Historic photographs

Photographs have been an important part of road history. The photograph was not only a way of documenting important events such as the opening of a newly constructed road, but part of the legal records required of the county road engineer. The photographic image is even more important today and we have more ways of producing and uses that image. We have gone beyond the black and white image printed on paper through a laborious and initially dangerous process to real time video allowing work sites and traffic to be viewed from the comfort of the office via the Internet and digital pictures taken at the site of a washed out road and wirelessly e-mailed to show someone at a desk what havoc is being created by a rainstorm...as it rains.

Relatively few of the King County Road Service Division's historic photos have been digitized. Most of the historic photos of King County's roads are in King County Archives. Links to the photo archives are included below. In the past few years, as the King County Road Services Division undertakes projects, efforts have been made to locate and digitize selected historic photos associated with the project as can be seen in the links below.

Photos from the King County Archives

Original Norman Bridge on middle fork of Snoqualmie River, c. 1909.
From: Photo Collections: Road Engineer
Series 103-36: Bridge files, 1912-1939
Original Norman Bridge on middle fork of Snoqualmie River, c. 1909.
(Sign above bridge reads, "$25 fine for riding or driving faster than a walk or taking across more than 5 head of stock")
(Photo ID: Box 39, File 3)

County worker loading construction materials at rock bunkers near Fall City, WA, 1908
From: Photo Collections: Road Engineer
Series 103-375: Wharf files, 1906-1979
(Photo ID: 93.1.0183)

Kirkland ferry dock, November 13, 1936
From: Photo Collections: Road Engineer
Series 103-375: Wharf files, 1906-1979
(Photo ID: 93.1.0121)

Updated: Dec. 12, 2003