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 |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 10 |
| 1877 | 9 |
| 1878 | 3 |
| 1880 | 2 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 14 |
| 1884 | 8 |
| 1885 | 9 |
| 1886 | 11 |
| 1887 | 8 |
| 1888 | 8 |
| 1889 | 20 |
| 1891 | 7 |
| 1892 | 20 |
| 1893 | 28 |
| 1894 | 26 |
| 1895 | 29 |
| 1899 | 9 |
| 1903 | 4 |
| 1904 | 2 |
| 1909 | 3 |
233 stories matching wall
- Digging into the Wall
A sermon at Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church warns against the hidden sins of 'walled-up rooms' in the human heart.
- Blood in the Streets of North Seattle
A long-simmering domestic feud between a husband and his estranged wife's companion erupts in an exchange of gunfire near a Fifth Street lodging house.
- The Unstable Foundations of Early Seattle
When aggressive development on the Masonic lot caused a prominent brick building on Front Street to crack, it revealed the high-stakes risk of early Seattle’s rapid expansion.
- The Poker Game That Landed Everyone in Jail
An attempted robbery report backfired for two men who both ended up arrested for illegal gambling.
- The Mail Thief from Livingston
A postal worker flees Montana after looting dozens of packages, only to be found hiding in a Seattle hotel with a revolver and a stash of mutilated bills.
- The Deadly Aftermath of the Great Seattle Fire
A workman is crushed by the unstable ruins of the Union Block, sparking a tragedy as crews attempt to clear the debris of the city's recent destruction.
- Thirty Thousand Volts Killed Him. The Wall Brought Him Back.
A Seattle power-plant hand was dead for fifteen seconds in 1909 — until the shock hurled him into a cement wall and the impact restarted his heart.
- The Clock That Kept Time in the Ruins
When the Oriental Hotel burned, a single clock was found ticking away on a charred wall amidst the wreckage.
- Building a Seawall to Save the Waterfront
A proposal to use excavated earth from new construction to extend the city's harbor, protecting the waterfront while expanding valuable land.
- Tragic Discovery at Wall Street Mill
The body of a local sawyer who vanished days earlier is recovered from the bay, confirming fears of an industrial accident.
- Jailer's Rounds Foil Burglars Digging Through Cell Wall
Two burglars nearly tunneled out of the King County Jail, thwarted only by a sharp-eared jailer and an unfortunate musical choice.
- The 1891 Building Laws That Shaped Seattle
A deep dive into the rigid safety mandates—from fire-proof walls to mandatory fire escapes—that dictated the construction of Seattle’s early downtown.
- A Wife Arrived Too Late: The Theater-Builder's Fatal Fall
H. M. Jones slipped from a board atop the unfinished Seattle Theater at Third and Cherry, leaving six children and a neighbor's quiet tribute.
- Inside the New King County Jail
A detailed look at the 'infallible' brick and iron lockup built to replace older, makeshift holding cells in 1870s Seattle.
- A Runaway Team in Downtown Seattle
A frightened pair of horses caused a commotion near the waterfront, charging through a hack and into a brick wall.
- The Sermon on Seattle’s Future
In 1880, a local minister preached that Seattle’s prosperity depended less on its natural harbor and railroads, and more on the moral integrity of its citizens.
- The Great Seattle Scrub-Down
Facing a growing crisis of 'filth, dirt and garbage,' the City of Seattle threatens strict enforcement of sanitation ordinances to clean up the heart of downtown.
- Receivers, Rail and a Wall Street Rally
Receivers Bryant and Brown cut costs, lay new side track and enlarge the Smith's Cove dock—and Eastern bondholders reward the Seattle Lake Shore & Eastern with a Wall Street surge.
- The Forgotten Iron Gorge of the Cascades
A survey of the remote Denny mining claims near Snoqualmie Pass reveals a rugged, dangerous 'wonder land' of hidden mineral wealth.
- The Man Who Would Make Seattle Beautiful
A landscape architect from Cleveland arrives in the Pacific Northwest with a radical proposal: tear down the ugly retaining walls and let nature take over.
- Seattle’s First Great Street: How Denny Hill Became Front Street
In March 1877, the city is racing to finish the brutal grading of Front Street, transforming a muddy slope into Seattle’s first grand thoroughfare.
- The Perilous Climb of St. Peter's Lantern
A daredevil’s afternoon of ‘roof climbing’ in 1876 Seattle turns into a life-or-death struggle when a simple stunt leaves him dangling a hundred feet above the pavement.
- Saloon Gunfire Over A Debt
A confrontation in a downtown Seattle saloon ends with a bullet in the wall and a victim who refuses to press charges.
- The Struggle for a Seattle World's Fair
Promoters for a Seattle exposition are already hitting walls as they debate locations and worry about the structural integrity of the Armory Hall.
- Tragedy Strikes Children Under Poorly Installed Building Shutters
Two young children are critically injured after a heavy iron shutter, improperly secured to the brick exterior of the Squire-Latimer building, collapsed onto them.