Eugene McAllaster

Who was Eugene McAllaster?

Eugene Loring McAllaster was born April 20, 1866 in Pennsylvania. A distinguished Seattle, Washington, naval architect and engineer, he is most famous for designing the historic Seattle fireboat Duwamish. He was also a consulting engineer on Seattle's Denny Hill and Jackson Street regrades.

Mr. McAllaster graduated from the University of Michigan in 1889 and in 1890 he married Katherine F. Nichols. Kittie, as she was known by friends and family, was born in Michigan, on June 16, 1867, and spent her girlhood in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The newlyweds lived in Detroit until their move to Seattle in 1894. Mr. McAllaster quickly established himself in the Seattle business community as a skilled naval architect and engineer. He became deeply involved with the Denny Hill Regrade and Jackson Street Regrade, and was an integral part of the successes of these massive undertakings.

With his business prospering he purchased a fine Capitol Hill home on March 2, 1902, at 509 Belmont, overlooking downtown Seattle, Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains.

Seattle in the early 1900s, with its long waterfront of wooden docks, warehouses and merchant vessels, was an enormous responsibility for Seattle's fire department. It was rightfully feared that another devastating fire like the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 would overwhelm the capability of the city's single fireboat, the Snoqualmie.