Washington Hall Stories
With Washington Hall, Historic Seattle has a unique opportunity to interpret the history of the Danish in Seattle. From 1908 to 1973, the building served as a fraternal lodge for the Danish Brotherhood accommodating various activities and housing boarding rooms for newly arrived Danish immigrants.
Also in the public memory are other uses of the building worthy of interpretation. As early as 1916 the Brotherhood began to rent out the hall to a variety of performing arts groups and social clubs. Seattle’s first documented jazz performance was held in Washington Hall in 1918. Groups with diverse ethnic heritage and varied political agendas all utilized the hall up until 2009.
Our heritage interpretation plan for 2010-2011 involves community outreach to past users, gathering of oral histories, and conducting a public history workshop at Washington Hall. Oral histories will be transcribed and ephemera will be gathered in this first phase for use in later phases of the project. The culmination of Phase One will be integrating gathered materials into this website.