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 |
|---|---|
| 1903 | 19 |
| 1904 | 845 |
| 1907 | 7 |
| 1909 | 747 |
1,618 stories
- Turf War at the Eleventh Street Bridge
A boatman is harassed and detained by police for the crime of competing for ferry passengers.
- Sniper Targets South Tacoma Streetcar
A motorman narrowly escaped death when a mysterious horseman fired a shot into his passing transit car.
- The Commissioner and the Sprinkler
A city official goes door-to-door in the hill district to enforce water restrictions, with mixed results.
- The Tragedy of Pearl Johnson
A young girl's repeated cycles of addiction and family heartbreak highlight the limitations of early 20th-century social intervention.
- The Seven-Foot Drop: A Property Dispute
A Tacoma couple fights back after county street grading leaves their home sitting high above the new road level.
- Armed Robbery on the Sixth Avenue Line
Two masked gunmen held up a streetcar at the end of the line, leaving the crew stranded and making off with the cash.
- Is a Public Street Being Sold as Gravel?
Neighbors watched with growing concern as contractors allegedly dug away the public street to sell the dirt for profit.
- Missing Sailor Sparks Mystery at Tacoma Harbor
A coal passer from the USS Concord has vanished without touching his significant savings, leaving shipmates to fear foul play after he went ashore on leave.
- The Tragic Disappearance of a Deserter
Sailor Frank Lyman deserted the Henry Failing in Tacoma and is believed to have drowned swimming ashore.
- Forest Fires Ravage Vashon and Peninsula
Settlers battle encroaching brush fires across Vashon Island and the mainland near Olalla.
- Forest Fires Threaten the Electron Power Plant
A multi-million dollar power facility is at risk as flames advance along the vital 14-mile flume.
- Rent Pressures in the Red Light District
A street worker is arrested after struggling to meet the high rent demands of a boarding house landlord.
- The Clash Over Tacoma’s 'Open-Town' Morals
Council President Roice and Mayor Wright engage in a heated public feud over allegations of vice and the policing of the city streets.
- The East Side Sewer Crisis
Stagnant sewage on the tide flats threatens to shutter East Side factories, sparking a desperate plea for infrastructure relief.
- A Heroic Rescue on the Tracks
A longshoreman narrowly saves an Indigenous child from an oncoming switch engine near the Northern Pacific dock.
- Expansion of the Red Light District
A notorious district on A Street is set for expansion as a developer secures permits for a new subterranean 'house of ill-fame'.
- The Mysterious Disappearance of Sergeant Brown
A career soldier vanished without a trace after leaving his post on the cableship Burnside in Tacoma.
- The Great Nickel Counterfeit Bust
A local slot machine monopolist calls in the Secret Service to stop a gang from minting slugs to cheat his own gambling machines.
- The Price of Challenging the Red Light District
A laboring man fights for his stolen wages only to face a brutal assault by the enforcers of a powerful downtown syndicate.
- The Desperate Choice of John Thomas
A hungry and freezing man purposefully steals trousers in broad daylight, hoping for an arrest and a winter meal in the county jail.
- An Honest Find in the Snow
A local laborer, despite his own poverty, turns in a lost gold watch to the police.
- The Return to the Restricted District
Tacoma officials shift policy toward segregating the 'disorderly element' into a designated district, reversing previous attempts at city-wide enforcement.
- The Cultist Behind Bars
Joshua Klein, held in the county jail, claims to be receiving telepathic messages from his followers in Vienna while parents demand their daughters return home.
- House Fire at North Fife Street
A residence at 610 North Fife Street is heavily damaged by a blaze likely caused by faulty wiring while the owners were sitting in the floor below.
- South End Residents Demand Park Board Probe
The South End Improvement Club initiates an inquiry into allegations of graft and the mistreatment of Point Defiance Park.