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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 3 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1861 | 3 |
| 1862 | 3 |
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1872 | 8 |
| 1876 | 11 |
| 1877 | 6 |
| 1878 | 2 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 7 |
| 1884 | 5 |
| 1885 | 7 |
| 1886 | 5 |
| 1887 | 6 |
| 1888 | 4 |
| 1889 | 12 |
| 1890 | 2 |
| 1891 | 11 |
| 1892 | 26 |
| 1893 | 21 |
| 1894 | 36 |
| 1895 | 11 |
| 1898 | 3 |
| 1899 | 7 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 21 |
| 1904 | 2 |
| 1905 | 2 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 6 |
| 1910 | 4 |
| 1911 | 5 |
| 1914 | 5 |
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| 1916 | 5 |
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| 1924 | 1 |
271 stories matching donat
- Defending the Campus View
Donations from local property owners at Washington Agricultural College aim to safeguard dormitory sightlines and future campus development.
- The Auction of a Widow’s Legacy: Seattle’s First Real Estate Sale
In May 1882, the Probate Court ordered the liquidation of Mary A. Smith’s estate, marking one of the earliest recorded public land auctions in Seattle’s history.
- Seattle Rallies for the Franklin Mine’s Widows and Orphans
A relief fund grows by small donations, Black Seattleites organize their own drive, and officials seal the burning mine to starve the fire.
- The Abandoned Wife of Seattle's Founder
Dr. David S. Maynard claimed 640 acres in Seattle, then secretly divorced his wife of 24 years to marry another—a legal battle that exposed the heartless machinations of the city's early days.
- Founding the University of Washington
In 1861, commissioners reported on the hard-won construction of the territory's first university, built from scratch with donated land and volunteer labor.
- The Forgotten Wife at the Center of Seattle
Dr. David Maynard’s 1852 donation land claim, which comprises much of downtown Seattle, is tied up in a legal crisis over the validity of his divorce and the arrival of his first wife, Lydia A. Maynard.
- The Forgotten Wife of Seattle: Dr. Maynard’s Double Life
A landmark land dispute in 1872 reveals how the territorial government attempted to erase the existence of Dr. David S. Maynard's first wife, Lydia, to secure a donation claim for his second family.
- The Legal Scramble for Maynard’s Land
A bitter newspaper feud reveals the messy reality of early Seattle’s land titles, where a complex divorce and a 'lost' first wife sparked a struggle over ownership in the city’s heart.
- The Man Who Thought He Owned Seattle Died Chasing a Ghost Fortune
Henry Zechow spent nine years and a small army of lawyers trying to claim an uncle's imaginary empire—including a block of downtown Seattle—before his body turned up in the Fraser River.
- The Roslyn Mine Disaster: A City Rallies for the Bereaved
When an explosion ripped through the Roslyn coal mines in May 1892, Seattle’s civic leaders mobilized an immediate relief effort for the families left behind.
- The Property Battle for Old Seattle
A lawyer and property claimant fight to secure titles to a sprawling Seattle donation land claim amidst territorial legal confusion.
- The Price of a Puyallup Valley Land War
A long-standing dispute over a donation land claim ends in a deadly shooting on a farm near Sumner.
- The Franklin Mine Dead Were Buried. Then the Miners Went Back Down.
A relief fund swells with donations from Eddyville millmen and Seattle readers as surviving miners reopen the levels that did not burn.
- The Secret Business of Deportation
Shipping firms compete for lucrative federal contracts to transport Chinese residents being forcibly removed from the Pacific Northwest.
- The University’s Dilemma: Should UW Sell Its Prime Seattle Land?
In 1890, the University of Washington’s regents warned that its current campus in the heart of the city was a financial and educational liability, urging the state to sell the valuable property and move to quieter grounds.
- The Half-Million Dollar Land War
After decades of legal battles involving divorce, disputed donation claims, and multiple claimants, a massive 80-acre swath of Seattle real estate finally changes hands.
- The Wild Life and Vanishing Legacy of Betsy Jones
A century-old property dispute in Bellingham unearths the chaotic, cross-continental saga of a woman whose life defied Victorian conventions.
- The Battle for the Unsurveyed Frontier
A 19th-century court case in Steilacoom exposes the tension between local land speculators and the ideal of the 'actual settler' on the Washington frontier.
- The Great Seattle Church Lottery Scandal
Local merchants clash with church committees over a raffle scheme that allegedly inflated prices and exploited their goodwill.
- Everett Labor Council Mobilizes for McNamara Defense
Local labor leaders coordinate benefit events and organize support for the McNamara brothers amid national union unrest.
- The Town Votes on a New Schoolhouse
Citizens of Aberdeen decide on the location for a $25,000 schoolhouse, with dueling donations from prominent boosters.
- The World's Fair Forestry Fiasco
Grays Harbor lumbermen express outrage over the state's 'shabby' display at the Chicago World's Fair, claiming their industry was ignored and misrepresented.
- Aberdeen's Bold Rail Gamble
Citizens rally to secure the Northern Pacific connection by donating land, lumber, and labor to bypass rail delays.
- The Streetcar Company That Asked Olympia for Land—and Promised the Moon by July 4
In 1892, the Olympia Light & Power Company pitched an electric railway to Tumwater as a bargain for landowners: donate a strip or an acre, and watch city-limit land double in value. The trust deed gave them until Independence Day to make it real.
- The Log Jam That Held Back the Skagit
Settlers bet their savings on cutting a channel through a massive timber jam—and begged Sound steamboat captains to link the Skagit to Seattle.