Taylor is an extinct town in

King County King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the st ...

, in the U.S. state of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

History

Denny-Renton Clay and Coal Co. brick and tile plant, Taylor, Washington. Taylor was laid out in 1893 as a company town by the Denny Clay Company after a railway was built in the area in 1892. The Denny Clay Company and its successors both mined clay and produced clay products in Taylor, which were then transported via rail. Coal was also mined in Taylor, which in turn could be used in the furnaces used to dry the clay. Besides the mine, factory and housing, the town was also home to a hotel, saloon and a post office called Taylor was established in 1904 which remained in operation until 1944. While one of the major clay items produced at Taylor was sewer pipes, it did not have a sophisticated sewage treatment system itself and the city of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

was concerned the waste water from town would pollute the city's water supply. This led to the city eventually condemning the town in 1947.

Present day

What remains of Taylor is now located within the Cedar River Watershed and is strictly off-limits.

Seattle Public Utilities Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) is a public utility agency of the city of Seattle, Washington, which provides water, sewer, drainage and garbage services for 1.3 million people in King County, Washington. The agency was established in 1997, ...

can reach the site via a gated service road. Little remains of the town, mine and factories beyond some of their foundations and a few brick and concrete walls. The railroad tracks once leading to the town have been removed with no obvious visible remains. Some stacks of various clay products that had remained unsold when the site was finally closed remain. Further, as of September 2018, a Monkey Puzzle Tree, once planted decoratively and not native to the area, still grows in what is now once again a dense forest.

References

Ghost towns in King County, Washington {{KingCountyWA-geo-stub