[2][3] The neighborhood takes its name from a small triangular plaza near the corner of First Avenue and Yesler Way, originally known as Pioneer Place.

It is bounded roughly by Alaskan Way S. on the west, beyond which are the docks of Elliott Bay; by S. King Street on the south, beyond which is SoDo; by 5th Avenue S. on the east, beyond which is the International District; and it extends between one and two blocks north of Yesler Way, beyond which is the rest of Downtown.

Much of the neighborhood is on landfill: in pioneer times, the area roughly between First and Second Avenue, bounded on the south by Jackson Street, and extending north almost to Yesler Way (about two-and-a-half city blocks) was a low-lying offshore island.

The mainland shore roughly followed what is now Yesler Way to about Fourth Avenue, then ran southeast, at an angle of about 45 degrees to the current shoreline.

It became Deadline, the northern border of the Great Restricted District, Maynardtown, Down on the Sawdust, the Lava Beds, the Tenderloin,[7] White Chapel, or Wappyville,[8][7] (after Charles Wappenstein, after a particularly corrupt police chief.

[10][11] Henry Broderick, approaching his 80th birthday in 1959, wrote of the neighborhood south of Yesler, "[P]erhaps never in all history, certainly not in America, has there ever existed such a massive collection of the demimonde grouped in a restricted area.

The city health department conducted inspections and attempted to keep venereal disease under control, but the state of medicine at the time was not such as to give them any great chance of success.

[12] Besides the brothels there were "an ungodly mixture of dives, dumps ... pawnshops, hash houses, dope parlors and ... the et cetera that kept the police guessing."

Just before the fire, cable car service was instituted from Pioneer Square along Yesler Way to Lake Washington and the Leschi neighborhood.

When an arsonist severely damaged the pole in 1938, the U.S. Forest Service hired a group of Tlingit artisans through the Civilian Conservation Corps to craft a replacement that was installed in 1940.

[18][19] In addition to the totem pole, an iron and glass pergola designed by Julian F. Everett as part of a lavish underground comfort station and a bust of Chief Seattle were added to the park in 1909.

This public art initiative developed by ARTXIV in collaboration with the nonprofit Forest for the Trees, aimed at transforming Seattle's historic Pioneer Square into a year-round open-air gallery.

The project features framed artworks displayed on building facades and in alleyways, blending contemporary art with the district's architectural heritage.

By integrating art into the urban environment, the project enhances community engagement and expands public access to creative expression.