| Historic Name: |
Totem Pole, The Totem Pole that Made Seattle Famous" |
Common Name: |
Totem Pole |
| Style: |
Other |
Neighborhood: |
Pioneer Square |
| Built By: |
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Year Built: |
1938 |
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| Significance |
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In the opinion of the survey, this property is located in a potential historic districe (National and/or local). |
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This is a 1938 replica of the original wooden totem pole, first erected in the Public Square, now known as Pioneer Place, in 1899. It was also restored in 1972.The original totem pole belonged to the Tlingit lineage of the Raven clan, known in English as the Kininook Family. The history of the totem’s origins and arrival in Seattle is the following: A group of Seattle businessmen and worthies, including Jacob Furth, J.W. Clise, James Hoge and Thomas Prosch and E. F. Blaine (later honored as the “Father of Seattle’s Park System”) took an excursion to Southern Alaska and went to the Tlingit village of Tongass. Finding few people in the village (except for some children and a few grown-ups who were taking care of the children), because the able bodied men and women were working in the fields, the businessmen surmised that the village had been abandoned. They cut down four totem poles as a souvenir of their trip and floated them back to their ship. While the Pioneer Place totem, repainted with garish paint, was placed in Pioneer Place soon after its trip from Tongass, what happened to the other three poles apparently remains a mystery. The Pioneer Place totem pole was officially dedicated on October 18, 1899. A January 29, 1910 article concerning the nearby Pergola described it as the “totem pole that made Seattle famous.” Apparently, a federal grand jury in Juneau indicted eight of the party for the theft and sent a United States Marshall to Seattle to arrest them, but he was unsuccessful. A second envoy from Alaska, upon arrival in Seattle, was wined and dined at the Rainier Club. The indictments were dropped, while the original fine of $ 20,000 was reduced to $ 500.
The totem stood in Pioneer Place until October of 1938, when it was damaged by fire. In 1938, Tlingit tribesmen, (under supervision of the “U.S. Forest Service Division”), carved a new totem. The Tlingit craftsmen were Charles Brown and his father, who used special adzes to carve the new totem pole. Although the current totem dates from 1938, it is a replica of the original totem which has been an integral part of Pioneer Place since 1899; therefore it should be considered a contributing resource.
In the 1970s, the totem pole was again in disrepair. In 1972, a Seattle longshoreman and a traditional carver from the Tsimshian Tribe of Northern British Columbia, John C. Hudson, Jr., restored the totem pole. Bill Holm, the anthropologist and Jones & Jones Architects Landscape Architects, were also involved in the restoration. Jones & Jones detailed an interior support involving a metal I-beam placed inside the totem pole and also embedded in and secured to the ground below it.
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| Appearance |
| The wooden totem pole in Pioneer Place is a late 1930s replica of a Tlingit totem pole that was originally erected in 1899. It was restored in 1972. The totem pole includes representations of Raven with a crescent moon in Raven’s beak, a woman holding her frog child, a woman’s frog husband, Mink Raven, a whale with a seal in its mouth and at the very base, “Raven-at-the-Head-of-Nass,” also called the Grandfather of Raven. |
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| Status: |
Yes - Inventory |
| Classication: |
Object |
District Status: |
NR, LR |
| Cladding(s): |
Wood |
Foundation(s): |
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| Roof Type(s): |
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Roof Material(s): |
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| Building Type: |
Landscape - Street Furniture/Object |
Plan: |
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| Structural System: |
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No. of Stories: |
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| Unit Theme(s): |
Arts, Commerce, Ethnic Heritage |
| Integrity |
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Changes to Original Cladding: |
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| Major Bibliographic References |
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Andrews, Mildred to Karin Link, “totem scoop,” (e-mail), Friday, 18 July 2003, 1:17 P.M.
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Garfield, Viola E. Seattle’s Totem Poles. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1980.
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Exhibit on Franz Boas, Viola E. Garfield and students of Franz Boas who studied Northwest Native tribes, Suzzallo Library, University of Washington, summer 2004.
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Seattle Times, 24 May, 1974, N.P. (courtesy of Ilze Jones, Jones and Jones Architecture Landcape Architecture, Clipping File).
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Garfield, Viola E. The Seattle Totem Pole. Bellevue, Washington: Thistle Press, 1996.
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Andrews, Mildred et al, Pioneer Square: Seattle's Oldest Neighborhood. Manuscript.Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, forthcoming 2005.
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