Research the archive
Narrow 22,457 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.
Refine
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 5 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1859 | 4 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1861 | 4 |
| 1862 | 5 |
| 1863 | 4 |
| 1864 | 3 |
| 1865 | 3 |
| 1871 | 2 |
| 1872 | 31 |
| 1876 | 163 |
| 1877 | 111 |
| 1878 | 68 |
| 1879 | 13 |
| 1880 | 25 |
| 1882 | 29 |
| 1883 | 116 |
| 1884 | 60 |
| 1885 | 144 |
| 1886 | 74 |
| 1887 | 71 |
| 1888 | 93 |
| 1889 | 282 |
| 1890 | 41 |
| 1891 | 164 |
| 1892 | 295 |
| 1893 | 304 |
| 1894 | 275 |
| 1895 | 77 |
| 1896 | 1 |
| 1897 | 5 |
| 1898 | 10 |
| 1899 | 79 |
| 1900 | 6 |
| 1901 | 1 |
| 1902 | 9 |
| 1903 | 179 |
| 1904 | 149 |
| 1905 | 10 |
| 1907 | 3 |
| 1908 | 4 |
| 1909 | 130 |
| 1910 | 24 |
| 1911 | 20 |
| 1912 | 12 |
| 1914 | 56 |
| 1915 | 47 |
| 1916 | 74 |
| 1917 | 33 |
| 1918 | 7 |
| 1922 | 2 |
| 1923 | 12 |
| 1924 | 12 |
| 1925 | 5 |
3,358 stories matching busi
- 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.
- Tacoma's Labor Boycott: Business Men Forced to Meet in a Basement as Tensions Escalate
A planned meeting of business men to address the Trades Council's boycott of the Ledger newspaper is postponed after the Commercial Club refuses its rooms. Undeterred, a group meets in a basement, but the Trades Council dismisses it as meaningless. The city remains on edge as labor and business collide.
- The Roomless City: Why Seattle Is Losing Half a Million Dollars to Its Own Landlords
A manufacturing jeweler from outside capital has scoured every business street in town and found no space for his enterprise. He is not alone; the paper warns that this 'business house room' shortage is driving away population and money to rival cities.
- The Rent Trap: Why Seattle's Business District Is Running Out of Room
As the city booms post-fire, merchants find themselves priced out of First Avenue, forced to migrate up Third and beyond in a desperate search for affordable space.
- Dirty Tricks, 1892: Yakima's Candidate for Governor Fights Back
A Seattle paper accused the Democratic nominee of fleeing his debts and defrauding orphans. Snively's supporters called it a Republican smear—and produced letters to prove it.
- Private Employment Agents Fight Back Against the City's Free Labor Bureau
Accused of swindling job-seekers, a Seattle employment firm blames organized labor and a union-backed city bureau for a campaign to put it out of business — and dares the city to investigate.
- A Mill Owner's Warning: Free Trade and the Fight for Seattle's Lumber Future
Port Blakely's C. P. Holmes saw tariff-free lumber helping British Columbia, doubted the China-Japan war would rescue trade, and still believed Seattle's natural harbor would win.
- The Vanishing Sidewalks: How Seattle’s Council Cleared the Streets of 'Obstructions'
In a bold move to modernize downtown, the City Council ordered the immediate removal of all fruit stands, bootblack benches, and candy vendors from the city's busiest thoroughfares. The result? A clash between civic order and the livelihoods of informal street merchants.
- The Man Who Bought the Territory: Miles C. Moore’s Rise to Governor
From a Walla Walla bookstore clerk to the head of Washington Territory, Miles C. Moore’s appointment signals a shift in power from Seattle’s elite to Eastern Washington’s business barons.
- Candy, Land Claims and a 'Confidence Man': Arlington's Commissioner Hits Back
George Morrell denies stealing ginger snaps and swindling settlers—then accuses his accuser of running an extortion racket with a Seattle police escort.
- The Milk That Made Kent Grow
Kent's condenseries turn White River Valley milk into Carnation and baby food, and a struggling village becomes a dairy boomtown.
- Kennewick’s Merchants Are Losing the Town to the Mail-Order Catalogue
A Courier-Reporter editor counts the local ads that never ran—and blames Kennewick shopkeepers, not distant catalogue houses, for the trade slipping away.
- The Feed Business Gamble
Local merchant J.J. Bogardus reflects on the high failure rate of Seattle’s feed and grain stores during the economic pressures of the early 1890s.
- The Room That Built a City: Seattle’s Desperate Hunt for Business Space
As the population swells and applications for commercial space hit record highs, city leaders warn that without immediate construction, Seattle will lose its economic dominance to rivals who can offer room.
- King County Commissioners Billed Taxpayers for 25,943 Miles—More Than the Earth's Circumference
A letter to the editor by F. F. Ames accuses the King County board of padding mileage, charging for trips to Olympia, and paying an unauthorized colleague from county funds—violating state law.
- The Jailhouse Serenade: Seattle’s Most Popular Prisoner Refuses Bail
Val Wildman, proprietor of the 'Vanity Fair' lottery, sits in King County Jail refusing to pay his fine. When friends and influential citizens gather outside to raise the money for his release, he turns them away—insisting his imprisonment is a matter of principle.
- Jailed on a Ten-Word Telegram: A New Arrival Fights an Arson Charge From Manitoba
Charles F. Ireland moved his wife and children to Puget Sound to start over. The morning after he landed, a Manitoba 'government detective' wired ten words, and he was locked up with 'convicted criminals of every hue.' He wants Seattle to hear his side.
- Olympia’s Booster Year: Brick, Bridges and a 50,000-Person Promise
As 1891 closed, the capital city counted $3 million in new buildings, a record bridge, electric lights and new rail lines — and predicted 50,000 residents within a decade.
- The Paper War: Port Townsend vs. Seattle
In 1876, a small rival town accused Seattle of economic sabotage over who printed their business cards.
- The Rent Crisis of 1891: Tacoma Merchants at a Breaking Point
As local business owners faced a contracting economy and 'money stringency,' the Chamber of Commerce debated whether high commercial rents and utility costs were driving them toward insolvency.
- Grays Harbor's Mill Workers Turn on the Sawdust Ring
A shingle weavers' strike has widened into a region-wide industrial war, drawing A.F. of L. craftsmen and I.W.W. laborers into a fight against the mill owners who ran Grays Harbor politics.
- A Michigan Orator Packs the Armory and Rides Down the Populists
Roswell G. Horr brings the Republican gospel of protection and sound money to a standing-room crowd in Seattle — and turns the free-silver men in the hall into the evening's comedy act.
- A Creameryman Confesses: 'Our Business Conditions Are Rotten'
In an unusually candid letter to The Ranch, the manager of the Rockwood Creamery Co. says reckless price-cutting and smooth-talking rivals are cheating Washington dairy farmers and quietly ruining the state's butter.
- The Laundry War: When Seattle Tried to License Away the Chinese
A historic court battle reveals how the City Council once used 'discretionary' licensing to target Chinese-owned laundries, prompting a landmark defense of property rights and constitutional liberty.
- The $12.50 Gold Rush: How a Railroad Rate War Flooded Seattle with Hope and Skepticism
As Canadian Pacific slashes fares to half the price of American lines, local merchants debate whether the coming wave of homeseekers will build the city or break it.