The Sanborn Insurance Company produced this map in 1893, showing the main business intersection of Fremont. For fire insurance purposes, the map was meant to show whether structures were built of wood, brick, or masonry, and how close they were to other structures.
The street names shown here, are the original ones chosen by Fremont’s developers, before standardization by the City of Seattle. “Lake” is now Fremont Avenue, the cross-street “Ewing” is North 34th Street, and above it, Blewett is now North 35th Street. Thomas Ewing was a developer and real estate agent who helped in the organizing of the street grid. Blewett was the name of the people who came from Fremont, Nebraska, and invested in this land tract.
“Canal” is visible, which was really just a streambed called The Outlet, before creation of the present ship canal.
Florentia Street at the bottom of the map still exists, and this is where the present-day Fremont Bridge reaches the south side of the ship canal. A landmark building on that corner of Florentia is the former Bleitz Funeral Home which has been redeveloped as an office building.
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