Georgetown Steamplant Museum

Interior of Georgetown Steamplant Museum.

Photo credit: By derivative work: J.smith (talk)Georgetown_PowerPlant_interior_panos-_Mercator.jpg: Joe Mabel [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The Georgetown Steam Plant was originally built by Stone and Webster in 1906. It provided power for the Interurban Railway between Seattle and Tacoma; it also provided direct current for Seattle's streetcars and alternating current for Georgetown, then an independent city. The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1984, and is also designated by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers as a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark. At the time of its landmarking, it contained the "last operating examples of the world's first large scale, steam turbine."

Paul Carosino and Lilly Tellefson founded the museum to restore, maintain and operate the plant. The plant houses the last operable examples of early vertical steam generating turbines, as well as reciprocating steam engines, which are also operational. It also includes a collection of vintage machining tools, and several smaller steam engines.