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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1883 | 3 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1888 | 3 |
| 1889 | 4 |
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28 stories matching background
- The Art of the 'Living Picture'
Behind the scenes at the Calhoun Opera Company, where stagecraft and quick-change artistry bring classical paintings to life.
- The Burning Monuments of Snohomish
Two massive, blazing cedar trees lit up the night sky, transforming a local forest fire into a spectacular public display for the riverfront town.
- Inferno in the Olympics
Citizens gather on Church Hill in Port Angeles to watch a massive timber fire burning in the Olympic Mountains.
- The Speaker of Norway’s Storthing Visits Seattle
Viggo Ullmann, a leader of the Norwegian Liberal Party, brings his campaign for national independence to a packed hall in Seattle.
- The Hidden Hoard of Seattle's Pioneer Square
A rare coin discovery in 1888 offers a glimpse into the transient, globalized pockets of Seattle's earliest residents.
- Designing the Washington Territory Seal
An early proposal for the official seal that featured a log cabin, a settler’s wagon, and the Chinook jargon word 'Alki'.
- The Republican Campaign Launch
Candidates take the stage in Seattle to argue for land forfeiture, taxation of railroad monopolies, and statehood.
- The Labor Journal Backs H. W. North for Mayor
An endorsement of the mayoral candidate, emphasizing his background in manual labor and business as essential qualifications for municipal leadership.
- Voters Reject Political Machine in School Board Race
A decisive victory for incumbent school directors confirms public support for the current board's management, while a candidate backed by the Democratic political machine fails significantly.
- The Struggle for Local Control Over Seattle's Saloons
A new 1886 ordinance tightened the grip of the City Council on the city’s liquor trade, imposing strict licensing, background checks, and Sunday bans in an attempt to regulate the chaos of the frontier economy.
- He Wants the Poisoner, Even If the Chemist Found None
Frank Mull says he will prosecute whoever poisoned his daughter Gussie—despite a chemist's report finding no poison in her stomach.
- The Senatorial Machine of Seattle’s Banking King
Powerful banker Jacob Furth, whose corporations control Seattle’s streetcars and credit, is positioned to dominate the race for the U.S. Senate through money and influence.
- The Fight for a Son’s Birthright in Pioneer Seattle
A prominent Chinese merchant takes the extraordinary step of filing court petitions to prove his son is an American citizen and thus eligible to own property.
- The Boomtown That Was: A Glimpse of Seattle in 1876
A survey of the territory paints a portrait of a frontier Seattle defined by the roar of sawmills, the promise of coal, and the ambition to conquer the Cascades.
- The Madison Street Land Rush of 1889
As Seattle boomed, developers marketed Madison Street as the 'Fifth Avenue of the West,' promising a paradise for the wealthy while ignoring the reality of the city's rugged, unmapped hills.
- The City Council’s Petty Snub of Seattle’s Founder
A scathing editorial exposes how local politicians, led by a councilman, used a mundane land plat filing to insult A.A. Denny, a pivotal figure in Seattle’s development.
- The Real Estate Pitch That Conquered West Seattle
A booster-era advertisement uses high-flown, flowery prose to compare the views of West Seattle to the Swiss Alps, aiming to sell lots in a burgeoning new neighborhood.
- The Real Estate Boom of the 'West End'
Developers pitch the sweeping vistas of West Seattle as the city's future crowning jewel, borrowing praise from a San Francisco journal to lure investors.
- The Unfiltered Delight of an 1885 North Cascades Trek
Before the North Cascades were fully mapped, a party of thirty-three Seattleites scrambled up a peak near the Nooksack River for a view that they hoped would 'soon' become a national treasure.
- The Promised Land of the Big Bend
A traveler in 1888 reports back from the rugged frontier of Douglas County, painting a picture of a burgeoning agricultural hub and a wild, pristine Lake Chelan waiting for its first hotels.
- The Last Great Gush: West Seattle’s Promoters Promise Paradise on the Edge of the Sound
In February 1889, real estate agents and newspaper editors were busy selling a dream of West Seattle, touting its majestic views of Mount Rainier and promising that the new railroad would turn this rugged plateau into the next gold rush for land speculators.
- The Great Washington Women’s Convention: A Sea of Green and White
Delegates from across the state gather in Tacoma to debate education, manual training, and the power of organized female civic life.
- The Wires That Grew With Seattle
How the Sunset Telephone and Telegraph Company rode Seattle from a forest village to a 25,000-person city — and, when the Great Fire of 1889 burned its plant out of existence, rebuilt the service in tents within ten days.
- Steaming Through the Puget Sound Boom, Town by Town
A Seattle traveler’s 1883 voyage aboard the Idaho finds crowded wharves, railroad dreams, and real-estate prices high enough to check the very boom they fed.
- The Letter That Asked: Is Olympia's Street-Tax Ordinance Even Legal?
A citizen signing himself 'Marius' argues that the city's method of charging property owners for street paving and grading violates due process — and warns that if the assessments collapse in court, every taxpayer in town will pay for it.