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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1861 | 4 |
| 1862 | 3 |
| 1863 | 3 |
| 1871 | 8 |
| 1872 | 110 |
| 1876 | 554 |
| 1877 | 391 |
| 1878 | 306 |
| 1879 | 15 |
| 1880 | 142 |
| 1882 | 101 |
| 1883 | 499 |
| 1884 | 291 |
| 1885 | 624 |
| 1886 | 387 |
| 1887 | 350 |
| 1888 | 330 |
| 1889 | 836 |
| 1890 | 12 |
| 1891 | 355 |
| 1892 | 1,403 |
| 1893 | 1,654 |
| 1894 | 1,262 |
| 1895 | 239 |
| 1896 | 2 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1898 | 2 |
| 1899 | 378 |
| 1900 | 6 |
| 1902 | 7 |
| 1903 | 124 |
| 1904 | 81 |
| 1905 | 2 |
| 1909 | 41 |
| 1910 | 7 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 5 |
| 1915 | 4 |
| 1916 | 25 |
| 1917 | 8 |
| 1919 | 3 |
| 1923 | 11 |
| 1924 | 12 |
| 1925 | 4 |
10,605 stories
- The Dynamite of Gilman: A Murderous Grudge Ends in Lynching
In a fit of rage over a domestic dispute, Albert Schaeffer blew up his neighbor's home in Gilman, killing three people. The town’s response was swift and brutal.
- The Judge Who Declared Unions Illegal
In a landmark charge to the grand jury in 1893, Chief Justice Thomas Burke declared that any combination of workers preventing employment was a 'conspiracy against the law of the land,' effectively criminalizing the labor movement before Washington even became a state.
- The Fight Over Tribal Land in the Path of Progress
Booster newspapers in 1889 editorialized against the reservation system, calling for the seizure of Indigenous land to satisfy a hungry real estate market.
- Rising from the Ashes: The Great Seattle Fire of 1888
While the downtown core smoldered, Seattle citizens gathered in the courthouse—lit by tallow dips—to demand a modern city of brick and stone, rejecting makeshift wooden shacks and dreaming of a reconstructed metropolis.
- The Great Rebuilding: How the Great Seattle Fire Forced a Modern City
In the smoldering aftermath of the 1889 Great Seattle Fire, city leaders and engineers seized the catastrophe as a singular opportunity to abandon the crooked, cramped street grid for a rational, expanded future.
- The Great Seattle Fire: Building a City from Ash and Embers
In the immediate aftermath of the devastating 1889 fire that leveled the city’s business district, Seattle residents and property owners rush to clear the smoldering ruins and plan a more substantial, brick-built future.
- The Great Seattle Rebuild: How the 1889 Fire Transformed the City
In the chaotic days following the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, the city raced to replace charred ruins with brick, while grappling with the ethical dilemma of redirecting disaster relief funds intended for distant cities.
- The Rebirth of a Burned City
Following the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, the city pivots from disaster to rapid reconstruction, grappling with housing, labor, and the challenge of rebuilding a metropolis from ashes.
- Seattle Rebuilds After the Great Fire
One week after the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, the city pivots from emergency relief to a massive, coordinated reconstruction of the downtown core.
- The Great Rebuilding: Seattle’s Hard Reset After the Fire
In the shadow of the 1889 Great Seattle Fire, the city saw a chance to rethink its geography, street levels, and civic character, transforming disaster into a blueprint for a modern metropolis.
- After the Great Fire: Seattle Rebuilds from Ashes
Following the devastating 1889 fire that leveled the city’s business district, residents and business owners scramble to reorganize amidst the ruins of the downtown core.
- Seattle Rebuilds With Brick After Great Fire
How the Queen City responded to the 1889 conflagration with both civic resilience and a remarkable display of internal charity.
- The Great Fire of 1889: Resilience in the Ashes
A traveler recounts their journey across the continent to find a city 'wiped out' but miraculously still standing, thriving in tents and determined to rebuild.
- The Iron War for Seattle
How the city’s early pioneers fought a cutthroat land-monopoly struggle to ensure Seattle would not be sidelined by the Northern Pacific Railroad.
- When Seattle Won the Transcontinental Sweepstakes
In 1890, the Great Northern, Northern Pacific, and Union Pacific converged on Seattle, transforming the city from a remote settlement into a global Pacific terminus.
- The Railway Gold Rush: When Every Line Wanted a Piece of Seattle
In 1890, Seattle was the ultimate prize for three competing transcontinental railroads, leading to a tangled mess of franchise wars, tide flat terminal deals, and high-stakes corporate maneuvering.
- The Wharf King’s Victory: Yesler Wins Millions in Land Battle
Judge Lichtenberg rules that the state cannot seize waterfront property without paying just compensation, halting the Harbor Line Commission and protecting H.L. Yesler’s empire.
- The Relocation of the University of Washington
City Hall votes to deed away the original downtown campus to the state, paving the way for the University to move to its modern home.
- The Snoqualmie Hop Field Massacre
A contract labor dispute turns deadly as vigilantes attack Chinese workers in the Snoqualmie Valley.
- Chinese Hop Pickers Murdered by White Mob in Squak Valley
A violent, racially motivated attack on Chinese hop pickers leaves three dead as anti-Chinese hostility intensifies in the territory.
- The Massacre at Squak Valley
A coroner's jury investigates the brutal 1885 killing of three Chinese hop-pickers, uncovering a mob's systematic effort to ethnically cleanse the valley.
- Three Chinese Men Murdered in Squak Valley, 1885
A brutal anti-Chinese attack in the Washington Territory ends in murder and injury, prompting a somber funeral in Seattle.
- Vigilante Mob Targets Coal Creek Chinese Miners
A masked party of men armed with firearms forced Chinese laborers from their homes, leaving their settlement in flames.
- Squak Valley Rioters Remanded to Jail
Seven men accused of the murder of Chinese miners at Squak waive their preliminary examination.
- The Judge's Warning Against Mob Rule in 1885 Seattle
Facing rising anti-Chinese violence, Chief Justice Greene of Washington Territory warned grand jurors that economic cycles and social grievances do not justify the 'folly of Xerxes'—mob violence.