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Health & Fitness

So Big It Failed: How the Railroad Bubble Popped and with it Kirkland's Steel Industry

Peter Kirk had a vision for Kirkland that was defeated by railroad speculation. The failed vision of our city's founder may be a blessing in disguise.

The corner of Seventh and Market Street seems out of place with the rest of Kirkland. On the southeast corner of the intersection is the brick Peter Kirk Building (or Kirkland Arts Center).  Adjacent to it, on the northeast corner, is the Masonic Lodge Building and across the street is the Joshua Sears Building, a structure that literally rose from Kirkland’s earth: its bricks were made from local clay at Peter Kirk's own brick works located at what is now Peter Kirk Park. 

This intersection was supposed to be, in Peter Kirk’s mind, the epicenter of a thriving steel town.  When Peter Kirk settled on the shores of Lake Washington he envisioned creating the “Pittsburgh of the West.”  The nation’s economy, as well as Washington’s, was booming in the 1880s, and so Kirk’s dream of an industrial iron and steel hub in present day Kirkland seemed a certain outcome.  So … where are the steel mills?

Peter Kirk purchased thousands of acres of land in what is now Kirkland’s downtown and constructed the steel mill called Moss Bay Iron and Steel Works.  Everyone agreed that the industrial vision for Kirkland was sought after and viable. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, in a May 29, 1890, article, hailed Peter Kirk as the man who would unleash the metallic “wealth which has been dormant in our [Cascade] mountains” by establishing Kirkland “as a manufacturing commonwealth.”

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The steel town envisioned by Peter Kirk would require a railroad system to transport raw materials from the Cascades to Kirkland. At the time, banks sprung up on every corner to fuel the then-booming railroad industry. In 1890, 49 new banks opened and 372 miles of new railroad track were laid in Washington, with 951 miles still under construction.  It was, however, railroad speculation that ultimately derailed Peter Kirk’s industrial dreams and markedly changed Kirkland’s future. 

The Panic of 1893, a catastrophic economic depression caused by irresponsible railroad speculation, struck with a vengeance. When the railroad industry found itself unable to pay back loans, the banks failed, and with them, the railroads they had once supported. It was a railroad bubble.

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The Northern Pacific Railway, the Union Pacific Railroad and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad all failed.  Kirkland’s steel mill depended on these vital, yet ultimately doomed, railroads for the delivery of its raw material.  As a result, Peter Kirk’s steel mill never produced an ounce of steel.

Looking back at Peter Kirk’s vision and the Panic of 1893 puts our entire current economic crisis in perspective.  The current recession (or is it a depression at this point?) caused by the recent real estate speculation is not the first time changing economic winds have altered our nation–and Kirkland in particular.

Yet despite the Panic of 1893 (and the many other recessions since) Kirkland remains Kirkland.  Maybe we’re not disappointed that Peter Kirk’s hope of a steel industry on the shore of Lake Washington was not realized.  Personally, I’m glad that Kirkland is not Pittsburgh.  I’m glad that our horizon is not besieged with smokestacks and our shores are not laden with industrial by-products. I am happy instead that we are an arts destination with a culture that is not determined by industrial demand.

And, most of all, I’m glad we don’t have to cheer for the Steelers. 

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