Public Utilities Department Annual Reports

Series

Identifier: 1802-H9

Staff Only

Scope and Contents note

The Public Utilities annual reports date from 1908 to 1931. They include information on railroad franchise applications as well as other franchise obligations, such as street railways, cable lines, power lines, and telephone service. Appendixes list related legislation, both pending and passed, relating to public utilities, as well as other statistics on telephone, lighting and heating systems. Weights and Measures are discussed in every report, and some reports include photographs. The 1915 report includes photographs of the Holgate Street Bridge, the Pike Street Footbridge, the Seattle Boulevard Viaduct, the Lander Street Bridge, and the Wheeler Street Bridge. The reports for the years 1918 to 1922 contain discussions of jitney services. In the 1923 report, traffic regulation, speed of street railway transportation, and telephone traffic and gas issues are discussed.

Dates

Creation: 1908-1931

Creator

Seattle (Wash.). Dept. of Public Utilities (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access note

Records are open to the public.

Historical Note

The City Clerk maintains the City's legislative records, official filings, and the Seattle Municipal Archives; keeps the minutes of City Council meetings; and provides information services to City agencies and the public. Seattle's first City Charter allowed for a Clerk of the Common Council to be elected by the Council. In 1875 the position of City Clerk became elective and remained so until 1896 when the new Charter designated the Comptroller ex-officio City Clerk. The Comptroller served as City Clerk through 1992. A 1991 City Charter amendment transferred the Comptroller's function to the Department of Finance and the City Clerk's Office became a division of the Legislative Department effective in 1993.

Extent

0.6 Cubic Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Location of Records

SMA

General Note

A Comptroller or Clerk File (CF) can consist of correspondence, reports, petitions, contracts, agreements, etc. from elected officials, City departments, other government agencies, or the general public, which have been placed on file with the Office of the City Clerk (OCC). They are primarily permanent records, but also include routine material which was periodically purged. Certain archival records identified in the CF have been removed, arranged into records series, and incorporated into the collection of the Seattle Municipal Archives, a program of the OCC.