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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 468 |
| 1877 | 317 |
| 1878 | 91 |
| 1880 | 97 |
973 stories
- Seattle’s 1876 Fourth of July Extravaganza
As the United States approached its first centennial, Seattle civic leaders mobilized to prove the frontier outpost was a city of substance, dignity, and unity.
- The 1876 Land Hustle
A classic real estate promotion from the era offers a 'buy one, get one' incentive to settlers willing to build homes in early Seattle.
- The High Stakes of 1878: A Seattle Sunday Outing
Before the city’s rapid industrialization, residents looked to the local race track for leisure, with the railroad offering half-fare tickets to draw crowds to the spectacle.
- The Rising Forests of Belltown
A 1875 dispatch captures a neighborhood in metamorphosis, as the deep woods of Belltown are rapidly cleared to make way for cozy cottages and the expansion of Seattle.
- The Mud-Hole of Commercial Street
An 1876 editorial campaign to transform Seattle's 'wretched' mud-caked thoroughfare into a paved road using convict labor and harbor ballast.
- The Forgotten Ballot for Women’s Suffrage in Washington
In 1878, Washington Territory’s proposed constitution contained specific articles to enfranchise women and restrict the sale of liquor, marking a radical early push for civic equality.
- The Unclaimed Frontier of the Central Valleys
An 1876 editorial reflects on the economic potential of the Yakima and Kittitas valleys, eyeing the end of tribal reservation boundaries for land settlement.
- The Great Seattle Housing Shortage: Why Immigrants Are Skipping Town
Despite a slowdown in new construction compared to last year, the city is facing a critical shortage of boarding houses and homes. Officials warn that without immediate building, the next wave of immigrants will bypass Seattle for other cities.
- The Dream of a Seattle Rail Empire
An 1876 editorial envisions a booming Seattle as the Pacific terminus for a global transit hub, connecting the rails of the East to the wealth of the West.
- The Struggle to Launch Seattle’s Shipbuilding Future
A century and a half ago, Seattle’s local editors argued that the city’s vast timber resources should have made it a global marine power, but capital and labor were held back by East Coast monopolies.
- The Transformation of the 'Lava Bed'
A historic Seattle neighborhood known for 'drunken revelry and hellish orgies' faces an impending industrial rebirth.
- The Boomtown That Was: A Glimpse of Seattle in 1876
A survey of the territory paints a portrait of a frontier Seattle defined by the roar of sawmills, the promise of coal, and the ambition to conquer the Cascades.
- The Price of Building a City: 1877 Tax Defaults
As Seattle began to rapidly expand, a long list of property owners faced the loss of their land for unpaid taxes—revealing the precarious nature of early urban ownership.
- The Last Laugh of 'Old Si': A Black Veteran's Take on War and Wages in Pioneer Seattle
In a rare moment of candid journalism from 1877, the *Daily Intelligencer* sits down with 'Old Si,' a local African American man who served as a Union soldier. His unvarnished take on racial loyalty, wages, and the upcoming Centennial Exposition reveals the complex social fabric of early Seattle.
- The Pioneer Struggle for Seattle’s Water Supply
In 1876, the city of Seattle debated whether water should be a public utility or a private asset, setting the stage for decades of infrastructure fights.
- Milling Corporations Snap up Washington Territory's Timber Lands
How corporate mills monopolized Washington's forest wealth while the government looked the other way.
- The Fire That Built a City: Seattle's Timber Boom Rises from the Ashes
Three years after the Great Fire of 1889 devastated the waterfront, Seattle’s lumber mills are running at full capacity, shipping millions of feet of wood to Hawaii and beyond to rebuild not just this city, but the Pacific.
- The Iron Vein: Seattle’s Gamble on the Railroad
In 1876, local leaders rallied behind a desperate bid to connect the young city of Seattle to the interior coal mines and grain lands, arguing that the railroad was the only path from frontier outpost to global port.
- The Price of Panic: 1876 Seattle Views on Labor and Economic Depression
An editorial from the Seattle Daily Intelligencer explores the deep-seated economic anxieties of the era, blaming trade disputes and 'idle' men for the systemic instability of the Pacific Northwest.
- The Unsettled Nation: Seattle Watches the 1876 Election Crisis
While the nation held its breath over a deadlocked presidential contest, Seattle locals turned their eyes toward the local ballot, formalizing the region's nascent civic infrastructure.
- The High Price of the Cedar Harvest
An 1876 editorial from Seattle critiques the 'disproportionately large pay' of loggers, blaming high wages for the financial instability of the industry.
- The Idle Crowd: Seattle's 1877 Moral Panic over 'Street Loafers'
A local editor observes the growing ranks of the unemployed and 'non-descript' men gathering on Seattle corners, questioning how they survive in a bustling, labor-dependent territory.
- The Price of a 'Pest House' in Pioneer Seattle
As drought and economic chaos gripped 1877 San Francisco, Seattle citizens found themselves debating the ethics of turning a local residential property into an isolation facility for the smallpox-stricken.
- The Dangerous Plank Walk of Old Seattle
While the city dragged its feet on street improvements in 1878, residents were forced to navigate treacherous, makeshift wooden planks, causing frustration and daily peril.
- The Struggle for Home Ownership in Early Seattle
An 1877 editorial argues that the city's growth is being stifled by speculative land hoarding, keeping affordable homes out of reach for the working class.