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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1899 | 21 |
21 stories matching smith
- The Pugilist and the Hercules: Seattle’s ‘Denver Ed’ Sets Sights on Giant Tom Costello
Local fighter 'Denver Ed' Smith prepares to step into the ring with a massive gunner from the USS Iowa, promising a fifteen-round bout that has the city buzzing.
- Tragedy in the Timber: A Fatal Day Near Orting
A young laborer loses his life in a logging accident, underscoring the lethal risks inherent in Washington's turn-of-the-century lumber industry.
- The First Strike Against the Eight-Hour Day
Contractors are already looking for loopholes in the new Washington state labor law, sparking a legal showdown between building firms and the Western Central Labor Union.
- The Porcupine Rush: How an Indian Map Led Seattle Men to Gold
A group of home seekers departed Seattle for the Yukon, armed with a hand-drawn map provided by an Indigenous guide who claimed the region was rich in gold.
- The Gold Brick Gang: How Seattle’s Smugglers Were Caught Red-Handed
A trio of young men ran a sophisticated counterfeiting ring out of their rooming house, selling fake gold bricks to unsuspecting merchants and bankers before being busted by detectives.
- The Great Northern’s $70,000 Lawsuit: How J.J. Hill’s Empire Clashed with the State
A bitter legal battle erupts between railroad magnate James J. Hill and W.V. Haynes over land rights at Smith Cove, revealing the intense struggle for control of Seattle’s waterfront.
- The Great Dry Crusade: Seattle’s Religious Leaders Unite to Close the Saloons
In a packed meeting at the First M.E. Church, clergy and temperance advocates organized a new anti-saloon league, aiming to dismantle the liquor trade through moral pressure rather than just legislation.
- The $100,000 Flip: How a Seattle Speculator Made a Fortune on the Corner of Pike and Pioneer
While the city debates housing affordability, a quiet real estate deal reveals how early developers turned modest lots into massive wealth in just one year.
- The University’s Spring Awakening: A New Era of Funding and Debate
As the spring term opens at the University of Washington, students celebrate record appropriations for new departments while engaging in high-stakes political debates and athletic rivalries.
- The Day Seattle Stood Still: The Eight-Hour Workday That Shook the City
In a landmark legal battle that defined labor rights in the Pacific Northwest, Judge Jacob struck down the city's eight-hour ordinance, ruling that the council had overstepped its authority—a decision that would soon be tested by the Supreme Court.
- The College That Could Have Been: Seattle’s Bid to Steal Whitworth
As Tacoma and Seattle compete for the relocation of Whitworth College, local boosters scramble to offer land and cash, revealing a fierce battle for civic prestige in the early 1900s.
- The People’s Franchise: Seattle Votes Down Municipal Ownership of Streetcars
In a pivotal moment for the city's infrastructure, voters reject the Navin resolution to take control of street railways, cementing private corporate dominance over public transit.
- The People’s Franchise: Seattle Rises Against the Streetcar Monopoly
In June 1899, hundreds of citizens packed Armory Hall to declare 'No More Franchises,' demanding that the city council stop selling off public rights-of-way to private railway companies without voter approval.
- The Last Gathering of Seattle’s Founders
Amos Brown, a pioneer who helped shape the city's early identity, is laid to rest in a ceremony attended by nearly every surviving member of Seattle's first generation.
- The Last Bugle Call: A Seattle Boy’s Final Resting Place in Manila
Private Allan Carlyle of the Washington Volunteers dies of disease in the Philippines; his comrades in Seattle mourn a life cut short by the very war they helped send.
- The Deaf-Mute’s Heartbreak: A Love Letter Written in Silence
When his fiancée left him for another man, a silent young man from Memphis found his voice through ink, delivering a scathing indictment of his rival to a Seattle city editor.
- The Mayor’s Welcome: Seattle Prepares to Embrace Its War Heroes
Mayor Humes and the Chamber of Commerce unite to orchestrate a grand reception for the Washington Volunteers returning from the Philippines, offering free rail excursions and civic honors.
- The Mill That Never Was: How Chicago Capitalists Tried to Buy Seattle’s Soul
In June 1899, Theo. Ludgate arrived in town promising 800 jobs and a massive milling enterprise. Instead, he sparked a legal battle over land leases and vanished back east, leaving behind only the ghost of an industrial boom.
- The Senator’s Seattle Sojourn: Fairbanks Tours the City Before Heading North
Vice President-elect Charles W. Fairbanks and his entourage spent a whirlwind day in Seattle, touring the Great Northern terminal, Lake Washington, and receiving a civic welcome before departing for Alaska.
- The Hall That Never Was: Seattle’s $1 Million Dream for a Convention Center
In 1908, prominent businessmen and editors rallied to build a massive exposition hall to rival San Francisco, but the project stalled in debate over public funding versus private capital.
- Telescoped at the Crossing: A Grant Street Horror
When a Northern Pacific freight train plowed into an electric streetcar on May 20, 1909, one man died and dozens were mangled in the icy water below. The crash exposed dangerous speeds and negligent watchmen at a city intersection that remains vital today.