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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1883 | 2 |
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1888 | 1 |
| 1889 | 2 |
| 1891 | 4 |
| 1892 | 1 |
| 1895 | 2 |
| 1903 | 2 |
| 1904 | 1 |
| 1915 | 1 |
| 1917 | 1 |
19 stories matching beautifi
- Walla Walla's Grand Plan for a Public Park
Chairman McLean announces that $2,000 will be used next spring to build a boating lake and revitalize the city's 40-acre park.
- The Case for a 'Seattle the Beautiful'
A visionary letter to the editor advocates for creating a network of public parks before the city's rapid expansion makes such land unaffordable.
- The Dream of Homeownership in 1891
An early real estate pitch captures the Victorian-era obsession with property as a moral imperative.
- A Deal to Fix Maple Park—If the City Does Its Part
Maple Park's property owners offer to grade their streets if the city fixes the central park—and a plan surfaces to remake the square in front of the new courthouse.
- Greening the City Park
Chairman McLean works to beautify Walla Walla's public spaces while protecting a new local quail colony.
- The Making of a Suburb
A speculative land development project christened 'Sunnyside' promises a model residential section and a dedicated site for a state capital.
- A Class Day of Mud and Ivy
Students of the class of 1915 traded their books for tools to beautify the school grounds, planting trees and laying a stone wall in a historic day of communal labor.
- Condemning the 'Boom Town' Relics
Building Inspector Sherman launches a crusade against the derelict shacks and half-finished houses left over from Tacoma’s abandoned real estate boom.
- The Settlement of the Colville Valley
An engineer’s report argues that the Colville Valley is held back by the presence of Indigenous and mixed-race populations.
- The Theater That Wanted the Street
Tacoma’s grand new opera house design sparks a city council debate over encroaching on public sidewalks and creating private carriage driveways.
- Aberdeen’s Model Hospital Nears Completion
A state-of-the-art facility is set to open, bringing modern medical care to the booming mill and lumber town.
- Close Washington Street to Wagons: Olympia's 1891 Dream for the Public Square
As the new county courthouse nears completion, the superintendent in charge proposes grading the square level with Seventh Street, banishing heavy teams, and laying winding, shrub-lined walks with a pavilion for evening concerts.
- The Boom-Time Promises of Brooklyn, Seattle
A 19th-century real estate advertisement paints a picture of a rapidly inflating Seattle and the hopeful, speculative fervor surrounding the Lake Union district.
- The Bid for the Capital: North Yakima’s 1889 Pitch
Before Olympia was cemented as the seat of power, boosters in North Yakima laid out an elaborate, nature-inspired argument for why their valley was the natural heart of the new state.
- Prisoners to Raise Game Birds for Benton County
In a state-run program at the Walla Walla penitentiary, inmates are building a game farm to repopulate Chinese pheasants across Washington.
- Hard Times and Scientific Farming on the Stillaguamish
While the local economy struggles under an influx of job-seekers, a Snohomish County rancher embraces the march of progress with new steam machinery.
- Mining, Military Drills, and a Skunk's Demise in Black Diamond
An 1885 dispatch from the Black Diamond coal fields details civic improvements, the formation of a local militia company, and a comical, if ill-fated, experiment involving a captive skunk.
- Seattle’s Streets Were Still Mostly Wood—Until the Brick Came
With 750 miles platted and only 106 improved, city engineers pushed permanent pavement on Union Street and dreamed of brick from local clay.
- Seattle’s Temple of Learning Rises Between Two Lakes
In 1895, contractors raced to finish a $200,000 campus between Union and Washington lakes—complete with copper finials, a gymnasium and a hillside observatory—before the September opening.