Yesler Terrace is a mixed-income, mixed-use

neighborhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington, United States. It was originally completed in 1941 as the state's first public housing development and the first

racially integrated Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation), leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of Race (classification of human beings), race, and t ...

public housing development in the United States. It occupies much of the area formerly known as Yesler Hill, Yesler's Hill, or Profanity Hill. The development is administered by the

Seattle Housing Authority Seattle Housing Authority is an independent public corporation in the city of Seattle, Washington, responsible for public housing for low-income, elderly, and disabled residents. SHA serves more than 25,500 people, just under a third of whom are ...

, who have been redeveloping the neighborhood into a mixed-income area with multi-story buildings and community amenities since 2013.

Etymology

The name derives ultimately from

Henry Yesler Henry Leiter Yesler (December 2, 1810 – December 16, 1892) was an American entrepreneur and a politician, regarded as a founder of the city of Seattle. Yesler served two non-consecutive terms as Mayor of Seattle, and was the city's wealthiest ...

, pioneer mill owner.

Yesler Way Yesler Way is an east–west street in Seattle named for Henry Yesler, the founder of Seattle. East–west streets in Seattle south of Yesler Way are prefixed "South"; avenues are suffixed with "South" as they cross Yesler Way. The street origi ...

was originally the skid road on which logs were skidded down to the mill. The southern part of the hill came to be known as Yesler's Hill, Yesler Hill, or Profanity Hill. These names referred roughly to the part of First Hill south of the original King County Courthouse at 8th Avenue and Terrace Street. Razed in 1931, the courthouse site was roughly the western portion of the present-day

Harborview Medical Center Harborview Medical Center is a public hospital located in the First Hill neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. It is owned by King County and managed by UW Medicine. Overview Harborview Medical Center is the designated Disast ...

. The name "Profanity Hill" could have its origins from the cursing of the attorneys and litigants at having to climb so steep a grade after missing the

cable car Cable car most commonly refers to the following cable transportation systems: * Aerial lift, such as aerial tramways and gondola lifts, in which the vehicle is suspended in the air from a cable ** Aerial tramway ** Chairlift ** Gondola lift *** ...

, or because of the slum neighborhood known for its uncouth inhabitants to the south where Yesler Terrace is now situated.

Description

Yesler Terrace is located on the southernmost part of First Hill, along

immediately east of

downtown Seattle Downtown is the central business district of Seattle, Washington. It is fairly compact compared with other city centers on the U.S. West Coast due to its geographical situation, being hemmed in on the north and east by hills, on the west by ...

. Uphill across

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels thro ...

from Pioneer Square and the International District. Much of the site included Nihonmachi or Japantown until

Executive Order 9066 Executive Order 9066 was a President of the United States, United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. "This order authorized the fo ...

ordered residents to be interned. Yesler Terrace sits on with 561 residential units in 68 buildings, many of which are two-story

rowhouse A terrace, terraced house ( UK), or townhouse ( US) is a type of medium-density housing which first started in 16th century Europe with a row of joined houses sharing side walls. In the United States and Canada these are sometimes known as row ...

s. Unlike most public housing developments, residents have their own private yards. Among parks is Yesler Terrace Park. Seattle Yesler Terrace 02

The Yesler Hillclimb is a pedestrian thoroughfare connecting the Little Saigon area of Seattle's Chinatown-International District with Yesler Terrace. The hill climb has a ramp, staircase, and mosaics. In mid 2012, Seattle Housing Authority had hoped to start construction in 2013.

Demographics

As of 2005, there were 1,167 residents. An estimated 38% of households are Asian or Asian American, 40% are African or African American, 11% are

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, and 3%

Native American Native Americans or Native American usually refers to Native Americans in the United States. Related terms and peoples include: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North, South, and Central America ...

Redevelopment

Talks of redeveloping the 60-year-old Yesler Terrace, which had become the oldest public housing project in the city, began in 2004 amid similar schemes to redevelop

Rainier Vista Rainier may refer to the following: People and fictional characters * Rainier (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Places United States * Rainier, Oregon, a city * Rainier, Washington, a city * Mount Ra ...

, High Point and NewHolly into mixed-income neighborhoods. Formal planning on the project began in 2006 with the hiring of a planning team and recruitment for a citizen review panel. The $1.7 billion redevelopment project of the neighborhood began in 2013, with plans to replace existing homes with 5,000 mixed-income residential units, of office space, and of retail and community space. The new development will include at least 561 units for those earning 30% of the area median income (AMI) or less as well as 290 units for 60% of AMI and 850 units for 80% of AMI. The SHA partnered with private developers including

Vulcan Real Estate Vale Group LLC, doing business as Vulcan Real Estate, is an American private holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. ...

to build market rate and 80% housing in the community. The first new building, Kebero Court, opened in May 2015 and was followed by the opening of Raven Terrace in February 2016. The project, the largest such redevelopment in Seattle's history, is anticipated to take up to 15 years for the full buildout. The

First Hill Streetcar The First Hill Streetcar, officially the First Hill Line, is a streetcar route in Seattle, Washington, United States, forming part of the modern Seattle Streetcar system. It travels between several neighborhoods in central Seattle, including th ...

, which began operation in 2016, connects Yesler Terrace to

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill is a neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in both the Northeast, Washington, D.C., Northeast and Southeast, Washington, D.C., Southeast quadrants. It is bounded by 14th Street SE & NE, F S ...

via

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

, and the International District via Jackson Street. Prior to the start of construction, existing Yesler Terrace residents had organized to oppose any redevelopment plans that would reduce the number of units available to residents with the lowest income.

Education

Yesler Terrace is served by three

Seattle Public Schools Seattle Public Schools is the largest Public school (government funded), public school district in the state of Washington (state), Washington. The school district serves almost all of Seattle. Additionally it includes sections of Boulevard Par ...

schools: Bailey Gatzert Elementary School, Washington Middle School, and Garfield High School. - Compare to the location of Yesler Terrace.

Notes and references

External links

Yesler Terrace
Seattle Housing Authority. Includes links to pages relevant to the current planning process.

Yesler Terrace Park
{{Seattle neighborhoods 1941 establishments in Washington (state) Public housing in the United States Residential buildings in Seattle