Georgetown Powerplant Museum

The boiler room at the Steam Plant offers an eerie glimpse into early 20th-century working conditions. Oil (and later coal) was fed into 16 giant boilers to produce the steam required to turn the Curtis Steam Turbines in the room next door. The Georgetown Steam Plant was built in 1906 to provide power for Seattle's streetcars, the city of Georgetown, and the Seattle-Tacoma Railway. Although the turbines were state-of-the art for their time, the technology was advancing so quickly that the plant became outdated within 10 years. It was soon relegated to secondary status and was used occasionally through the 1970s during droughts and to meet peak power demand. Today, the nearly-complete plant is operated as a free museum and is open to the public the second Saturday of every month from 10am-2pm.
The boiler room at the Steam Plant offers an eerie glimpse into early 20th-century working conditions. Oil (and later coal) was fed into 16 giant boilers to produce the steam required to turn the Curtis Steam Turbines in the room next door. The Georgetown Steam Plant was built in 1906 to provide power for Seattle's streetcars, the city of Georgetown, and the Seattle-Tacoma Railway. Although the turbines were state-of-the art for their time, the technology was advancing so quickly that the plant became outdated within 10 years. It was soon relegated to secondary status and was used occasionally through the 1970s during droughts and to meet peak power demand. Today, the nearly-complete plant is operated as a free museum and is open to the public the second Saturday of every month from 10am-2pm.
These control panels monitored the Curtis Steam Turbines installed in 1906 and 1907. Although the turbines were state-of-the art for their time, the technology was advancing so quickly that the plant became outdated within a decade. It was soon relegated to secondary status and was used occasionally through the 1970s during droughts and to meet peak power demand. Today, the nearly-complete plant is operated as a free museum and is open to the public the second Saturday of every month from 10am-2pm.
This 1907 Curtis Steam Turbine is one of only a handful still remaining from the early days of electrical power generation. Turbine design was at the forefront of technology in the early 1900s, and this particular turbine is a wonderful example, as it generated nearly 3 times the power of an adjacent turbine installed just one year earlier. Later, in 1917, a much smaller third turbine was added, which itself generated nearly as much power as the first two turbines combined. Such is the relentless pace of technology, and why so few of these historical turbines remain. The Georgetown Steam Plant was built in 1906 to provide power for Seattle's streetcars, the city of Georgetown, and the Seattle-Tacoma Railway. Although the turbines were state-of-the art for their time, the technology was advancing so quickly that the plant became outdated within 10 years. It was soon relegated to secondary status and was used occasionally through the 1970s during droughts and to meet peak power demand. Today, the nearly-complete plant is operated as a free museum and is open to the public the second Saturday of every month from 10am-2pm.
Seattle Electric Company branding can still be found on some of the large boilers at this 1906 power plant. The boilers produced enough steam to turn three Curtis Steam Turbines located in the adjacent room, generating up to 21K kilowatts. The Georgetown Steam Plant was built in 1906 to provide power for Seattle's streetcars, the city of Georgetown, and the Seattle-Tacoma Railway. Although the turbines were state-of-the art for their time, the technology was advancing so quickly that the plant became outdated within 10 years. It was soon relegated to secondary status and was used occasionally through the 1970s during droughts and to meet peak power demand. Today, the nearly-complete plant is operated as a free museum and is open to the public the second Saturday of every month from 10am-2pm.

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