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104 stories matching specifi
- Seattle Tries to Close the Side Doors on Its Saloons
City officials drafted a new liquor ordinance to repeal the old “wide entrance” law and force every saloon to have a single street entrance, banning “ladies’ entrances” and other side-door workarounds.
- Seattle's New Plumbing Inspector Called His Kickbacks 'Customary'
Summoned before the aldermen over charges that he steered city work to a friendly iron works, John L. Sweeney admitted taking a percentage — and said every architect and plumber did the same.
- New Hotel Regulations Threaten Tacoma's Small Boarding Houses
A proposed legislative act would force small rooming houses to meet strict hotel standards, placing a financial burden on widows and small-scale landlords.
- Tacoma's Million-Dollar Water Deal Was Built on Bribery, Suit Alleges
A city lawsuit over the purchase of a light and water plant charged that officials and the company colluded to hide the property's true value before taxpayers bought it.
- The Senator’s Crusade for Public Education
An 1882 Congressional proposal sought to use whiskey tax revenue to fund the nation's public schools, promising tens of thousands of dollars to Washington Territory.
- The Northern Pacific Compromise: A Bitter Road Through the Cascades
After intense lobbying in Washington, D.C., a new railroad deal forces a high-stakes ultimatum for the Columbia River corridor.
- The Struggle for Streetlights
A heated debate erupts in city council over a new contract with the Union Electric Company, revealing tensions over public service, penalties, and infrastructure quality.
- The Boomtown That Outgrew Its Directory
In 1876, Seattle's rapid expansion left business directory fact-gatherers in the dust.
- The Great Northern Replaces the Telegraph Key With a Telephone
Starting May 26, the Great Northern begins dispatching trains by telephone between Spokane and Leavenworth, with portable sets aboard every train — and telegraph operators' jobs left hanging.
- 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 Portrait Swindle
A crafty con artist used a local shop's reputation to fleece dozens of Seattle residents with a fake photo-enlargement scheme.
- The Drunken Voter and the Drain: Seattle’s 1876 Election Reform Ideas
While the 1876 presidential election left the nation in suspense, the local Seattle press used the quiet polling day to propose strict new moral and administrative reforms for the growing town.
- A Dead Man’s Name on the Payroll
A Walla Walla ex-employee files twenty charges against L. T. Erwin, accusing the Yakima Indian agent of fraud, perjury, and turning the agency into a private larder.
- A $12,000 Bridge to Richland—and a Lesson in Low Bids
Benton County commissioners reject four steel-bridge bids and hire the Coast Bridge Company to replace the Yakima River crossing with two Howe-truss spans.
- The Railroad Comes Collecting: Olympia's Subsidy Fight Heads to Court
Northern Pacific's own attorney admits the line into Olympia cost the company $40,000 more than it took in — and announces he will sue every citizen who signed the bond anyway.
- 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 President Takes the Side of the Homesteader
In an unprecedented rebuke to a powerful railroad corporation, President Grover Cleveland defends a Washington Territory settler's right to his land.
- The 1878 Dream of Building Societies
A look at the early mutual loan movement, promising that the average working man could escape the cycle of high rent and finally own his home.
- A 25-Year Grip on Ione’s Water
Over a rival’s protest, Stevens County commissioners handed the Ione Water & Light Co. a quarter-century franchise to lay water mains through town—with a clause letting Ione buy the system out if it ever incorporated.
- The Three-Way War: How Seattle’s Builders Are Trying to Stop the Bleeding
A national convention in New York reveals a desperate push for arbitration between owners, architects, and contractors—a conflict that is already tearing at the seams of Seattle’s construction industry.
- The Granite War: Why Seattle’s Federal Building Might Not Use Washington Stone
A federal contract for San Francisco's new courthouse has sparked outrage in Seattle. The lowest bidder proposed using granite from the Puget Sound region, but California lobbyists are pushing to force the use of local stone, raising questions about patriotism versus free enterprise.
- The Statehouse Recesses—and an Impeachment Trial Waits
Lawmakers adjourn until August 11 to try Insurance Commissioner J.H. Schively on 26 counts, capping a special session that cost $117,984 and spawned investigations of the Supreme Court and a 'Nurses' Trust Bill.'
- The Seattle-Portland Cockfighting Feud of 1892
A high-stakes cockfighting match between Seattle and Portland descended into chaos, accusations of cheating, and a referee's decision that sparked a regional sports rivalry.
- Walla Walla Tells the Gas Company: Put Your Wires Underground — and Pay Up
A 25-year gas and electric franchise goes before the council tonight, rewritten to bury every wire on Main and Alder and to hand the city a grand total of $7,750 by 1928.
- No Money, No Jury: Tacoma's Judge Stops Court to Prove a Point
Judge Stallcup vacated a jury order because the county had no cash to pay jurors—and his suit over Tacoma's water bonds made the bench itself the story.