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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1860 | 2 |
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1862 | 2 |
| 1872 | 10 |
| 1876 | 29 |
| 1877 | 28 |
| 1878 | 28 |
| 1879 | 8 |
| 1880 | 3 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 16 |
| 1884 | 4 |
| 1885 | 15 |
| 1886 | 6 |
| 1887 | 6 |
| 1888 | 26 |
| 1889 | 32 |
| 1891 | 31 |
| 1892 | 36 |
| 1893 | 33 |
| 1894 | 30 |
| 1895 | 34 |
| 1897 | 2 |
| 1898 | 7 |
| 1899 | 10 |
| 1900 | 2 |
| 1902 | 2 |
| 1903 | 18 |
| 1904 | 16 |
| 1907 | 2 |
| 1908 | 11 |
| 1909 | 35 |
| 1910 | 14 |
| 1911 | 2 |
| 1912 | 2 |
| 1914 | 4 |
| 1915 | 6 |
| 1916 | 11 |
| 1917 | 8 |
| 1918 | 2 |
| 1923 | 1 |
| 1925 | 1 |
31 stories matching advertis
- The Invisible Laborers of 1891 Seattle
A glimpse into the daily domestic and service-based grind through the classified advertisements of a booming pioneer city.
- The Professional Tailoress Wanted in 1891
A job advertisement from a ladies' intelligence bureau signals a high demand for skilled female labor in early Seattle.
- The Unseen Labor of 1891 Seattle
A single classified advertisement captures the presence and aspiration of Japanese laborers in the Pacific Northwest at the end of the 19th century.
- The Boom-Era Dream of the Rainier Valley
An 1891 advertisement paints a vivid picture of the speculative fever that drove Seattle's suburban expansion along the new electric streetcar lines.
- The Great Aberdeen Watch Swindle
A traveling con artist successfully bilks residents out of hundreds of dollars, leaving them with worthless brass trinkets.
- Main Street Refuses to Be Paved
Property owners between Fifth and Sixth beat back a macadam upgrade, a councilman berates them for it, and the street gets planks instead.
- Aberdeen’s School Board Stalls on New Building
A local newspaper feud spills over into accusations of administrative incompetence and backroom dealing in the selection of an architect.
- Chamber of Commerce Fights to Keep its Restaurant
Seattle's business elite debates the merits of maintaining a members-only dining room while scouting for a new headquarters in the rapidly shifting downtown core.
- The Struggle for Suburban Stability in 1891 Seattle
Advertisements for installment-plan housing plots reflect the anxiety of a growing city where 'hard times' pressured residents to settle in rapidly developing suburbs like Medina.
- The City’s Botched Annexation Plan
Seattle’s attempt to annex surrounding lands hits a legal wall after a drafting error excludes parts of Ballard by mistake.
- Aberdeen’s New Landmark Hotel
Investors raise $30,000 for a grand four-story hotel to anchor the city’s booming downtown.
- The Birth of a Neighborhood on Queen Anne Hill
A 1891 promotional advertisement offers a glimpse into the rapid expansion of Seattle, as land developers pushed into the forests above Lake Union.
- Utsalady Bay's Dream of a Great City
An 1890 advertisement pitches the deep-water harbor of Utsalady as the inevitable next metropolis of the Pacific Northwest.
- 'As Cold as a Barn': The Olympia Theater Fight That Spilled Into Print
When the Tribune panned the Olympia Theater, the rival Standard accused it of kicking without reason. The rebuttal names icy dressing rooms, one-dollar seats and a manager in over his head.
- The Bachelors of Teanaway
A desperate group of Kittitas valley bachelors place a bizarre ad in a local paper, hoping to lure women to their remote ranches.
- The Northern Pacific Railroad's PR Pitch
A railroad executive reflects on the 'hard times' and the massive campaign to lure Easterners to the Washington territory.
- Loose Handbills Nearly Cause a Runaway—And a Housewife Demands Action
A carelessly scattered pile of posters sends a horse bolting through Olympia, prompting a letter to the editor calling for a city ordinance to keep the streets clean.
- The Waterfront Scandal: A Questionable Contract for Seattle’s New Fire Boat
The Washington Iron Works alleges that city officials bypassed proper oversight in a murky deal for the city's new fire-fighting vessel.
- The Deadly Cost of Saloon Boxing
Seattle dives are profiting from 'scientific' sparring matches that frequently turn fatal for the impoverished, untrained men forced into the ring.
- 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 Hidden Daily Labor of 1891
A quiet, classified advertisement reveals the invisible service economy of late 19th-century Seattle.
- The End of the Road for a Timber Swindler
A notorious operator who preyed on hopeful settlers finally lands behind bars after a farmer refuses to be cheated.
- Olympia Building Loan Association Reports 47% Profit and Three New Homes
The local building and loan association closes a successful first six months, announces a new series of shares.
- 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.
- The Attorney General Says the Bible Doesn't Belong in Public School
A ruling out of Olympia that Bible reading in the common schools is unconstitutional sets the state's country editors howling — and the capital's own dailies suddenly have nothing to say.