Research the archive
Narrow 27,002 newspaper stories by words, years, place, newspaper and subject. See when and where they ran, then download what you find.
Put a phrase in quotes ("rent strike") or leave a word out with a minus (strike -baseball). Old scans misspell names, so when little is found, near-spellings are offered.
Refine1 on
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 6 |
| 1876 | 51 |
| 1877 | 30 |
| 1878 | 16 |
| 1880 | 4 |
| 1882 | 13 |
| 1883 | 46 |
| 1884 | 27 |
| 1885 | 29 |
| 1886 | 12 |
| 1887 | 21 |
| 1888 | 18 |
| 1889 | 59 |
| 1890 | 1 |
| 1891 | 18 |
| 1892 | 50 |
| 1893 | 47 |
| 1894 | 49 |
| 1895 | 77 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1898 | 2 |
| 1899 | 17 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 2 |
| 1904 | 2 |
| 1909 | 4 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1924 | 1 |
607 stories matching built
- The Wooden Walls of Puget Sound
A survey of the booming fleet of vessels built in Washington Territory in 1877, and why the local economy was missing out on the profits of its own timber.
- The Dream of Suburban Seattle
Promoters sell 'garden tracts' near the newly-built Rainier Avenue electric rail line, promising a suburban retreat from the bustling city center.
- A Successful Maiden Voyage for the St. Lawrence
The new Ballard-built schooner returns with a heavy haul, proving the viability of the local fishing industry.
- Forty-One Ships Built on Puget Sound in a Depression Year
Only two oceangoing vessels left the yards in 1894, but smaller launches and schooners kept the Sound's shipwrights working through hard times.
- The Unending Drain at Columbia Street
A classic city mistake in 1886: an improperly built drain leads to a massive, costly wash-out that requires days of manual labor to repair.
- The Wizard of the Great Northern
How James J. Hill built a continental railroad empire by hand, one trestle at a time.
- The Fight to Fireproof Downtown
A Seattle neighborhood, built entirely of wood, fears a catastrophic blaze and petitions the city for a stone mandate.
- Seattle’s First Electric Line to Woodland Park Opens
A luxurious new electric streetcar begins daily service to the city’s favorite sylvan retreat.
- The Church Looks Toward Puget Sound
Methodist leaders convene in Vancouver to strategize church expansion and infrastructure across the Pacific Northwest.
- The Boom-Era Dream of the Rainier Valley
An 1891 advertisement paints a vivid picture of the speculative fever that drove Seattle's suburban expansion along the new electric streetcar lines.
- The Year Queen Anne Kicked Until Its Fire Insurance Rates Fell
After a year of organized pressure, residents won 25 to 50 percent cuts—because an engine house finally persuaded insurers the hill was worth protecting.
- The Dream of the Suburban Acre
In 1891, developers marketed the 'choicest' acre tracts in the newly burgeoning suburbs of Seattle, promising growth along the Rainier Avenue Electric Railway.
- The Boomtown Hustle: Real Estate and Building in 1876 Seattle
A glimpse into the rapid expansion of Seattle's early infrastructure, where new homes were built 'by the day' and brick yards were leased to meet the hunger for growth.
- The True Cost of Building a Home in 1889 Seattle
While real estate developers and contractors debated the rising cost of labor and imported building supplies, one carpenter showed that a home could be built for a mere $150.
- The Boom-Time Promises of Seattle’s 'Most Popular Addition'
In the spring of 1891, real estate developers peddled the dream of cheap housing and rapid growth along the new James Street car line, a precursor to the century of development that followed.
- Walla Walla Addition Touts Homes Along New Streetcar
Before the boom and bust cycles defined Seattle, developers were already promising the 'best buy' near the new streetcar lines.
- The Dream of the Suburban Garden Plot
Developers in 1891 sold city dwellers on the 'choicest' acreages just outside of the developing Seattle core, promising a life of suburban gardens along the new Rainier Avenue electric line.
- The Lonely End of a Sound Pioneer
John F. Edwards, a sea captain and early pioneer who built his own boat to trade among Puget Sound ports, dies in poverty.
- The Shipbuilder Who Built Ballard
Captain John J. Holland, the man behind the Bailey Gatzert and Ballard's water system, passes away from pneumonia.
- The 'Seattle Way' of Building a Railroad
By shunning outside capital and high-salaried officers, local boosters claim they are carving a path through the Cascades using nothing but 'Seattle money and pluck.'
- The Seattle Building Boom
A survey of the rapid industrial expansion, from the doubling of the steamboat fleet to the explosion of sawmills and the soaring price of local real estate.
- Seattle’s Crumbling Infrastructure Crisis
City Engineer R.H. Thomson warns that the city’s aging wooden box sewers are on the verge of collapse, threatening the streets above.
- The Northern Pacific's Iron Grip on the Territory
An scathing editorial decries the railroad monopoly for partitioning Washington into 'trade territories' to serve their own interests.
- The Beacon Hill Sewer Scandal
A taxpayer alleges that City Engineer Thomson’s engineering choices were costly, unskillful, and a 'woeful piece of folly.'
- The Whaler That Never Was: A Yankee Betrayal of Puget Sound
In 1877, a local newspaper exposed how Boston shipbuilders stole a lucrative contract from Seattle’s own yards, ignoring the region's superior timber and strategic advantage for whaling.