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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 468 |
| 1877 | 317 |
| 1878 | 91 |
| 1880 | 97 |
973 stories
- The Art of Boosting: How Early Seattle Built a Territory
In an era before mass media, Seattle’s newspaper editors viewed themselves as the primary architects of immigration, using booster journalism to lure settlers to the Pacific Northwest.
- The Looming Financial Chasm of 1877
As Seattle navigates a national economic crisis, editors reflect on the precarious transition from paper 'greenbacks' to gold, revealing the anxieties of a frontier town tethered to a shifting national currency.
- A Victorian Manifesto for Seattle’s Youth
A rare 1876 editorial in the Seattle Daily Intelligencer rebukes the rigid, performative parenting of the era and calls for a more compassionate approach to raising children.
- The Silent Dangers of Seattle’s Early Boarding Houses
A 19th-century public health warning reveals the grim reality of sanitation in early Seattle, where overcrowded and poorly drained boarding houses became breeding grounds for typhoid fever.
- The Laundry Business Boom of 1870
A local editor observes the financial success of Chinese laundries in California and urges Seattle entrepreneurs to claim the market.
- The Art of Student Management in 1876
Before high-tech school discipline, a Seattle professor resorted to canine bait and geometry to manage his unruly charges.
- The 'Agricultural Wonder' of the Skagit Valley
A local farmer promises to transform the economy of the Territory with a miracle oat that promises to outgrow all others.
- The Radical Defense of Sweat Equity
In an 1876 editorial, a fierce local voice challenges the city’s idle wealthy to stop 'illustrating fashion's caprices' and embrace the dignity of physical labor.
- British Co-operative Building and the Goal of Homeownership
Before the age of the modern mortgage, Seattle’s early pioneers looked toward international cooperative building societies to help working citizens plant roots in the city.
- The Persistent Business of Superstition
An editorial from 1877 examines why, despite the march of progress and the printing press, humanity remained obsessed with palmistry, spiritualism, and bad omens.
- The Promised Land of North River
A booster advertisement in 1878 paints the North River Valley as a hidden agricultural utopia awaiting two hundred families.
- The 'Pretty Man' at the Seattle Theatre
An 1878 local columnist offers a biting, satirical takedown of a local dandy, mocking his grooming habits and public vanity at the theatre.
- The Fertile Hidden Valley of Squak
A glimpse into the agricultural potential and growing pains of the Issaquah Valley, a remote settlement struggling for steamship connectivity in 1878.
- The Iron Will of the Puget Soundry
How a local iron works became the pride of a young Seattle, forging the industrial future of the territory.
- The Unsung Genius of the Barrel
A deep dive into the history of an everyday object that the 1880s public took for granted, tracing its utility from Egyptian antiquity to modern Seattle.
- A Call to Harmony at the Territorial University
A visiting lecturer proposes a city-wide fundraiser to gift a Steinway grand piano to the University of Washington, arguing that music education is a moral imperative for a frontier territory.
- The Public Spat of Thomas and Salina Lilly
A 19th-century public notice captures the messy, personal side of early Seattle marriage law.
- The Disappearing Spouse: A 19th Century Public Shaming
In an era before no-fault divorce, a Seattle husband took to the public press to publicly renounce his wife's debts and dictate his marital authority.
- The Iron Backbone of the Puget Sound Frontier
Before skyscrapers and tech, Seattle was built on pipes, brick-ovens, and the ambition of merchants like Waddell & Miles who powered the city’s rapid expansion.
- The Unclaimed 480-Acre Homestead
A prime piece of King County farmland near Lake Washington goes on the market as the region's early real estate rush begins to accelerate.
- Nature’s Engineering: Lessons from the Baltic Dikes
An 1875 perspective on how the Baltic coastline’s natural defenses against the sea served as a blueprint for human resilience and infrastructure.
- The Price of a Two-House Dream in 1878 Seattle
A real estate advertisement offers a glimpse into early residential development, featuring a pair of dwellings for $1,200.
- The Price of Warmth in 1876
As Seattle grew, the Renton Coal Company leveraged its local supply to promise affordability, offering a ton of coal for six dollars—or four for shareholders.
- The Unfinished Business of Alfred H. Jones
A standard probate notice reveals the vanishing point of a pioneer's life in 1876 Seattle, where debts and assets were tied to the rapidly developing corners of Third and Union.
- The Soap King of Commercial Street
A scrappy local manufacturer stakes his claim on the burgeoning Seattle market with a pitch for home-grown goods.