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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1891 | 14 |
| 1892 | 22 |
36 stories matching contract
- Thurston County’s $3,985 Court House Contract Went to a New York Firm
Commissioners signed off on metal vault furniture for the new county courthouse, trimming the order from $5,000 and choosing a Rochester manufacturer after inspecting competing bids in Seattle and Tacoma.
- The Mayor, the Contracts, and the Treasurer Who Refused to Pay
Mayor Weatherwax's ties to city contracts raised a legal question: could a business man hold office in the city where he did business? The answer could reshape municipal government across Washington.
- City Attorney Blocks Olympia’s Columbia Street Assessment
A legal opinion found that street grading and planking done without contracts could not be charged to abutting owners beyond $500—putting more than $2,000 in assessments in doubt.
- The 15-Cent Street Signs That Became a Graft Scandal
A councilman nicknamed 'Boss' hands out a street-sign contract on his own authority, and the town asks why it is buying throwaway tin markers instead of signs that last — at the people's expense.
- The Courthouse Architect, the Commissioners, and a $458 Bill Nobody Wants to Pay
The man who designed Thurston County's new courthouse demands the rest of his fee; the commissioners say he broke his contract and has been paid enough.
- Streetcar Standoff in Olympia
A power struggle between the local light company and the street railway threatens to stall transit expansion.
- Jim Hill Finally Names Everett as the Sound Terminus
A contract to build the Great Northern from Everett to Stevens Pass promises 3,000 jobs and a transcontinental line — if the tunnel and the promises hold.
- The County Courthouse Construction Scandal
A superintendent is forced out after refusing to accept substandard materials for the new county building.
- A Stranger Got the Band Stand Contract. A Taxpayer Wants to Know Why.
In a letter to the editor, an Olympia man asks the city council why local builders who have 'grappled for their homes and families here for years' were never even invited to bid.
- A Streetcar Cathedral Rises at Chestnut and Fifth
Olympia Light and Power plans a three-story headquarters with repair pits, a supply store and dormitory rooms for single employees — if City Council approves the route it wants.
- Olympia’s Main Street to be Ripped Up for Electric Rails
A long-standing conflict between local transit companies is resolved, clearing the way for new track construction and pole installation.
- The White-and-Gold Trolleys That Would Link Olympia and Tumwater
In February 1892, Olympia Light & Power awarded a $70,000 contract for a four-mile electric street railway from Ayer's Hill to Tumwater—built with local labor and Pullman-style cars.
- Olympia City Council Rejects New Sewer System
City officials pivot away from the 'Camp' or 'Warring' system after consulting with sanitary engineers, opting instead to hire local expertise.
- A $107,000 Courthouse Still Without a Roof
Thurston County's grand new courthouse blows past its March 1 deadline with $73,000 already paid out — and a local builder predicts the final bill will top $150,000, every dollar of it leaving the county.
- A Tenant's Barn, a Landlord's Lot, and a Judge's Line
Judge Robinson ruled that a contractor's lien for an unpaid Olympia livery stable could reach the building and leasehold—but not the owner's land.
- One Coal-Oil Dealer Is Holding Olympia's New Electric Railway Hostage for $10,000
The streetcar line is contracted, the rails are shipped and the crews are ready — but George Marvin Savage's outfit sits squarely in the middle of Main Street, and he will not budge for less than ten thousand dollars.
- The Engineer Who Says Olympia Stiffed Him for Sewer Plans
A civil engineer hired to draft Olympia’s sewers says the city accepted his $700 bid, starved him of data, then canceled his contract and paid another man $1,500 for plans he calls a public nuisance.
- The Courthouse That Couldn’t: Contractors Fall Months Behind as Penalties Mount
Thurston County’s new courthouse is five months late, triggering a $20-a-day penalty and a standoff over withheld payments.
- Murphy Forever: A Rival Editor Skewers Olympia's Perpetual Councilman
Days before the First Ward election, the Tribune turns its sarcasm on Councilman John Miller Murphy — newspaper editor, theater proprietor, professed temperance man, and, by this account, a fixture in the council chamber and at the bar he once voted to close.
- Olympia's Electric Road Begins With a Land Drive
The Olympia Electric Light Power Company wants land donations for a streetcar line, while engineers prepare to grade Main Street from 26th to 29th.
- The Schoolbook Bribery Scandal
The State Supreme Court reinstates an indictment against four men accused of attempting to bribe a member of the State Board of Education to influence textbook contracts.
- The Westside Railway Deal and the Councilman Who Didn't Read It
Olympia's council weighed a cheaper route through C. M. Moore's block to reach the Westside Railway—until one committeeman admitted he had signed the report blind.
- She Owned Her Own Bedding: A Hoquiam Wife's Public Reckoning
When W. E. Ulmer filed notice that he would no longer pay his wife's bills, Ida V. Ulmer went straight to the paper — to point out that he had never paid them in the first place.
- Olympia’s Streetcar Truce
After a period of corporate maneuvering, the Olympia Street Railway and the Light and Power Company reach a seven-year agreement to consolidate transit services.
- The council met in secret to dig itself out of the hole it dug
A closed-door caucus of Olympia's aldermen wrestles with the bond debt their own street work created — then adjourns for drinks, with the press locked out.