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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 24 |
| 1877 | 12 |
| 1878 | 3 |
| 1880 | 4 |
| 1882 | 3 |
| 1883 | 10 |
| 1884 | 6 |
| 1885 | 9 |
| 1886 | 12 |
| 1887 | 5 |
| 1888 | 5 |
| 1889 | 20 |
| 1891 | 8 |
| 1892 | 38 |
| 1893 | 53 |
| 1894 | 48 |
| 1895 | 44 |
| 1898 | 3 |
| 1899 | 6 |
| 1903 | 5 |
| 1904 | 2 |
| 1909 | 1 |
| 1916 | 2 |
325 stories matching lower
- The Paper Trail of Patronage
A bold act of civic favoritism in King County sees the Board of Commissioners award a lucrative printing contract to a higher bidder, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill.
- The Cost of Regrading Seattle
Helen Scurry fights the city for $25,000, claiming the lowering of Third Street destroyed the value of her property.
- The Ferry Fight on the Duwamish
A contest over a river crossing franchise exposes the competition for infrastructure and land rights along the lower Duwamish in 1876.
- Fatal Plunge into the Tide
A runaway team forces a Seattle teamster off the unguarded planks of Commercial Street to his death.
- The Great Regrade of Commercial Street
A proposal to drop Commercial Street by ten feet to improve drainage and access.
- The 'Pistol-Packin' Girl' of Seattle's Waterfront
A rowdy encounter on the Seattle waterfront leaves a man stunned after a local girl pulls a pistol on him—and fires.
- No Safety Net, No Ordinance: A Trapeze Act Falls in Seattle
Two acrobats plunged from a Madison Street trapeze in 1895, exposing a gap in city safety rules and a very lucky escape.
- The Price of a July Fourth Celebration
A Seattle printer and a child suffer grave injuries from an errant Chinese bomb during the 1872 Independence Day festivities.
- The Night the Police Looked the Other Way
Barely a week after a showy 'raid,' five gambling houses on Washington Street were back in business — and everyone in the lower quarter knew it.
- The Day the Floor Collapsed at the Revivals
A two-story church in Seattle, serving as a school on its lower floor, gave way under the weight of a crowd, resulting in a thirteen-foot plunge and multiple severe injuries.
- The Great Northern's Building Boom
New bricks and stone are transforming the downtown core as the Great Northern Railway’s arrival spurs a flurry of commercial construction.
- The Right to Offset Benefits in Land Seizures
A landmark Washington Supreme Court decision settles a heated dispute over whether the city can lower compensation for seized land by claiming the public improvement adds value to the owner's remaining property.
- Living on Borrowed Time in Lower Seattle
A scathing editorial decries the 'man-traps' of the waterfront, where buildings are propped up on flimsy planks to accommodate rising street grades.
- The Saloon That Wouldn't Leave
A legal war erupts over a property lease, testing whether a landlord is responsible for ousting a tenant after selling the building.
- The City's Clever Solution for a Tricky Seattle Hillside
Engineer R.H. Thomson avoids expensive cutting by designing a split-level street for View Street, satisfying residents and the city council.
- The Price of Fire Protection
A debate in City Hall reveals the cost and complexity of securing fire hydrants and water service for a growing Seattle.
- The Scotch Sailor Boy’s Harrowing Escape
A teenage apprentice tells the tale of his brutal treatment, false imprisonment, and survival following a shipwreck in Lower California.
- White Husbands in Indigenous Communities on the Frontier
General O.O. Howard describes the precarious lives of white men who married Indigenous women in the Pacific Northwest.
- The 'Loud' Man on Mill Street
A boisterous late-night disturbance on the Seattle waterfront ends in a quiet arrest by Sheriff McGraw.
- Railway Men Fight a Rate Cut to Save Their Wages
A hundred railroad employees packed a Masonic hall at Second and Pike to oppose legislation lowering freight and passenger rates, arguing that cheaper trains would mean smaller paychecks.
- Seattle’s Oysters Are Plentiful Again
As shipping and rail logistics pulse through the city in 1889, local markets report a rare dip in prices for fresh seafood.
- The Great Seattle Fire Hose Scandal of 1891
A fiery Board of Public Works meeting uncovers allegations of bribery, price-fixing, and backroom deals in the city's quest to equip its fire department.
- The Underground Opium Trade of the Pacific Northwest
As high tariffs threatened profits, British Columbia factories relied on smuggling to keep their product moving into the American market.
- The Mud of Commercial Street
Seattle’s main commercial artery was once a treacherous gauntlet of 'semi-fluid mud' and rats, nearly impassable for the city's horse-drawn wagons.
- The Water That Wasn't There: Seattle's First Major Infrastructure Crisis
As the city prepares for its first major expansion, the Seattle Water Company announces a total shutdown of supply to upper levels, leaving residents and businesses in the dark.