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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 421 |
| 1889 | 1,082 |
| 1891 | 486 |
| 1892 | 2,189 |
| 1893 | 2,547 |
| 1894 | 1,902 |
| 1895 | 376 |
9,003 stories
- Guns at the Polls: Seattle’s First Ward Primary Erupts in a Street Brawl
Sheriff Woolery and saloon man John Considine tried to seize a Republican primary by arresting the election judges; Chief Rogers and his police fought back with warrants, clubs and drawn revolvers.
- A Case of Reasonable Doubt
Salvador Pecani, once sentenced to hang for a brutal crime, is set free after the Supreme Court rules the evidence against him purely circumstantial.
- The Great Seattle Fire: A City Reborn from Ashes
June 6, 1889: How a single spark consumed the business district and forced Seattle to rebuild itself higher.
- The Great Seattle Fire: How a Painter’s Fall Saved the City
In the chaos of the 1889 inferno, a worker’s tragic accident at a construction site inadvertently alerted the city to the approaching flames, turning a moment of horror into a pivotal warning.
- The Exclusion of 1888
A new federal law mandates harsh restrictions and identification requirements for Chinese laborers, forcing them to exit and enter through only six designated ports, including Port Townsend.
- The Grassroots Railway That Built Modern Seattle
How a small group of ambitious local citizens took on the corporate giants to secure Seattle's future against the 'contemptuous neglect' of the Northern Pacific.
- The Dynamite of Gilman: A Murderous Grudge Ends in Lynching
In a fit of rage over a domestic dispute, Albert Schaeffer blew up his neighbor's home in Gilman, killing three people. The town’s response was swift and brutal.
- The Race War in Roslyn: How Seattle’s Coal Mines Became a Battleground for Labor and Lynching
As strikers hold the line, the company imports Black miners from Illinois to break them. The result is not just a labor dispute, but a violent racial confrontation that exposes the dark underbelly of Washington's industrial boom.
- The Judge Who Declared Unions Illegal
In a landmark charge to the grand jury in 1893, Chief Justice Thomas Burke declared that any combination of workers preventing employment was a 'conspiracy against the law of the land,' effectively criminalizing the labor movement before Washington even became a state.
- The Salmon Strike That Moved an Industry: How Columbia River Fishermen’s Union Priced Themselves Out of Business
In February 1898, a Chicago buyer predicted that the fishermen's demand for higher wages would force salmon canneries to abandon the Columbia River for Alaska—a prediction that came true within a decade.
- The Fight Over Tribal Land in the Path of Progress
Booster newspapers in 1889 editorialized against the reservation system, calling for the seizure of Indigenous land to satisfy a hungry real estate market.
- Rising from the Ashes: The Great Seattle Fire of 1888
While the downtown core smoldered, Seattle citizens gathered in the courthouse—lit by tallow dips—to demand a modern city of brick and stone, rejecting makeshift wooden shacks and dreaming of a reconstructed metropolis.
- The Great Rebuilding: How the Great Seattle Fire Forced a Modern City
In the smoldering aftermath of the 1889 Great Seattle Fire, city leaders and engineers seized the catastrophe as a singular opportunity to abandon the crooked, cramped street grid for a rational, expanded future.
- The Great Seattle Fire: Building a City from Ash and Embers
In the immediate aftermath of the devastating 1889 fire that leveled the city’s business district, Seattle residents and property owners rush to clear the smoldering ruins and plan a more substantial, brick-built future.
- The Great Seattle Rebuild: How the 1889 Fire Transformed the City
In the chaotic days following the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, the city raced to replace charred ruins with brick, while grappling with the ethical dilemma of redirecting disaster relief funds intended for distant cities.
- The Rebirth of a Burned City
Following the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, the city pivots from disaster to rapid reconstruction, grappling with housing, labor, and the challenge of rebuilding a metropolis from ashes.
- Seattle Rebuilds After the Great Fire
One week after the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, the city pivots from emergency relief to a massive, coordinated reconstruction of the downtown core.
- The Great Rebuilding: Seattle’s Hard Reset After the Fire
In the shadow of the 1889 Great Seattle Fire, the city saw a chance to rethink its geography, street levels, and civic character, transforming disaster into a blueprint for a modern metropolis.
- After the Great Fire: Seattle Rebuilds from Ashes
Following the devastating 1889 fire that leveled the city’s business district, residents and business owners scramble to reorganize amidst the ruins of the downtown core.
- Seattle Rebuilds With Brick After Great Fire
How the Queen City responded to the 1889 conflagration with both civic resilience and a remarkable display of internal charity.
- The Day Ellensburg Burned to the Ground
A devastating blaze in 1889 consumed fourteen blocks of the young city's business district, leaving merchants and residents in ruins.
- The Day Ellensburg Burned
A devastating fire leaves 12 city blocks in ruins, highlighting the catastrophic failure of the local water system.
- The Great Fire of 1889: Resilience in the Ashes
A traveler recounts their journey across the continent to find a city 'wiped out' but miraculously still standing, thriving in tents and determined to rebuild.
- 1889 Spokane Falls Fire Destroys Nearly Forty Blocks
A catastrophic fire destroys thirty blocks of Spokane's business district, echoing the recent destruction in Seattle.
- The Iron War for Seattle
How the city’s early pioneers fought a cutthroat land-monopoly struggle to ensure Seattle would not be sidelined by the Northern Pacific Railroad.