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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1882 | 98 |
| 1883 | 511 |
| 1884 | 326 |
| 1885 | 566 |
| 1886 | 361 |
| 1887 | 327 |
2,189 stories
- The Sunday Saloon Wars: How Seattle Debated the 'Law and Order' Ordinance
In 1885, Seattle’s City Council erupted into a fierce debate over a proposal to force saloons to close on Sundays, pitting reformers against tavern owners in a struggle over civic control and personal liberty.
- The Boomtown Ledger: Seattle’s Economic Surge in 1884
A detailed survey of Seattle’s rapid 1884 expansion reveals a city bristling with new brick blocks, bustling steam mills, and a skyline reaching toward its future.
- The Struggle for Local Control Over Seattle's Saloons
A new 1886 ordinance tightened the grip of the City Council on the city’s liquor trade, imposing strict licensing, background checks, and Sunday bans in an attempt to regulate the chaos of the frontier economy.
- The City Council Seized Our Engine: A Firehouse Rebellion
When the city government stripped Seattle Engine Company No. 2 of their apparatus to give it to a new company, the firefighters organized a defiant public meeting to protest the 'unwarranted usurpation of authority.'
- The Great Seattle Newspaper Boycott of 1885
When local liquor interests tried to silence the press for advocating Sunday sobriety, the community drew a line in the sawdust.
- The Price of a Drunkard’s Grave
A teenage boy is fined for public intoxication, sparking an editorial demand to hold the 'Blue Front' saloon owner accountable for serving minors.
- The Saloon-Keepers’ Council
A scathing editorial exposes how Seattle’s early city government was dominated by saloon owners, liquor distributors, and property men who thrived on the vice trade.
- The Political Price of Honest Dealing
A local land officer loses his position for resisting the 'land-grabbing' Northern Pacific Railroad, triggering a public petition to demand his reinstatement.
- The Great North Seattle Fire Engine Turf War
A bitter neighborhood battle erupts over the city’s decision to move vital fire equipment, exposing growing pains in a rapidly expanding 1885 Seattle.
- The Battle for Belltown's Fire Engine
A citizen's fiery demand that the city stop hoarding firefighting resources in the business district and grant the northern residents the protection they pay for.
- The Mud Hole at the Arlington Hotel
A local property dispute on Commercial Street exposes the messy reality of 1885 Seattle infrastructure.
- The Great Timber Land Swindle
A Seattle man is held on $300 bail after a witness confessed to filing multiple fraudulent land claims using fake names.
- The Hidden Leper of Seattle
A Chinese immigrant, cast out by his employer, turned to the morgue in a desperate plea for medical care.
- Seattle’s Looming Epidemic
Facing a potential outbreak of cholera, the city council debates the urgent need for drainage and cleaning up the ‘rank smelling’ slums of Seattle in 1885.
- The Hidden History of the McNaught Family
A rare historical correction surfaces, revealing the true lineage of Angelina and the tragic life of her father, John McNaught, in early Washington territory.
- The Swindle of the Polk County Farm
A Seattle man alleges his business partners orchestrated a complex real estate scheme to defraud him.
- The Fight Against 'Ready-Made' News
In 1884, Seattle’s labor printers stood against the rise of syndicated, out-of-town journalism, arguing that local integrity and local jobs mattered more than cheap, imported content.
- The Deserted Husband's Tale of Woe
A Seattle man brings his domestic grievances to Justice Court after his wife reportedly elopes with a man he had taken in as a charity case.
- The Desperate Act of a Woman on Second Street
A mid-afternoon suicide attempt in a Seattle boarding house highlights the quiet, desperate struggles of a woman living on the margins.
- The Adultery Scandal at the Denny Block
A public courtroom spectacle reveals an illicit domestic arrangement in downtown Seattle.
- The Price of Independence
A fiery retort from the Post-Intelligencer defending Seattle's civic spirit against charges of anti-railroad agitation.
- A Terrifying Night Adrift on Puget Sound
Four men cling to the hull of an overturned boat for three hours in the frigid waters of the Sound before a daring rescue saves them from certain death.
- The Preacher Who Turned Court Into a Prayer Meeting
A local street preacher, arrested for his public fervor, turns the tables on the magistrate by forcing a courtroom to its knees.
- The 'Boycott' Against the Marsh Café
When the Queen City Assembly of the Knights of Labor blacklisted a local Seattle eatery over an unpaid debt to a defunct newspaper, it ignited a town-wide showdown over journalistic dignity and worker solidarity.
- The First Socialist Manifesto in the Washington Territory
A bold reader writes to the Post-Intelligencer to challenge a local minister’s sermon, demanding justice for the working class and defending socialist principles as the only path to economic dignity.