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.
Refine1 on
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 2 |
| 1876 | 11 |
| 1877 | 4 |
| 1878 | 7 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 2 |
27 stories matching former
- The Hilltop Slip: Seattle’s Shifting Waterfront
Decades before the regrades reshaped the city, residents of the Belltown waterfront watched their homes slide into the bay as the ground beneath them turned to quicksand.
- The Great Boat Chase of Seattle Harbor
A drunken sailor's attempt to visit his sick wife ends in a high-seas brawl, a capsized skiff, and a daring escape.
- The Editor, The Gambler, and The Incorruptible Judge
A fiery editorial from 1876 exposes a local feud between the press and the judiciary, revealing a landscape of 'dance houses,' gambling hells, and political bitterness.
- The Burning of the Bon Ton
After the proprietor of the notorious Bon Ton was jailed for running a 'bawdy house,' his building was razed by a suspicious fire.
- The Graveyard That Vanished: Seattle’s Urban Sprawl Swallows the Dead
As new dwellings rise on Front Street and Stewart Square, the old burial ground is being paved over, erasing a physical link to the city's earliest days.
- The Man Who Slept in a Law Office Window
A destitute former resident of Chimacum is found crawling into a Seattle law office window, claiming he has nowhere else to go.
- The New England Hotel's Ban
A local hotel owner strikes a blow against Chinese labor, signaling a rising tide of xenophobic economic policy in the Pacific Northwest.
- The Bullet That Ended a Bully: A Seattle Man’s Deadly Stand on the Walla Walla
Michael Emerick, a former Seattle job wagon driver, faces murder charges after killing Joe Gordon in self-defense during a long-simmering land dispute.
- A Seattle Fish Firm Fires Its Chinese Workers — and the Paper Cheers
In 1877, Tull & Co. dismissed all of its Chinese employees and hired white men in their place, a move the Dispatch celebrated as patriotism.
- The Ghostly Exhumation on the Hill
A grieving widow and a procession of mourners perform a mysterious, haunting ritual to rebury a man murdered in the streets of Seattle.
- The Day the Locomotives Derailed on the Black River
A morning commute goes wrong just outside Seattle when two coal trains collide head-on, sending steam engines into the mud.
- The Widow’s Pension Legal Trap
A woman finds her pension rights threatened by the complex, shifting definitions of marriage under 19th-century law.
- The Redemption of a Public Servant
A young man sheds a life of idle indulgence to find purpose as a prosecutor, sparking a debate over the value of public integrity in the Washington Territory.
- The Gold Rush Trail to the Skagit
As prospectors flock to the Skagit River, old-timers debate the best route through the wilderness to reach the promised riches.
- The Dignity of the 'Horny Hand'
In 1878, a Seattle editorial warned against the ‘pauperism’ caused by an overabundance of professional graduates who were too proud to labor.
- The Rowdiest Port in the Pacific Northwest
An 1872 report describes the brutal realities of the maritime labor market in Port Townsend, where sailors were coerced into service and returned to shore battered and bruised.
- A Chaotic Buggy Crash on Third Street
A pair of young, half-broken horses went berserk in downtown Seattle, leading to a violent wreck that left the passengers with broken bones and the animals severely injured.
- The Skagit River Snag-Clearer's Defense
After volunteers broke their backs clearing river jams, a community organizer had to fight off accusations of embezzlement.
- The Secret Benefactor of a Struggling Seattle Teacher
A modest schoolteacher discovers that her late aunt, a wealthy woman she hardly knew, had been paying her bills in secret long before the surprising terms of her will were revealed.
- 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 Battle for the Big Cut
On the frontier of 1872, railroad crews fight the Cowlitz floods and 'Big Cut' rock to carve a path for the North Pacific line.
- The Shadowy Streets of 1870s Seattle
A wave of violent street crime hits the city as a mysterious gang terrorizes residents and burns down a derelict dance hall.
- The Great One Thing: Seattle’s First Bid to Stop Strangers from Leaving Empty-Handed
In 1876, a group of local citizens proposed an 'Immigration and Labor Bureau' to help newcomers find work and land, recognizing that Seattle was losing potential residents because they didn't know where to start.
- Grand Jury Exposes Seattle Brothels and Liquor Sales to Native Americans
In September 1876, a King County grand jury reported widespread lawlessness in Seattle, including indictments for selling liquor to Native Americans, running gambling houses, and maintaining public nuisances.
- The Floor Gives Way: Panic and Death at Seattle’s Morris Opera House
A grand opening night turns into a nightmare when the second-story floor of the newly converted theater collapses into the stables below, killing several and injuring dozens in one of the city's earliest major disasters.