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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 6 |
| 1876 | 7 |
| 1877 | 7 |
| 1878 | 12 |
| 1880 | 4 |
37 stories matching development
- When Seattle Made Property Owners Pay for Street Grading
An 1878 ordinance reveals the early mechanics of Seattle’s urban development and the 'special assessment' taxes that forced property owners to pay for city street improvements.
- The Roller Rink Craze of 1872
Before the city's modern obsession with wellness, local promoters banked on a new indoor exercise to save Seattle’s youth from 'pernicious influences and vile haunts.'
- The Rules of the Game: How Seattle's First Lawyers Codified the Fight for Land
When the Washington Territorial legislature overhauled the rules of civil procedure, they essentially wrote the blueprint for how Seattle’s developers and land speculators would battle over the city’s footprint for decades to come.
- Republican Defectors in Duwamish
A political primary in the Duwamish precinct saw a surprising shift, with voters rejecting a Garfield endorsement in a vote that signaled growing political friction in 1880 Seattle.
- Gambling over God: A Seattle Moral Crisis in 1878
A local editor wrestles with a report claiming Seattle's 'cosmopolitan' nature had left its churches empty while its poker tables stayed crowded.
- The Pioneer Struggle to Fund Washington's Common Schools
An 1877 legislative session in Olympia debates selling off University lands to fund the territory's school districts, highlighting the precarious nature of public education in the early days of the Washington Territory.
- The 1878 Fight to Ban Corporate Land Hoarding
As Washington prepares for statehood, delegates debate a radical proposal to break up concentrated land ownership and prevent corporate monopolies.
- The Great Seattle Saw-Mill Lottery
A frontier town turns to state-sanctioned gambling as a desperate economic strategy to boost local development.
- The Avarice of the Soil
An 1871 lecture on why farmers must stop starving themselves to save a few pennies.
- The Price of Development in 1878
A wave of land foreclosures hits King County as local settlers see their riverfront properties seized to satisfy debt.
- The Absurd Scheme to Build a Railway to the Top of Mount Rainier
When a coal mine failed, desperate land speculators proposed a preposterous tourist railroad to the summit of the mountain to boost property values.
- The Gateway to the Skagit Gold Fields
Developers race to establish a supply town at the head of navigation as miners push into the remote wilderness of the Skagit River.
- The Disappearance at Skagit Pass
While railway surveyors pushed aggressively into the wilderness to map the Pacific Northwest, a young engineer vanished without a trace, leaving behind a cold case and a community's unease.
- The Great Seattle Homestead Fraud
A whistleblower exposes how workers were swindled out of their hard-earned money by a predatory land development scheme.
- The Frontier Prospect: Surveying the Skagit River's Hidden Wealth
An 1872 exploration report charts the potential for settlement, steam navigation, and resource extraction along the Skagit River, framing the 'great jam' of timber as a challenge to be conquered by modern commerce.
- The Price of Seattle's Expansion: A Sheriff's Sale
Legal notices from 1878 reveal a community grappling with debt, foreclosures, and the relentless churn of land ownership in the rapidly developing territory of Washington.
- The Price of Early Seattle Speculation
A series of 1878 sheriff's sales reveals the precarious nature of land ownership during Seattle's early frontier development.
- The Sailor Who Sold the Editor
A seafaring impostor weaves a tale of tragedy and shipwreck to con a meal out of local journalists, exposing the desperate vulnerability of the early Seattle news beat.
- The Failed Poison Dinner of Seattle
A meticulously planned attempt at mass murder by a man named Perry Dunfield was thwarted when his intended victims missed their appointment—but the tragedy still unfolded at home.
- The Boom Before the Boom: Forecasting Washington's Future
An 1878 report predicted that Washington Territory’s natural resources and rapid population growth would soon make it a Pacific Northwest power, even as early settlers braced for statehood.
- The Hidden Dens of 1870s Seattle
A citizen appeal from 1872 exposes how unchecked public gambling was eroding the moral and financial fabric of the developing waterfront town.
- Seattle Miners Rush to Sultan River Gold Claims
When a chance discovery in the dry bed of the Sultan River sparked a desperate dash for fortune, the town of Snohomish was left nearly deserted as laborers abandoned their jobs to try their luck in the mud.
- The Jailhouse Blunder in Seattle
A man was locked away for a week without due process, exposing deep incompetence in the administration of territorial justice.
- The New Frontier on the Shores of Lake Washington
While the city worried over mysterious prowlers, settlers were carving out orchards and gardens from the old-growth forests near Lake Washington, marveling at the land's hidden potential.
- The Pen and the Pistol: A Seattle Saloon Brawl
When an editor’s satirical writing sparked a public confrontation on Mill Street, a local developer settled the score with a revolver—until his target managed to disarm him.