Towers Of Power

AS THE PHOTOGRAPHER from Seattle City Light intended, the principal subject here is the power pole. Unusually thick, tall and well-stocked with "limbs," the pole is just a half block from the electric substation behind it, on Albion Place North. The station is topped by its own tower.

Seattle Electric Co., Puget Power's predecessor, built the substation in 1902 for the several lines of electric trolleys it was then laying into the North End. This was the company's first North End substation. More than a century later it may be the oldest surviving industrial structure in Fremont.

In 1902 voters had also approved the founding of Seattle City Light. The vote had many consequences, including the lowering of Seattle Electric's rates and the growth of an overhead mess with duplication. Much of the city was wired twice when City Light strung its own wires from its own poles beside Puget Power's.

In 1919 Seattle purchased Seattle Electric's dilapidated trolleys, and five years later bought the substation on Albion. A wing was added and both the red-brick tower and front brick face along Albion were given a fresh stucco skin. While the parked cars on Albion suggest an earlier date, the original photographic print is dated April 1952. That is two years after the citizens of Seattle agreed to push Puget Power into the suburbs and give City Light exclusive Seattle coverage. The vote, of course, also meant fewer poles and wires overhead.

In 1955 the city surplused the substation and then sold it. Although the unique landmark is scheduled for destruction and the site for redevelopment, a group of concerned citizens has formed in an attempt to save this Fremont survivor.

Paul Dorpat specializes in historical photography and has published several books on early Seattle.