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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1858 | 4 |
| 1859 | 5 |
| 1860 | 3 |
| 1861 | 2 |
| 1862 | 3 |
| 1863 | 3 |
| 1865 | 1 |
| 1872 | 7 |
| 1876 | 51 |
| 1877 | 44 |
| 1878 | 16 |
| 1879 | 3 |
| 1880 | 14 |
| 1882 | 8 |
| 1883 | 58 |
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| 1885 | 70 |
| 1886 | 28 |
| 1887 | 30 |
| 1888 | 33 |
| 1889 | 96 |
| 1890 | 22 |
| 1891 | 85 |
| 1892 | 205 |
| 1893 | 152 |
| 1894 | 163 |
| 1895 | 242 |
| 1897 | 6 |
| 1898 | 17 |
| 1899 | 41 |
| 1900 | 4 |
| 1902 | 2 |
| 1903 | 97 |
| 1904 | 103 |
| 1905 | 4 |
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| 1908 | 41 |
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| 1915 | 23 |
| 1916 | 43 |
| 1917 | 39 |
| 1918 | 5 |
| 1923 | 8 |
| 1924 | 10 |
| 1925 | 5 |
| 1928 | 2 |
| 1929 | 2 |
1,997 stories matching close
- The Board of Health Weighed Closing Every School in Seattle
Scarlet fever was moving through the city's classrooms in May 1895, and the men who ran public health argued over whether to send thousands of children home for six weeks — and whether parents could be trusted to report the sickness at all.
- The Doctors Declare War: Seattle's Health Board Orders the Schools Shut as Scarlet Fever Spreads
Backed by a city attorney's opinion, the board of health gives the school board an ultimatum — close the Rainier and South schools by nine o'clock Friday morning or the police will do it for them.
- The City Health Board Closed Two Schools. The School Board Asked Who Gave It the Power.
When scarlet fever fears shut Rainier and South schools, Seattle's school board dug in—not against quarantine, but against what its lawyers called an 'arbitrary' order that skipped the City Council.
- The Strategic Sabotage of Sunday Closing Laws
When Wenatchee saloon owners were pressured to close on Sundays, the statewide Liquor Dealers’ Protective Association advised a calculated move: force every business in town to close, too, and wait for public frustration to boil over.
- The Mayor’s Gambit: Humes Defers to Council as Seattle Sweeps Away Its Gambling dens
In a rare moment of unified reform, the City Council has ordered the closure of all gambling houses and restricted saloons in the business district. Mayor Humes, citing legal ambiguity over the saloon ordinance but promising strict enforcement against lotteries, leaves the fate of Seattle’s vice industry to the police chief.
- Seattle Police Force Illegal Gambling Dens to Close
After weeks of unchecked operation, Chief of Police Jackson issues a stern ultimatum to local gambling houses under threat of force.
- Seattle's Schools Stay Open While Two Boards Square Off Over Scarlet Fever
When the Board of Health ordered South and Rainier schools closed during a scarlet fever scare, the school board filed the order and refused to shut the doors.
- Newport Merchants Agree to Close at 6:30 — and Fine Themselves $50 If They Don’t
In 1908, local shopkeepers signed a pact to shorten business hours, hoping clerks and owners alike could finally take part in public life. Violators owed $50 to the Commercial Club.
- Thirty-Seven Miners Died 150 Feet From Safety
An 1894 coroner's jury in Franklin, Washington, heard how a small fire in the Oregon Improvement Company's coal mine became a wall of smoke — and why the men who could have escaped stayed to fight it.
- The Orphan’s Plea: A Poem That Moved Seattle to Tears on Decoration Day
As the city honored Civil War dead with solemn processions and speeches, a young girl’s grief over her father’s unmarked grave brought the Grand Marshal to tears.
- Seattle Shut Every School to Stop Scarlet Fever
In May 1895 the health board ordered public, private and parochial schools closed, then ran into questions about quarantine, teachers' salaries and who would pay for a contagious-disease hospital.
- A Packed Council Chamber, a Railroad Franchise, and a Fight Over Public Streets
Newport's city council meeting drew a standing-room crowd as aldermen tangled over an Idaho Washington Northern street-vacation request, a conflict-of-interest accusation, saloon licenses, and an electric-light contract.
- The Sunday Dry-Out at Wenatchee
A local liquor dealer meeting is hijacked by churchgoers, escalating a fierce civic battle over Sunday business closures.
- A Jury Called the Franklin Mine Fire Arson. Thirty-Seven Miners Were Already Dead.
A coroner's jury found that someone deliberately set the fire that suffocated 37 workers in the Franklin mine. The only survivor described how one opened door and one stopped fan turned the gangway into a death trap.
- The 1888 Crusade Against '13-Hour Days' in Seattle
When local shopkeepers refused to close their doors at 8 p.m., the Clerks' Union launched a public campaign to boycott the stores that kept their workers trapped in a cycle of exhausting, long-hour shifts.
- 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 Library Was Closed Because the Landlord Wouldn't Turn Up the Heat
In 1895, Seattle's public library shut its doors over a $25 balance, unpaid rent, and a landlord who promised warmth 'in the spring.' City Council considered a rescue.
- The Pastor, the Missing Husband, and the Seattle Libel Trial
A church feud goes to court as Rev. M. H. Nichols is tried for circulating scandalous charges against Dr. T. B. Ford—whose testimony reveals a broken engagement, a vanished first husband, and a dramatic courtroom kiss.
- A Legislature in the Homestretch: Saloons, Gambling and a Fight Over Pledges
With days left in Olympia, Washington lawmakers weigh local option, an anti-racetrack law, a sweeping criminal code and a bill aimed at unions and suffragists.
- The Midnight Saloon Standoff
Yakima city officials move to enforce a midnight closing time for local taverns, triggering immediate defiance from saloon owners.
- Clerks Win Shorter Workdays in Walla Walla
After organizing and negotiating with major retailers, the local clerks' association successfully secures earlier closing hours.
- Seattle’s Post-Panic Pep Talk: Canals, Steel and Paved Streets
On New Year’s Day 1895, Seattle’s mayor and aldermen promised economy, railroad terminals and a Lake Washington canal—and insisted the Panic of 1893 was finally fading.
- The Ministerial Alliance Demands a Closed Town
Tacoma ministers mobilize to pressure Mayor-elect George P. Wright into enforcing a 'closed' town policy, sparking pulpit debates across the city.
- The Orchardist Who Told the State Its Moth Spraying Was Useless
In 1898, a North Yakima grower argued that the state's codlin-moth spray schedule did not fit the Yakima Valley's climate—and warned that apple and pear growing might be doomed without better field science.
- Scarlet Fever Sets Seattle's School Board Against Its Health Board
With scarlet fever alarming physicians, the board of health claims power to close the public schools—and the school board is not convinced the charter gives it that right.
Also about this, in other words
- A Close Call on River Road
A local child suffers a serious eye injury during a frantic day on the farm.
- A Close Call in the Cascades
A mountain hunting trip turns into a terrifying chase when a mother bear takes offense at a hunter's pursuit of her cub.
- A Close Call on the Grant Street Bridge
A real estate agent’s commute turned chaotic when local duck hunters accidentally peppered his horse with birdshot.
- A Close Call for a Pioneer Landmark
A fire in a historic Second Street frame house—once the site of a renowned beer garden—was extinguished just before it could consume the structure.
- A Close Call in Colfax
A dramatic report of a lightning strike on the Sexton farm, featuring early electrical-medical treatment.
- A Close Call at Third and Union
An evening horseback ride ends in a fright for a toddler and a lucky escape from harm.
- The Eight-Hour Push: Seattle Hardware Stores Lead the Way
Local hardware merchants agree to close at 6 p.m. to grant employees the 'benefit of the long summer evenings' for rest and recreation.
- A Close Call on the Road to Town
A passing train frightens a horse, leaving a local woman injured after a harrowing fall into a rock pile.