Introduction

Washington State and much of the western United States is dotted with town sites that arose alongside extractive and manufacturing activities in the formative years of the region. Some of these communities survive and thrive but many have seemingly disappeared from the contemporary landscape. Taylor, Washington is one of those “vanished” towns.

Approximately 25 miles southeast of Seattle in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, Taylor was established in support of clay and coal mining, and clay-product manufacturing. The Taylor site is presently owned by the city of Seattle, as Taylor is within the boundaries of the Cedar River Watershed, the primary source of water for the city.

A visitor to Taylor between the 1890s and 1940s would have found a community of up to several hundred people actively engaged in the mining of coal, clay and shale, and the manufacture of various clay products. He would have seen rows of workers' family homes, mine tracks along the hillsides from the mines to the factory, and rail cars pulled alongside rows of stacked sewer pipe, conduit, tile and brick being loaded for shipment throughout the western United States and beyond. Today the community is gone, but many features and artifacts remain providing a sense of the town’s history and material for study by the historical archaeologist.

While some underground mine openings have been sealed in recent years, an extensive set of large, irregular, funnel-shaped pits, resulting from mining practices, characterize the ridge above. Overgrown roadbeds from mine tracks and railroad lines crosscut the hillsides. Foundations, wall remnants, and openings to drying tunnels mark the remains of the factory complex. Distinctive hills formed by the dumping of waste rock – now covered with vegetation – mark the area. Perhaps most striking, is the amount of remaining clay products – stacks of tile and conduit, mounds of brick, and pipe of all sizes

The story of Taylor begins in the context of the settlement and development of western Washington in the late 1800s. Specifically, it began as part of the development of coal mining, railroads, the clay industry and the growth of regional urban centers. The Denny Clay Company opened mining operations in the 1890s and soon after erected a clay products factory. The company-owned town of Taylor grew alongside the company's operations. In 1905 the Denny Clay Company was absorbed into the Denny-Renton Clay & Coal Company. By 1910 the new company had greatly expanded the factory and the town had grown to a population of nearly 1000. While the City of Seattle considered condemning the town and including it in its acquisition of properties within the Cedar River watershed the company was able to forestall condemnation and the town, mine and factory continued to thrive well into the 1920s.

In 1927, Gladding-McBean & Company acquired Denny-Renton and took over operations of the factory and ownership of the town. Even by that time signs of decline were apparent and the Great Depression of the 1930s accelerated the process. By the early 1940s the town was a remnant of what it once was. While the factory was still in operation it was clearly in a state of disrepair and only a handful of residents remained. At this time the City of Seattle renewed discussions to condemn the town site and add it to its Cedar River Watershed property. The City condemned the town and took over ownership and management of the town site in 1947. Since that time it has been owned by the City of Seattle.

The birth, life and decline of Taylor is intimately intertwined with the growth and development of Seattle along with regional and national events. Seattle capitalists funded and managed its early discovery and development. Taylor's raw materials and manufactured products were key to building Seattle – bricks for street paving, sewer pipe for sanitation, ornamental terra cotta and facing brick for buildings and more. Seattle's growth and need of a secure water supply had much to do with the ultimate demise of Taylor in the 1940s although national economic trends and the depletion of raw material at Taylor itself had nearly killed the town already.