Not only does Queen Anne have the oldest existing stair in the city, but it also has some of the best. SDOT maintains more than 500 public stairs in Seattle and of those more than 100 are on Queen Anne Hill alone. Add to those the other public stairs maintained by Seattle Parks, Seattle Public Library, etc. and you get 121 public stairs on Queen Anne Hill. This is due in part to the fact that the stairs were installed as the city grew (from the downtown area northwards).

Early in Seattle's history, many public stairs were built of wood. But as these needed to be replaced relatively frequently, more permanent concrete stairs started to be installed.

On Queen Anne Hill there are now very few wooden stairs left. 

Note from the Queen Anne Historical Society
While transferring the Horton Collection, only minor changes were made; the content remains essentially as Thomas Horton created and first shared it on qastairs.com in 2010. As you explore the collection and our beautiful stairways, remember that time moves on, but archives stand still. Although minor errors pop up, they do not diminish the collection’s overall value, usefulness, or enjoyment.