Madison Street (Seattle)

Madison Street is the central road running northeast through First Hill.

Madison Street is a major thoroughfare of Seattle, Washington. The street connects Madison Park on Lake Washington leading south-west to First Hill and Downtown Seattle and eventually the Washington State Route 99 running north-south along the Puget Sound. At Madison Park until Broadway Avenue, the street is known as East Madison Street, which accounts for most of its length. It is the only Seattle street that runs uninterrupted from the salt water of Puget Sound in the west to the fresh water of Lake Washington in the east.

Madison street on a 1915 cover

Many notable buildings are located along the street, including Seattle Central Library and numerous hotels such as Sorrento Hotel. For most of the run from Broadway to 12th Avenue, it forms the north boundary of the Seattle University campus.

Madison Cable Car

Former cable car house on the south side of Madison near 10th Avenue on Capitol Hill, later the Fine Arts Building of Seattle University.

In 1891 a cable car was opened that connected the ferry terminal on Puget Sound to Madison Park on Lake Washington that ran the entire length of Madison Street. The cable car ran for nearly 50 years (although not always terminating at Madison Park) but was replaced with buses in 1940.

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