Happy Fourth of July! As we celebrate the 4th on Queen Anne with block parties, BBQs, and fireworks-watching, it’s interesting to pause and look back in history at a past Independence Day celebration on Queen Anne.
Per the Queen Anne Historical Society archives, 1907 was notable because the local Japanese community hosted a celebration complete with fireworks provided by a Japanese sea captain. From the QAHS archives:
“For one summer day in 1907, Queen Anne Hill was the center of attention not just of Seattle, but of two continents. With a spectacle the likes of which has not been seen before or since, Seattle’s Japanese community hosted the city’s Independence Day festivities at just west of what is now Kerry Park on West Highland Drive.
The Seattle P-I reported that “ten thousand citizens of Seattle” packed the hill’s sidewalks, porches and rooftops to watch the exotic Oriental fireworks brought by a visiting Japanese sea captain. A military band from Fort Lawton blew march music, then colorful bombs in outlandish shapes burst against Seattle’s skyline, from the newly erected spires of St. James Cathedral to the half-moon shoreline of Elliott Bay. Straw hats, parasols and fancy dresses filled the streets. Children scrambled to capture prize-laden balloons as they landed. Prominent Seattle preachers, judges, politicians and a future U.S. secretary of the interior — stood side-by-side on a podium with sailors from the Shinano Maru, in port down at Smith Cove, and local Japanese American leaders. Waving overhead were the Stars and Stripes and Rising Sun.”
You can read more about this historic event on the QAHS web site here. And, get ready to watch tonight’s fireworks from vantage points across East Queen Anne. The show is set to start at 10pm.
As we look back at history, here’s the Wilke House today, one of the oldest homes on Queen Anne. Built in 1898, it still stands today, as it did back in 1907. During the celebration of 1907, this home wasn’t even a decade old yet:
Happy Fourth of July!