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.
Refine1 on
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 3 |
| 1858 | 13 |
| 1859 | 27 |
| 1860 | 6 |
| 1861 | 6 |
| 1863 | 5 |
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 11 |
| 1877 | 11 |
| 1878 | 12 |
| 1879 | 5 |
| 1880 | 3 |
| 1882 | 3 |
| 1883 | 56 |
| 1884 | 25 |
| 1885 | 43 |
| 1886 | 26 |
| 1887 | 70 |
| 1888 | 34 |
| 1889 | 76 |
| 1890 | 6 |
| 1891 | 48 |
| 1892 | 267 |
| 1893 | 263 |
| 1894 | 243 |
| 1895 | 182 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1898 | 7 |
| 1899 | 30 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1903 | 64 |
| 1904 | 848 |
| 1905 | 2 |
| 1907 | 7 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 758 |
| 1910 | 5 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 3 |
| 1916 | 9 |
| 1917 | 5 |
| 1918 | 1 |
| 1923 | 2 |
| 1924 | 4 |
| 1925 | 1 |
3,195 stories
- He Burned Every Paper He Owned, Then Kept a Promise to Himself
One day after the Northern Pacific pushed its general manager out, the man who built the Sunnyside Canal methodically destroyed his records, mailed a letter to an actress, and shot himself — as he had long said a man had a perfect right to do.
- A $100,000 Hole in the Railroad's Land Books
Northern Pacific's land accounts were being audited in Tacoma amid rumors that the late land agent left a six-figure shortage—and a second company's books were under scrutiny.
- A Runaway Wife Returns to View the Husband Who Died Searching for Her
Anna M. Nelson had hidden herself from an unhappy marriage. When Andrew P. Nelson died looking for her, she came back to Tacoma—exhausted, unmoved, and willing to explain.
- Tacoma’s $1 Million Water Lawsuit Alleges City Hall Collusion
City Attorney Wickersham refiled Tacoma’s suit against the light and water company, alleging officials and company agents conspired to carry the election.
- A Seattle-Born Son Could Own Property. His Chinese Father Could Not.
At the port in Tacoma, immigration officials examined 32 Chinese passengers—and the case of one Seattle family laid bare the era's racial limits on citizenship and land ownership.
- Philadelphia Money Dredges Tacoma's Tide Flats for Ships and Grain
The Tacoma Land Company floats bonds back East to buy and fill the tide flats, cut a 25-foot channel, and build a grain warehouse and a 500-barrel flour mill on the water.
- A Million Dollars in Doubt: Tacoma's Council Moves to Legalize Its Own Debt
Behind closed doors, council members scheme to validate nearly $1,000,000 in city bonds — and to slip a new charter and a purge of salaried offices onto the same ballot, over the objections of the mayor and department heads.
- The Shack on A Street: A Mother’s Defiance Against the County Physician
Mrs. McGinnis of Tacoma refuses to let her afflicted child be taken to a hospital, insisting she can care for him better than doctors while living in poverty with four other sick children.
- The Lawyer Who Spoke 'Jargon' to Save a Man from Prison
In a Tacoma courtroom in the early days of Washington state, Attorney Frank Clark stunned federal prosecutors by abandoning legalese for Chinook Jargon, winning the acquittal of a poor logger accused of stealing timber.
- The Jealousy Hunt: A Tacoma Man’s ‘Crime of Passion’ and the Women Who Caught Him
In a scandal that gripped Tacoma in May 1909, George Essel Khrnin was arrested for assault after his wife tracked him down from Seattle. But the real drama unfolded as two other women—accusers and witnesses alike—joined the hunt, turning a domestic dispute into a public spectacle.
- The Beer Garden vs. The Hospital: A Tacoma Land Grab Turns Violent
When a liquor seller tried to build a beer garden on land encroaching on the Fannie Paddock Hospital, the hospital staff fought back with guards and lawyers, sparking a legal battle over property lines in old Tacoma.
- The Confidence Game on the Kalama-Tacoma Line
A traveler from Missouri lost his life savings to a smooth-talking stranger on a train, proving that 'confidence men' were a perennial threat to those passing through the region.
- The Battle for the Unsurveyed Frontier
A 19th-century court case in Steilacoom exposes the tension between local land speculators and the ideal of the 'actual settler' on the Washington frontier.
- The Cougar Who Saved a Cyclist’s Life
A Tacoma engineer recounts his miraculous escape after a mountain lion knocked him upright on his bicycle during a terrifying encounter.
- The Never-Ending Five-Acre Legal Battle
A landmark property dispute near 11th Street in Tacoma finally nears a conclusion after years of litigation that cost more than the value of the land itself.
- A Precarious Bicycle Ride Ends in Tragedy for a Tacoma Musician
A member of the Tacoma military band is recovering from a gunshot wound after a tumble from his bicycle caused his concealed revolver to discharge.
- The Mobbing of the Moralizers
When four prominent temperance leaders and a local businessman tried to close down a suspected illegal saloon, they were met on the street and pelted with rotten eggs.
- The Theater That Wanted the Street
Tacoma’s grand new opera house design sparks a city council debate over encroaching on public sidewalks and creating private carriage driveways.
- The Unlikely Rise of the Washington Hop King
How an accidental crop grown in a kitchen fire turned into a Pacific Northwest agricultural empire.
- The 1888 Rental Crisis in Puyallup
As the timber industry boomed and population surged, local workers found themselves in a housing crunch that sounds all too familiar today.
- The Tragedy of a Forgotten Soul
After a man drowned at a Tacoma wharf, his body was left exposed among 'ravenous fishes' for a full day before a private citizen finally intervened to provide a burial.
- The Boom Town on the Sound: Labor and Industry in 1877 Tacoma
A traveler’s dispatch from New Tacoma reports on the frenetic pace of local timber mills, the arrival of new industrial machinery, and the rapid expansion of the labor force as the city builds its future.
- Brutal Assault on Indigenous Woman Reported
An Indian woman, identified as Mrs. J'ouls, suffered a fractured skull during a violent attack near the Puyallup reservation.
- The Battle Over Tacoma's Most Notorious 'Hellhole'
Citizens and reform groups rally at City Hall to shutter a local variety theater and saloon decried as a den of depravity.
- The Great Tacoma Housing Panic: Hotels Full, Strangers Sleeping on Floors
As the Puget Sound region braces for statehood and a railroad boom, Tacoma is facing a severe shortage of lodging. With every hotel in town crowded and strangers arriving daily, new arrivals are forced to seek shelter in private homes.