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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 10 |
| 1877 | 6 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 2 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 20 |
| 1884 | 6 |
| 1885 | 13 |
| 1886 | 6 |
| 1887 | 9 |
| 1888 | 9 |
| 1889 | 17 |
| 1890 | 6 |
| 1891 | 5 |
| 1892 | 42 |
| 1893 | 65 |
| 1894 | 38 |
| 1895 | 29 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1898 | 1 |
| 1899 | 9 |
| 1900 | 4 |
| 1903 | 15 |
| 1904 | 16 |
| 1907 | 1 |
| 1908 | 5 |
| 1909 | 21 |
| 1910 | 3 |
| 1914 | 1 |
| 1915 | 5 |
| 1916 | 1 |
| 1917 | 5 |
| 1918 | 1 |
| 1923 | 4 |
| 1924 | 6 |
| 1925 | 4 |
18 stories matching collaps
- The Tragedy of a Seattle Longshoreman
John Cousins, a laborer, collapsed and died in the arms of a friend in a sudden, grim reminder of the precarity of life on the Seattle waterfront in 1876.
- The Great Tent That Flopped: Seattle’s First Major Spectacle Washed Out
In October 1876, the famous Montgomery Queen's Circus arrived in Seattle with a massive tent and twenty trained horses, only for torrential rain to collapse their grand opening. A rare look at early Seattle entertainment and civic life.
- The City That Slid Away: Seattle’s Front Street Disaster of 1876
As the city expands up its steep hills, a critical retaining wall on Front Street collapses under the weight of new development, leaving officials to wonder if Seattle is building itself into a disaster.
- Disaster at the Hardware Store
A shelf collapse at a prominent Seattle hardware firm results in injury and property loss, highlighting the hazards of downtown commercial growth.
- The Mill That Could Have Been: A Snohomish Tragedy of Ambition and Illness
In June 1877, the Northern Star reported on the collapse of a massive new mill project at Port Ludlow, blaming the death of its owner, Arthur Phinney, for halting construction that promised to rival any in the territory.
- The Wedding-Journey Argument
A young couple's petty dispute over transportation during their honeymoon highlights the fragile nature of new love.
- The Bank That Ate Seven Men: A Collapse in the Blue Point Claim
In a gruesome industrial accident on April 13, 1877, a bank of earth at the Blue Point mine in Smartsville buried seven miners alive and wounded six more, halting business for miles around.
- The Professional Pessimists of Early Seattle
A 19th-century editorial takes aim at the 'croakers'—the local doomsayers who claimed the town's prosperity was always on the verge of collapse.
- The Great Depression of the 1870s Hits Snohomish
Facing a glut of goods and a collapsing market, local merchants slash prices and scramble to entice struggling settlers.
- The Ghost in the Photograph
A grieving man’s obsession with the afterlife leads him into the dark, hidden corners of 1876 Seattle—and to a tragic end.
- The Brutal Toll of 19th-Century Politics
Reflecting on the physical and mental collapse of high-stakes politicians, one editor warns that running for office in the American system is now a hazardous occupation.
- The Tax War That Almost Killed Seattle's Economy
In 1877, a federal order threatened to strip Seattle of its tax base by forcing steamships to register their 'home port' in Port Townsend. The local press warned that without this revenue, the county would collapse.
- The Stone That Crushed: A Fatal Day at Seattle’s City Hall
Two men are killed and another left for dead when a scaffold collapses during the construction of the new municipal building, exposing the deadly risks of civic ambition in 1877.
- The Potato Famine That Never Left the Sound
A century and a half ago, Seattle farmers lamented the mysterious collapse of the Puget Sound potato trade, marking the end of a boom that once promised regional prosperity.
- 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.
- The Hidden Destroyer of Seattle’s Waterfront
In 1877, Seattle property owners faced a silent maritime menace: a wood-boring mollusk called the 'Teredo' that could collapse a wharf from the inside out.
- The Wharf That Ate Its Workers: Seattle’s First Major Infrastructure Failure
In September 1876, a newly built lumber wharf in Seattle collapsed under the weight of its own laborers, sending Chinese workers and timber plunging into the Duwamish River. The disaster exposed the rotting reality of territorial construction and the precarious lives of immigrant labor.
- The Floor Gives Way: Panic and Death at Seattle’s Morris Opera House
A grand opening night turns into a nightmare when the second-story floor of the newly converted theater collapses into the stables below, killing several and injuring dozens in one of the city's earliest major disasters.