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.
Refine2 on
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1882 | 98 |
| 1883 | 511 |
| 1884 | 326 |
| 1885 | 566 |
| 1886 | 361 |
| 1887 | 327 |
2,189 stories
- The Sheriff vs. The Election Posters
A Seattle lawman is arrested after he goes on a rampage tearing down political advertisements, leading to a physical showdown with a local citizen.
- The Building Boom vs. The Tenant's Plight
Seattle pioneer H. L. Yesler contemplates clearing his property on Mill Street, leaving local business owners scrambling for space as he pivots to ambitious new construction.
- The Health Officer's Boycott
A shipping standoff at the Seattle wharf reveals the messy intersection of port labor, professional fees, and city bureaucracy.
- The Fishermen’s Union Organizing Meeting
A representative from the Columbia River Protective Union arrives in Seattle to organize local fishermen, leading to a clash over labor inclusion and the definition of a 'good man.'
- The Annual Migration to the Seattle Waterfront
As the hop-picking season nears, hundreds of Indigenous families from as far north as Sitka gather on the tide flats below the mills, turning the city's shore into a bustling hub of commerce and seasonal labor.
- The Unintended Migrant: An International Diplomatic Headache
When a destitute man seeking work was deported from Washington back to British Columbia, he sparked a minor diplomatic crisis that tested the porous borders of the Pacific Northwest.
- Seattle and Port Townsend Vie for Methodist University
Before the University of Puget Sound was established, Seattle’s founding elites fought a bitter, public battle over which developer’s land would house the city’s next great institution.
- Seattle’s Early Infrastructure Struggles: A City Thirsty for Reliability
A pipe burst in the heart of Seattle left residents without water, forcing them to queue at public wells as the growing city learned the hard way about the vulnerabilities of its infrastructure.
- A Hero at the Waterfront
An elderly boatswain risks his life in the dark to pull a man from the frigid waters of Elliott Bay.
- The City Hall Scandal: A Contractual Nightmare in 1887 Seattle
City council members and contractors clash over botched public works, leaving taxpayers and laborers holding the bag in a classic tale of civic mismanagement.
- The Juror Who Held Out for a Payday
A Seattle jury stalled a verdict for hours, leading to the dramatic arrest of a man accused of dragging out deliberations just to secure extra witness fees.
- The Price of a Day's Pay: Seattle’s 1887 Labor Brokers
A deep dive into the predatory practices of late 19th-century employment agencies that thrived on the desperation of transient laborers.
- The Tragedy of a Deserted Mother on the Seattle Waterfront
A young woman, abandoned by an abusive husband, finds herself destitute and desperate for passage back home to Portland.
- Peter Kirk's Iron Works Signal Seattle's Manufacturing Ambitions
A bold call in 1887 to turn Seattle into a premier manufacturing powerhouse by offering free land and tax incentives to incoming factories.
- The Great Escape at the Seattle Dock
A man adjudged to be insane mounts a desperate, final bid for freedom as he is being escorted to the state asylum.
- The Great Population Bluff of 1887
A scathing editorial exposes how local politicians inflated King County’s census data, revealing the long history of 'boosterism' in Seattle's growth.
- The Great Seattle Church Lottery Scandal
Local merchants clash with church committees over a raffle scheme that allegedly inflated prices and exploited their goodwill.
- The Deadly Sidewalks of Old Seattle
A local minister’s tumble into a 'horrible pit' sparks public outrage over the city’s treacherous, poorly lit, and uneven walkways.
- The Waterfront 'Hotbed of Disorder'
In 1887, Seattle officials and citizens mobilized to purge the city's waterfront of the 'notorious' floating houses that provided a refuge for the city's poorest residents.
- The Ghostly Note of Joe Davis
After his wife’s death in Oregon, a man jailed in Seattle took his own life in his prison cell, leaving behind a haunting, misspelled confession that claimed they had died for each other.
- The Balloon-Powered Park Plan
A satirical interview with a Seattle developer reveals the absurd lengths civic boosters would go to inflate the value of local land.
- The Anarchist’s Pamphleteer
While the nation held its breath over the Haymarket executions in Chicago, a woman faced down Seattle police to distribute radical literature on Government Square.
- The Disappearing Contractor of Madison Street
A Seattle infrastructure project hits a snag when the lead contractor vanishes with thousands of dollars in city funds, leaving his bondsmen to face the bill.
- The Open Sewer at the Center of Town
A pedestrian’s fall into an unguarded sewer trench in front of the Odd Fellows Hall sparks a legal battle over municipal negligence in Seattle.
- The 75-Foot Coal Chute Plunge
A dock worker survived a terrifying descent through a ship's coal bunker, landing 75 feet below in the hold.