PAUL DORPAT

STREET ARCHES — often spectacular and always temporary — were once almost expected of Seattle's big events. For its 1902 Seattle carnival, the Elks (the fraternity that started after the Civil War as a club for thespians called the Jolly Corks) raised three unique arches, all gleaming white by day and electrified at night. This welcome arch at Second Avenue and James Street was similar in size to the arch at First and Columbia, the address also for the Elks' Seattle headquarters.

The Elks' third arch spanned Union Street between Third and Fourth avenues. It served as gateway to the old University of Washington campus, walled off for the event — like Seattle Center for Bumbershoot. Although then already seven years abandoned by the school for its "Interlaken campus," the old campus was not yet redeveloped and so offered a wonderful lawn on which to set up the fair that ran through the second half of August.

The Elks Carnival was really Seattle's first experiment with an extended summer festival, and so an early rehearsal for the Potlatch Days of 1911-1913 and later Seafair.

Except for Sunday, every day during the 13-day Elks Carnival featured a parade and, of course, the parade route was drawn to pass through the arches. Even without parades and arches, street life in 1902 was considerably different than it is now. The automobile was then still an extreme novelty, and mobility generally meant walking or — for distant destinations — taking a trolley. Consequently, the city streets of 1902 were stages for a cosmopolitan culture that was generally gregarious. And sometimes — as with the arches — it was also playfully grand.

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