Thanks to Ed M.
This nifty map of Seattle originally appeared in the Seattle Star newspaper on July 5, 1907. The map “will give the reader some idea of what sooner or later will be the heart of Seattle. As soon as the Denny Hill will have been lowered to grade, great blocks will be erected on the site and that of itself will draw the city to it as well as beyond it.” The removal of Denny Hill, which forms the heart of the heart, did not occur as fast as the writer hoped. Not until 1930 was the entire hill lowered, and with the Depression, little expansion of the city’s economic base happened so no new blood for the heart.
Part of what prompted the drawing and accompanying article was concern about one of Seattle’s seven hills. In particular, the writer was annoyed that the “courthouse is too high on the hill.” The courthouse he was referring to was the old King County Courthouse, located for many years at the site of the modern Harborview Hospital, on what was, and is, known to some as Yesler Hill.
Because of the steepness of the hill, it had another name, Profanity Hill, prompted by the utterances of the legal eagles who had to ascend it. This name so bothered some Seattleites that they regularly called for regrading the hill, simply so that no one would have to walk up it and use foul language.
Suffice it to say, it was easier to raze the courthouse than the hill, which is why the hill still is there. And, with the removal of the building, the hoards of foul-mouthed lawyers no longer had any reason to sully the ears of those pious citizens who preferred delicate discourse when ascending one of Seattle’s notorious hills.