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.
Refine
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1859 | 1 |
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1864 | 1 |
| 1872 | 3 |
| 1876 | 33 |
| 1877 | 22 |
| 1878 | 12 |
| 1879 | 3 |
| 1880 | 2 |
| 1882 | 5 |
| 1883 | 39 |
| 1884 | 15 |
| 1885 | 10 |
| 1886 | 5 |
| 1887 | 14 |
| 1888 | 16 |
| 1889 | 42 |
| 1890 | 6 |
| 1891 | 46 |
| 1892 | 75 |
| 1893 | 62 |
| 1894 | 42 |
| 1895 | 63 |
| 1897 | 3 |
| 1898 | 8 |
| 1899 | 7 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 23 |
| 1904 | 15 |
| 1905 | 2 |
| 1907 | 5 |
| 1908 | 26 |
| 1909 | 52 |
| 1910 | 10 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 4 |
| 1915 | 13 |
| 1916 | 15 |
| 1917 | 9 |
| 1918 | 4 |
| 1919 | 1 |
| 1923 | 2 |
| 1924 | 4 |
| 1925 | 1 |
| 1929 | 2 |
727 stories matching grade
- Seattle’s Endless War Against the Hillside
In 1878, city officials scrambled to grade Mill Street to fix dangerous mudslides—a challenge that continues to plague Seattle’s topography today.
- The Price of Progress: Seattle's Tax Troubles
Property owners grapple with delinquent taxes and the city's aggressive attempts to collect on street grading assessments under the new charter.
- The Westside Streetcar Line Starts Grading Toward Harrison Avenue
Olympia's new Westside Railway begins cutting a street approach and prepares to lay rails across the Port Townsend Southern tracks.
- The Death-Trap at Front and Seneca
A dangerous, makeshift bridge over a Seattle construction site is leaving pedestrians scrambling for their lives as the city struggles with incomplete grading.
- The Street That Vanished into the Tide
A Seattle citizen recalls his lonely fight against a railroad company's takeover of Columbia Street, a legal battle that exposed the city's early history of corporate land giveaways.
- Old Town Residents Organize for Electric Rail Connection
A determined group of citizens in the original Yakima site is grading a new side-track, hoping to lure a company into connecting their district to North Yakima via electric rail.
- The Supreme Court Rules on City Debt
A landmark decision clarifies that Seattle is not liable for 'grade scrip' debts, protecting the city treasury but leaving contractors in a precarious position.
- Inspectors Went Looking for Faults and Found a Model Railroad
State railway commissioners ride the new Idaho & Washington Northern out of Newport expecting to file complaints, and come home praising everything down to the telephone box at every switch.
- The Land is Moving Beneath the Mills
As Seattle's waterfront expansion struggles against unstable geology, a sash and door factory is forced to shutter as the hillside slips toward the bay.
- The City That Couldn't Build: A Letter from a Frustrated Investor
In February 1889, an anonymous writer lambasts Seattle’s Common Council for failing to establish street grades, arguing that this bureaucratic paralysis is the primary reason developers are withholding capital and leaving the city in a building slump.
- The Fight Against Seattle's Regrade Taxes
Property owners on South Twelfth and South Fourteenth streets take the city to court to block land seizures over controversial street-grading assessments.
- The Price of 'Progress' at the Turn of the Century
A Seattle property owner battles the city over grading costs she claims amount to 'almost confiscation' of her land.
- A South End Street Would Cost More Than Everything on It Is Worth
Residents of the Sixth Addition want South L Street graded. The city engineer says bridging the Northern Pacific tracks would run $30,000 past the value of the abutting property.
- City Attorney Blocks Olympia’s Columbia Street Assessment
A legal opinion found that street grading and planking done without contracts could not be charged to abutting owners beyond $500—putting more than $2,000 in assessments in doubt.
- 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.
- Railroad Expansion at Priest Rapids
A look back at 1908 reveals a surge of land speculation and railroad grading near the Columbia River, casting doubt on whether the work was truly meant to connect the valley or merely to obstruct.
- The Street-Grading Graft
A shocking report from Tacoma reveals that city street foremen were shaking down laborers for job security.
- A Light Pole, A Fall, and a City’s Liability
A jury awards $2,500 to a worker injured while grading South Thirty-first Street.
- The Price Tag for Tacoma's Future Classrooms
Tacoma’s school board moves to put a massive quarter-million-dollar bond measure before voters to modernize schools and build a new high school.
- The Unfinished Street
Property owners battle the city over a tax assessment for a street that was never built.
- Naming Trees for History
Puyallup students stage an elaborate ceremonial planting for Arbor Day.
- Fatal Train Wreck Near Cle Elum
A freight train section breaks loose on a steep grade, colliding with a passenger train.
- The Seven-Foot Drop: A Property Dispute
A Tacoma couple fights back after county street grading leaves their home sitting high above the new road level.
- The $300,000 Legal Battle Over Seattle’s Streets
A landmark court decision challenges the city's liability for street grade warrants, threatening to set a precedent for every municipality in the state.
- Search for a Missing Railway Clerk
A man vanishes while working on the Great Northern rail grade, leaving his brother to scour Seattle for answers.