of the children is holding a stop sign. No doubt this is a school crossing.
The old Wonder Bread Bakery in 1937.
An old farmstead in Renton from 1937.
I'm sure you can find records of old places in the Cascades at the Archives. It helps to have a tax lot parcel number when making a request.
Parcel Viewer - King County Assessor
PM me if you need more details on doing the research or where to go.
Neat photos, thanks.
You can request black-and-white prints from the Archives, too. I think I paid something like $16 for an approx 12x16 photo of my house, taken in the 1930s. It's fun to see what it looked like back then.
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." – Groucho Marx
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"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." – Groucho Marx
Cool, I want to sdo this. I took a glance through these sites but how to get an old picture of my Shoreline house isn't leaping out at me. Can you folks give me some steps to take?
I just called them up--don't know if there's a way to order prints over the internet, but a phone call works just dandy. Need to have either your tax lot number, or the legal description.
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." – Groucho Marx
0
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." – Groucho Marx
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