<p>In 1876, King County purchased a lot from Henry Yesler for the price of $3,500 and built the first King County building on county owned property. The two-story wood, stone and brick structure occupied the corner of Third Avenue and Jefferson Street (the present site of City Hall Park) and cost $17,000 to build. It housed the jail in the basement and the auditor and the clerk on the upper floors. In 1881, the County's first courtroom was added to the property, along with offices for court officials. In 1890 when King County moved into its new courthouse, the old county building was sold to the City of Seattle and renamed City Hall. 
This image of City Hall highlights a number of additions to the building between 1891 and 1901, for which it earned the nickname Katzenjammer Castle, after the fanciful structures in the popular comic strip "The Katzenjammer Kids." In 1909, just in time for the influx of tourists for the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific exhibition, the city had the Katzenjammer Castle demolished and moved into a new modern-looking city hall at Fourth and Yesler.</p>
<p>Signs in image: Hotel Mansfield; Mason, Ehrman &amp; Co. Exports; Pioneer Hotel

Caption information source: <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://pauldorpat.com/2011/05/01/seattle-now-then-the-public-safety-building">https://pauldorpat.com/2011/05/01/seattle-now-then-the-public-safety-building</a>
Caption information source: <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.kingcounty.gov/about/contact-us/locations/Courthouse/courthouseHistory.aspx">http://www.kingcounty.gov/about/contact-us/locations/Courthouse/courthouseHistory.aspx</a></p>
<ul><li>Subjects (LCTGM): Business districts--Washington (State)--Seattle; City &amp; town halls--Washington (State)--Seattle; Commercial streets--Washington (State)--Seattle</li></ul>
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Unknown author<span style="display: none;">Unknown author</span></div>
circa 1900 <div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1900-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902</div>
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/imlsmohai/search">Museum of History and Industry</a>