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 | 62 |
| 1858 | 29 |
| 1859 | 52 |
| 1860 | 27 |
| 1861 | 101 |
| 1862 | 87 |
| 1863 | 69 |
| 1864 | 32 |
| 1865 | 11 |
| 1871 | 11 |
| 1872 | 140 |
| 1876 | 812 |
| 1877 | 678 |
| 1878 | 526 |
| 1879 | 64 |
| 1880 | 180 |
| 1882 | 130 |
| 1883 | 911 |
| 1884 | 499 |
| 1885 | 838 |
| 1886 | 492 |
| 1887 | 484 |
| 1888 | 440 |
| 1889 | 1,324 |
| 1890 | 287 |
| 1891 | 1,115 |
| 1892 | 2,855 |
| 1893 | 2,829 |
| 1894 | 2,116 |
| 1895 | 1,830 |
| 1896 | 2 |
| 1897 | 62 |
| 1898 | 196 |
| 1899 | 446 |
| 1900 | 114 |
| 1902 | 34 |
| 1903 | 1,332 |
| 1904 | 1,126 |
| 1905 | 124 |
| 1907 | 53 |
| 1908 | 351 |
| 1909 | 1,545 |
| 1910 | 413 |
| 1911 | 160 |
| 1912 | 73 |
| 1914 | 261 |
| 1915 | 300 |
| 1916 | 545 |
| 1917 | 332 |
| 1918 | 45 |
| 1919 | 5 |
| 1920 | 1 |
| 1922 | 18 |
| 1923 | 185 |
| 1924 | 151 |
| 1925 | 64 |
| 1928 | 14 |
| 1929 | 19 |
1,115 stories
- The 'Young Giant' of the Northwest
A booster-era dispatch from 1891 paints a portrait of Seattle as a resource-rich boomtown clawing its way back to prosperity following a devastating fire.
- The High Cost of the Great Seattle Rebuild
A six-week-old restaurant is auctioned off for parts, revealing the volatility of life in post-fire Seattle.
- The 'Gold Mine' of the Indian Wars
In 1891, a sensational book about the life of Sitting Bull and the Battle of the Little Bighorn hit the Seattle market, promising agents a 'gold mine' of sales.
- The Banking Titans Building Modern Seattle
A look inside the financial engine driving Seattle’s rapid expansion in the early 1890s through the lens of a newly rising financial institution.
- The Boston Post Looks East: Seattle’s ‘Great’ Ascent
An outsider’s awe at the Pacific Northwest’s rapid growth reveals a city on the brink of becoming an American metropolis.
- The 1891 Land Rush in Brooklyn Addition
While developers promised a suburban utopia with low down payments, the aggressive marketing tactics of the era reveal a housing market obsessed with rapid expansion and installment-plan speculation.
- The City That Almost Was: The 1891 Annexation Election
A historic ballot reveals how Seattle once planned its expansion by absorbing the suburban districts of Salmon Bay, Fremont, and Latona.
- The Printer’s Panic: Will the Type-Setting Machine Steal Your Job?
A local compositor argues that fears of automation are overblown, predicting a future where machines assist rather than replace skilled labor in Seattle's printing industry.
- The Dream of Homeownership in 1891
An early real estate pitch captures the Victorian-era obsession with property as a moral imperative.
- The Stage as an Antidote to 'Society Scandals'
When asked why she continued working despite her wealth, the famed actress Lotta Crabtree warned that women who lacked professional 'outlets' were prone to depression and mischief.
- The Peril of Seattle's Congested Harbor
As shipping traffic surges at the turn of the century, captains warn that a lack of secure mooring buoys is leaving vessels to the mercy of the wind and tides.
- The Retail Empire of Front Street
How Toklas, Singerman & Co. transformed a Seattle storefront into a massive, booming mercantile powerhouse at the dawn of 1891.
- The Boom-Town Hustle of 1891
A manic snapshot of real estate fever and the desperate search for help in early Seattle.
- White Husbands in Indigenous Communities on the Frontier
General O.O. Howard describes the precarious lives of white men who married Indigenous women in the Pacific Northwest.
- L.H. Rogers Seeks King County Farmland, 1891
A look at the turn-of-the-century land speculation market in King County, where suburban tracts were sold as the path to prosperity.
- The Fashion Reporter's Dilemma: Keeping Secrets in the Social Column
A Seattle newspaper correspondent reflects on the moral tightrope of reporting on local scandals while trying to maintain the trust of society figures.
- The Boom-Time Promises of Seattle’s 'Most Popular Addition'
In the spring of 1891, real estate developers peddled the dream of cheap housing and rapid growth along the new James Street car line, a precursor to the century of development that followed.
- The Real Estate Fever of 1891
A classic advertisement for 'Sonora,' a speculative development that promised electric trolleys and immense wealth to anyone brave enough to buy a stake in the growing Seattle outskirts.
- Walla Walla Addition Touts Homes Along New Streetcar
Before the boom and bust cycles defined Seattle, developers were already promising the 'best buy' near the new streetcar lines.
- The Boom-Time Promises of Brooklyn, Seattle
A 19th-century real estate advertisement paints a picture of a rapidly inflating Seattle and the hopeful, speculative fervor surrounding the Lake Union district.
- The Ballard Boarding Mother
In 1891, a classified ad captures the informal, precarious economy of childcare in the rapidly expanding neighborhood of Ballard.
- The Unseen Domestic Workforce of 1891 Seattle
A scan of the classifieds reveals a city built on the labor of women seeking work in restaurants, lodging-houses, and private homes.
- The Real Estate Rush to Lake Union
A 1891 developer's pitch for the 'fine' residential property of Lake Union, promising transit access and views of the burgeoning city.
- The Last Walk of Charles Klndlund
A local Tailors’ Union mourns their own, highlighting the strong ties of labor solidarity in 1890s Seattle.
- The Unlikely Democracy of Old Seattle's Social Clubs
While business leaders built the city’s economy, a fragile web of tennis courts, chess clubs, and elite cotillion circles defined its social fabric in 1891.