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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1888 | 5 |
| 1889 | 4 |
| 1891 | 5 |
| 1893 | 6 |
| 1894 | 4 |
| 1895 | 10 |
34 stories matching frontag
- South Bend Wins Water Frontage Fight
Citizens vote to bond the city to bypass Northern Pacific railroad control of local wharf access.
- The Shipworm Eating Seattle’s Waterfront
Wharf owners were spending a fortune fighting a saltwater pest. The fix: fill the tide flats, cut freshwater waterways, and make the harbor safe for pilings—and insurance.
- The Waterfront Gold Rush of 1888
A prime 80-acre parcel on Lake Washington, featuring a half-mile of water frontage, goes to market with the promise of future manufacturing glory.
- The Great Seattle Street-Cleaning Decree
A desperate 1888 city ordinance threatens property owners with fines if they fail to scrub the filth from their sidewalk frontages.
- New $100,000 Commercial Building Approved for Downtown Seattle
A five-story brick and stone structure is set for the corner of Main and Second streets, intended for wholesale tenants.
- The Price of Progress on Lake Washington
A century before Seattle’s modern infrastructure battles, property owners in 1891 fought a railroad’s attempt to claim waterfront for a 'Belt Line' at a discount.
- The Struggle for an Ocean Wharf
Shipping lines are bypassing Seattle because the waterfront lacks the facilities to handle trans-Pacific steamers.
- The Seattle Land Boom’s Elite Sales Pitch
A 19th-century real estate advertisement lists Seattle’s power brokers as testimonials for a major development push near Madison Street.
- The Governor’s Grand Brick Block
As Seattle expands, former Washington Territorial Governor Watson C. Squire commissions a massive new downtown commercial building on South Second and Main Streets.
- Seattle’s Rebirth After the Great Fire
While the embers of the 1889 Great Fire were still cooling, the city's architects and business leaders immediately began a frenzied, organized effort to rebuild the commercial district in brick and stone.
- The Dream of a 'Solid Block': Seattle's Early Real Estate Ambitions
Prominent business owners in late 19th-century Seattle collaborate to replace fragmented shops with a singular, uniform 'splendid block' of stone and steel, signaling the city's transition from pioneer town to burgeoning metropolis.
- Engineers Complete Survey for Lake Washington Ship Canal
In 1891, engineers surveyed the path for a ship canal to connect Lake Washington to the Sound, envisioning a future where vessels could cleanse their hulls of barnacles in fresh water and double Seattle's commercial capacity.
- The Canal That Would Give Seattle the Finest Harbor on the Pacific
An 1895 editorial urges Seattleites to back a half-million-dollar subsidy to fill the tide flats and dig a canal linking Puget Sound with Lake Washington.
- The Fight for the Sound’s First Dry Dock
A century before Puget Sound became a hub of naval power, local politicians battled Congress for federal funding to establish a permanent dry dock at Port Orchard.
- The Sudden Rise of West Seattle
How a group of San Francisco capitalists transformed a dense forest into a speculative boomtown overnight.
- The County Courthouse That Wasn't: King County Sells Its Own Home
In a bizarre twist of civic bureaucracy in January 1891, King County is forced to auction off the very building housing its courts because the new one isn't finished yet.
- Seattle's Waterfront Was Up for Grabs — and Everyone Filed a Claim
With the tide-land plats at last filed, hundreds of buyers have staked overlapping claims across Elliott Bay, and officials are predicting years of litigation over who really owns the shore.
- The Canal That Would Drain Lake Washington
Boosters said a ship canal could end spring floods, redeem thousands of acres of marsh and turn the Duwamish Valley into farmland—if the property owners would help pay.
- Seattle's Bid to Steal the Grain Trade From Tacoma
Boosters want $75,000 in stock to build a North Seattle grain elevator and a 600-foot wharf — and snatch the Asian shipping business from Tacoma.
- The Street Fight Over Seattle's Tide Flats
Two conflicting street grids — one drawn by the city, one by the tide-land appraisers — are cutting through factories and stalling new industry. The city council must choose.
- Seattle’s Yesler Donation Claim Goes on the Auction Block
An administrator petitions to carve 86 lots out of Sarah B. Yesler’s donation claim to settle an estate drowning in debt and taxes.
- The Creosote Fortress: How a New Plant Aimed to Save Seattle’s Piers from the 'Teredo'
A massive industrial complex rises six miles north of downtown, promising to protect the city's wooden infrastructure from the destructive shipworm.
- The Tide Lands Plat: A Waterfront Laid Out for Sale
State appraisers file the plat for the Tacoma tide lands, opening 600 acres of shore and mud flats to sale—unless upland owners claim them first.
- Seattle’s ‘Palace of Trade’: 10,000 Crowd the Rialto’s Opening Night
A Boston-backed department store at Second and Madison threw open four floors of retail spectacle, declaring Seattle had arrived on the Pacific Coast.
- The General Who Laid Out Tacoma
Maj. Gen. John W. Sprague—Northern Pacific superintendent, Tacoma's first mayor and a founder of its bank and chamber—died at 74, leaving a city he helped place on the map.