Research the archive
Narrow 27,002 newspaper stories by words, years, place, newspaper and subject. See when and where they ran, then download what you find.
Put a phrase in quotes ("rent strike") or leave a word out with a minus (strike -baseball). Old scans misspell names, so when little is found, near-spellings are offered.
Refine2 on
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1859 | 1 |
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1862 | 3 |
| 1863 | 3 |
| 1871 | 8 |
| 1872 | 109 |
| 1876 | 535 |
| 1877 | 377 |
| 1878 | 279 |
| 1879 | 15 |
| 1880 | 134 |
| 1882 | 98 |
| 1883 | 508 |
| 1884 | 325 |
| 1885 | 563 |
| 1886 | 359 |
| 1887 | 324 |
| 1888 | 314 |
| 1889 | 800 |
| 1890 | 11 |
| 1891 | 340 |
| 1892 | 1,326 |
| 1893 | 1,600 |
| 1894 | 1,228 |
| 1895 | 1,049 |
| 1896 | 2 |
| 1897 | 8 |
| 1898 | 20 |
| 1899 | 366 |
| 1900 | 6 |
| 1902 | 5 |
| 1903 | 152 |
| 1904 | 69 |
| 1905 | 2 |
| 1907 | 1 |
| 1908 | 2 |
| 1909 | 74 |
| 1910 | 25 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 5 |
| 1915 | 5 |
| 1916 | 27 |
| 1917 | 10 |
| 1923 | 9 |
| 1924 | 11 |
| 1925 | 3 |
| 1928 | 10 |
| 1929 | 15 |
11,139 stories
- Tragedy in the Trenches: A Fatal Seattle Construction Collapse
Two laborers were killed instantly when a sewer excavation on 25th Street succumbed to shifting earth and rock.
- The Brutal Reality of the Seattle Sailor Market
A waterfront insider describes the predatory schemes used to trap unsuspecting men into dangerous lives at sea.
- The Paper Trail That Went Up in Smoke
A King County tax assessor admitted that sworn property records were routinely burned, sparking a public outcry over local fiscal transparency.
- The Unsolved Murder of John Smith
A Scottish laborer is found beaten to death on the roadside, his pockets empty and his identity a mystery to the local coroner’s jury.
- Seattle's Corrupt Policing: The Fee System of 1887
How Seattle’s police force was incentivized to hunt for arrests and padding their own pockets through court fees, sparking a local civic scandal.
- The Seattle Kitchen Fire
A fire guts a cheap Seattle boarding house, leaving lodgers scrambling for safety through upper-story windows.
- The Baltimore Oyster House Fire
A suspected arson and double tragedy at a Second Street hotel leaves the community in shock as the accused points a finger at his own wife.
- English Homesteader Runs Out of Money Near Seattle
An immigrant family struggling to clear their homestead near Seattle loses their only daughter and everything they own to a tragic logging accident.
- A Neighborhood Under Siege: The Fatal Feud of Fourth Street
A quiet funeral for Fred M. Hall masks a violent, month-long dispute between neighbors that ended in a fatal shooting and a town paralyzed by fear.
- The Midnight Landing at Smith's Cove
When dozens of Chinese laborers were smuggled into Seattle via a frigid landing at Smith’s Cove in 1892, a frantic, city-wide pursuit ensued.
- Rancher Joseph Amerd Fatally Shot at Marble Mound, 1892
A long-standing feud between a rancher and a laborer culminates in a violent end on New Year's Day near the confluence of the Skagit and Cascade rivers.
- The Midnight Kidnapping of the 'Wasco' Deckhands
A bitter labor dispute on the Seattle waterfront spills into open water as union men board a steamer to abduct non-union workers.
- The Great Debate: Where Should Seattle's Ship Canal Go?
In 1892, federal engineers weighed the massive engineering feat of connecting Lake Washington to Puget Sound, deliberating whether to carve the path through Salmon Bay or Smith Cove.
- The Railway King vs. The 'Bow in the Ram's Horn'
James J. Hill, the legendary railroad titan, packs the Seattle City Council chambers to demand a straight track through the city's waterfront, warning that 'bottlenecking' the rails would cost the city its future.
- The City’s Debt Crisis of 1892
Facing a massive budget deficit, Seattle officials put a sweeping plan for fiscal reform and infrastructure bonds to a direct vote of the people.
- The Price of Early Seattle’s Growing Pains
Facing a mountain of debt, unpaid warrants, and legal judgments, Seattle held a high-stakes special election in 1892 to borrow $850,000 to keep the city running.
- The Battle for the Waterfront: Seattle's 1892 Railroad Struggle
As the Northern Pacific sought to claim prime space on Railroad Avenue, the city council faced a pivotal decision: prioritize corporate rail expansion or protect the public from the dangerous, crooked 'ram's horn' tracks that choked the waterfront.
- The City’s Debt Ceiling Crisis of 1892
Facing a massive backlog of unpaid warrants and legal judgments, Seattle's city council puts a multi-million dollar bond package to a city-wide vote to stave off municipal insolvency.
- The Great Seattle Bond Rush of 1892
Facing a mountain of debt, Seattle voters were asked to decide the city's future through a flurry of bonds for sewers, water pipes, and court-mandated payouts.
- The Battle of Yesler’s Wharf
When an opposition newspaper accused Seattle’s steamboatmen of being 'bogus' voters, the local press fought back to defend the right of the working class to define the city’s political future.
- Seattle Waterfront Owners Organize Against 'Ram's Horn' Right-of-Way
In 1892, Seattle property owners launched a crusade against the Northern Pacific Railroad to stop a monopolistic expansion of track rights that threatened to strangle the city's commerce.
- The Seattle Election Telegrams: When Political Operatives Ran the Show
Leaked ciphers from 1892 reveal a scheme where out-of-town 'detectives' and thugs were imported to manipulate local elections and manufacture scandals.
- The Ghost of Ballast Island
A laborer’s body washes up on the Seattle waterfront, leaving a trail of questions about a midnight splash and a missing man with a light overcoat.
- The Corpse in the Chicken Yard
A bungled insurance swindle in 1890s Seattle turns grisly when an amateur conspiracy, a stolen body, and a coded German letter unravel in a courtroom inquest.
- The Strange Leniency of a Supreme Court Murder Verdict
After two trials and two death sentences, the Washington State Supreme Court abruptly commuted Albert Friedrich’s murder conviction to second-degree, sparking legal confusion and outrage from the defendant himself.