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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1859 | 1 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1861 | 2 |
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 6 |
| 1876 | 52 |
| 1877 | 34 |
| 1878 | 30 |
| 1879 | 4 |
| 1880 | 10 |
| 1882 | 2 |
| 1883 | 41 |
| 1884 | 34 |
| 1885 | 41 |
| 1886 | 7 |
| 1887 | 35 |
| 1888 | 62 |
| 1889 | 101 |
| 1890 | 16 |
| 1891 | 67 |
| 1892 | 119 |
| 1893 | 95 |
| 1894 | 72 |
| 1895 | 130 |
| 1897 | 7 |
| 1898 | 15 |
| 1899 | 31 |
| 1900 | 2 |
| 1902 | 2 |
| 1903 | 67 |
| 1904 | 21 |
| 1905 | 5 |
| 1907 | 3 |
| 1908 | 30 |
| 1909 | 65 |
| 1910 | 23 |
| 1911 | 2 |
| 1912 | 2 |
| 1914 | 18 |
| 1915 | 20 |
| 1916 | 43 |
| 1917 | 6 |
| 1918 | 1 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 21 |
| 1924 | 10 |
| 1925 | 11 |
| 1928 | 1 |
| 1929 | 1 |
127 stories matching develop
- A Frontier Real Estate Deal
A classic 1876 listing for a house and lot on 2nd Avenue, revealing the mid-development geography of early Seattle.
- When Seattle Made Property Owners Pay for Street Grading
An 1878 ordinance reveals the early mechanics of Seattle’s urban development and the 'special assessment' taxes that forced property owners to pay for city street improvements.
- The Sermon of Science in Snohomish
A local lecture series bridges the gap between theology and natural history, framing evolution not as a conflict with the divine, but as the 'eternal reign of law.'
- The Real Estate Market of 1876
A straightforward listing for a modest home on 2nd Street offers a window into the foundational land development of Seattle.
- The Price of Growth: How Seattle’s Economy Faced the Boom and Bust of 1877
A look back at the financial anxieties and rapid development of 1877 Seattle, as the young city navigated the transition from frontier town to an emerging regional market.
- The Roller Rink Craze of 1872
Before the city's modern obsession with wellness, local promoters banked on a new indoor exercise to save Seattle’s youth from 'pernicious influences and vile haunts.'
- The Rules of the Game: How Seattle's First Lawyers Codified the Fight for Land
When the Washington Territorial legislature overhauled the rules of civil procedure, they essentially wrote the blueprint for how Seattle’s developers and land speculators would battle over the city’s footprint for decades to come.
- A Frontier Home on Second Street
In the winter of 1876, a simple advertisement captures the rapid development and domestic churn of a burgeoning Seattle.
- A House and Lot for Sale on Second Street (Dec 25, 1876)
A quiet real estate listing from 1876 highlights the rapid development of early Seattle’s residential landscape.
- Life and Labor at the Carbon Coal Mines
A look inside the 1878 mining boom in Wilkeson, where company-owned land and rugged infrastructure defined the lives of the workers.
- The Next Pittsburg: Seattle’s Coal Rush
A new mine opens across the Cedar River, fueling hopes that the young city of Seattle will soon become a major center for iron and coal production.
- The Curse of the Golden Calf: Seattle’s Economic Anxiety in 1877
As banks tightened their grip on local capital, a Seattle editor warned that hoarding wealth—rather than investing in local industry and homes—was a dangerous path to ruin.
- The Seattle Housing Boom of 1876
While miners chased gold in North Georgia, Seattle entrepreneurs were busy speculating on 'hard finish' homes in a rapidly developing frontier town.
- The Road Less Traveled: Seattle’s Shameful Contrast with Victoria’s Fine Highways
In 1876, the local press lambasted King County’s broken road system, praising British Columbia’s turnpikes as a model for Seattle’s own stagnant development.
- The Mill Barons Who Took the Wealth and Left the Ruins
A scathing editorial in the 1877 Snohomish Sun condemns Washington Territory’s timber magnates for draining local resources while contributing nothing to schools, roads, or community development.
- The Dream of the La Grande Marsh Colony
Developers in the 1880s marketed a fertile Snohomish County marshland as an ideal site for a family colony, selling the promise of self-sufficiency just four miles from town.
- The Last Acreage Near the Creek
An 1877 real estate notice offers fertile bottom land near Snohomish, marking the transition from homesteading to organized development.
- The Price of a Two-House Dream in 1878 Seattle
A real estate advertisement offers a glimpse into early residential development, featuring a pair of dwellings for $1,200.
- The Price of Vigilance: Lessons on Parenting and Education
A nineteenth-century essay reflects on the heavy responsibilities of raising children, the failures of the 'crowded schoolroom,' and the timeless struggle between rigid tradition and the pursuit of truth.
- The Homestead That Became a Beaver Sanctuary
A mid-19th-century advertisement reveals the transformation of Island County wetlands into an agricultural dream, offering a snapshot of frontier land development.
- The Fairview Addition: A 19th-Century Real Estate Pitch
An 1878 advertisement for a 'rich, level' tract of land reveals how early Seattle developers used the installment plan to sell the dream of homeownership.
- Gambling over God: A Seattle Moral Crisis in 1878
A local editor wrestles with a report claiming Seattle's 'cosmopolitan' nature had left its churches empty while its poker tables stayed crowded.
- The Peril of Floating Streets
As Seattle's waterfront development grew in 1876, the street commissioner sounded an alarm over the city's vulnerable, buoyant wooden pavements.
- 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.
- The Free Real Estate Gamble of 1876
Facing a housing crunch, a prominent developer offers free land to anyone willing to build—a desperate move to spur growth in North Seattle.