It's not just any museum; the whole building used to be a working steam plant. The whole place is so picturesque (in a steam punk kind of way), I was so mad at myself for not having a real camera along. And so, these crappy cell phone photos will have to do for now.
Anywho, I'll let Annabelle tell you a bit more about our visit last Friday. ...
The Georgetown Steam Plant was first built in 1907, where at the time it bordered the Duwamish River. The plant used oil and coal to heat the water and create steam, which would spin a turbine and create electricity. The use of water made the electricity very cheap due to the large amounts in the area. The lead engineer and designer, Frank B. Gilbreth, was a pioneer in efficiency and put his and his wife Lillian’s innovations to work, allowing the factory to run quite smoothly. Sadly, as the plant was followed with others being built in the region, less and less power was required from the Georgetown Steam Plant. It was kept barely operational by the city until the 1970’s.
Today, the plant is classified as a historical site.
It has two of the only generators of their kind still in their “original home”.
The plant is worth a visit if you can stand the cold- there’s almost no heating! If you plan to visit in colder months, I’d recommend bundling up in multiple layers- even with coats, hats, and gloves, most of our group was absolutely freezing!
Friday morning, I visited the historic Steam Plant in the Seattle neighborhood of Georgetown. Constructed in 1906(!), the plant provided power for Seattle-area residents for most of the twentieth century, before being decommissioned in 1977. The building was designed by Frank Gilbreth Jr., who was partially known for being one of the subjects in the 1950 film Cheaper by the Dozen (a movie about him raising twelve children along with his wife, Lillian Gilbreth).
While driving to the Steam Plant in our car, my family noticed the steam clouds coming from the plant's general area. Annabelle and I assumed that the steam clouds were coming from the Steam Plant, unaware that the plant hadn't produced steam in decades.
In 1904, two years prior to the Steam Plant's construction, Georgetown had incorporated as a city, in retaliation to King County's plan to become "dry" (alcoholic beverages were to become contraband). Perhaps unsurprisingly, the superintendent of the Georgetown Brewery was elected the city's first mayor.
The Georgetown Steam Plant is home to two of the six known remaining Curtis Steam Turbines in the world, designed by renowned engineer Charles Gordon Curtis. The two Curtis Steam Turbines present at the Georgetown Steam Plant are the only known ones in their original locations.The place smelled like old submarines and large ships we've toured in the past. Very distinctive.
I loved all the dials and valves everywhere. It would be so interesting to hear someone who worked there talk about what it was like and how all those parts worked.
http://www.seattlechannel.org/explore-videos?videoid=x57291
WHAT HE SAID: I love this video AARP recently released. It's an interview with one of my favorite astronauts, Leland Melvin.
Melvin has the distinction of having been both an NFL player and a NASA spaceman!
He's also a dog lover, very much into outreach to youth, and just an all 'round nice guy. I had a chance to meet him when I got to see Mars Science Laboratory's launch s few years back. If you have five minutes, give this a look and listen.
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