Pike Place or Pike’s Place ?

Pike, or his/her current heirs, would be pretty happy campers if this was his/her place. Alas, it only gets its name, Pike ( without “s” at the end) Place, by virtue of it being at one end of Pike street. Though, Pike street itself is named after one John Pike, who was an architect and builder. He is said to have who laid the foundation of the present day university of Washington.

In the early days, it could have been called Goodwin’s place, named after the developer Frank Goodwin who saw an opportunity in a prosperous farmer’s market and built the shopping arcade some of what you see today. Or even Desimone’s place after Joe Desimone, the Italian farmer, who bought the place through the tough economic time of the world wars.

No, its not named after anybody. Pike Place market began its life as a place where famers got together to sell their produce without the need for middle men. When it started at the turn of the 20th century, it saw rapid growth, it was the then “Amazon” delivering fresh vegetables to the door step of Seattle.

Even after nearly 125 years, Pike Place is still a farmer’s market. If you could travel back in time you would see Pike Place filled with horse pulled carts filled with fresh produce bought to the market by the farmers.

Pike Place Market circa 1900 ( picture courtesy Pikeplace organization)

And just like it has been a farmers market since the beginning, it has also been very accessible to equipment with wheels, with lots of place to move around in a cycle or even a wheelchair. Had we, Wheels For Feet, been around back then we would have been renting wheelchairs that looked something like this

Dont worry, we are not renting these wheelchairs, though love to get our hands on one of them. 🙂

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