May 19, 2006

We welcome local historian and Newcastle Historical Society President Russ Segner for a fascinating journey into our region’s past. If Seattle’s early success was built on timber and maritime commerce, Newcastle provided the fuel—literally. Its booming coal industry powered steamships, industry, and economic growth at a critical moment in our region’s history. In fact, Newcastle’s coal economy helped create the industrial momentum that influenced rail expansion into the Seattle-Tacoma corridor, generating freight demand, attracting investment, and helping establish Seattle as a serious commercial player in the Pacific Northwest. Without Newcastle’s coal mines, Seattle’s early growth story may have looked very different. It’s a remarkable bit of local history hiding in plain sight—and one that most of us drive past without a second thought.