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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1889 | 7 |
| 1891 | 4 |
| 1892 | 7 |
| 1893 | 3 |
| 1894 | 2 |
| 1895 | 1 |
| 1903 | 1 |
25 stories matching conov
- Rising from the Ashes: How Seattle Met Its Great Fire
A look back at the resilience of the local business class in the immediate, charred aftermath of the 1889 Great Seattle Fire.
- The Real Estate Swindler Who Fooled Seattle
A smooth-talking con artist masquerading as an 'Eastern capitalist' swindled multiple Seattle banks by weaving himself into the city's booming real estate market.
- The Professor, the President, and the Champagne College Deal
A legislative investigation at Pullman exposes secret opposition, abandoned building plans, and site-selection hospitality that included brass bands and champagne.
- Fifty Dollars for a Clean Bill of Health
A quarantine officer charged a sealing schooner $50 to steam over and inspect her — and shipping men say the fee was less public health than protection money.
- Black Lawyer Denied Service at Seattle Hotel
Tacoma attorney Gustave B. Aldrich files a complaint after being refused service at the Hotel Cecil's public dining room.
- Yakima Fights Back Against the 'Pullman Deal'
A legal battle erupts as Yakima citizens challenge the state government's decision to locate the new agricultural college in Pullman.
- The Scandal of the Agricultural College Commission
A heated investigation into alleged corruption and secret deals involving former Washington state officials and the site selection for the new state college.
- The Renton Addition: Seattle’s 1889 Speculative Gold Rush
As property developers paved the way for Seattle's expansion, one man's high-stakes sale of the 'cream' of Beacon Hill real estate signaled a city-wide frenzy for land and infrastructure.
- The Canal or Bust: Seattle Rallies to Buy Its Own Waterway
A packed crowd cheers a plan to hand St. Louis capitalists a public subsidy to dig the south canal and fill the tide flats of the lake — with a grand mass meeting called for the Armory.
- The Corruption of the College Location
North Yakima residents fume over the 'corrupt' decision to place the state agricultural college in Pullman rather than the Yakima Valley.
- The Teenager Who Swindled Seattle’s Banks
A seventeen-year-old impersonator uses forged signatures and a smooth story to walk away with five hundred dollars from city financiers.
- The Embargo on the Sound
Federal quarantine regulations at Port Townsend are throttling commerce and forcing freight ships to run at a loss.
- Seven Lots, Three Judges, and a Railroad's Sky-High Bill
With jurors suspected of being bribed, three judges took over the Great Northern condemnation case—and the valuations for a few lots near King Street swung wildly.
- The Asylum for Impecunious Politicians
A satirical look at the backroom deals, bribery, and state-level corruption behind the selection of a new government institution site in Yakima.
- The Renton Addition Land Grab
A 1889 real estate advertisement lists the city's power brokers as buyers in a new development, telegraphing a future windfall ahead of infrastructure expansion.
- The Palace Intrigue at Washington’s Agricultural College
A bitter power struggle ends with the firing of President Lilley, amid allegations of ghost-salaries and cronyism at the state's new college in Pullman.
- Seattleites Declare War on a Magazine Over Mount Rainier
Prominent citizens refuse to pay subscriptions to a publication that renamed Mount Rainier as 'Mount Tacoma'.
- A Brutal End for a Balky Horse
A North Seattle man kills his horse after it refuses to move, drawing the attention of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
- The Denny Hotel: Seattle’s Grand Bet on Itself
As the city raises nearly $100,000 to build a luxury hotel, workers break ground for excavation, signaling a new era of civic ambition and commercial confidence.
- Border Towns Beg for Smallpox Quarantine — but the Health Board Can't Stop the Trains
Asiatic smallpox is spreading in Vancouver and New Westminster, and Whatcom's mayor warns that daily trains could carry infection into every Puget Sound city. The board of health says the law only lets it quarantine ships.
- The Resolution They Had to Strike: A Port Townsend Convention and the Warrant-Forgery Fight
Jefferson County Republicans convened in Port Townsend, then recoiled when a platform resolution praised the prosecutor who had refused to pursue forgery charges against county warrant endorsers.
- The Reformer Thomas M. Vance
A local legislative candidate promises to shake up the 'dry bones' of the state's corrupt legislature and end Pinkerton-style labor control.
- The Bankers of Yesler-Leary
Ex-Governor Squire and a syndicate of prominent Seattle businessmen announce the formation of the city's newest bank, banking on the promise of the Pacific Northwest.
- The Gentrification of Early Seattle
A 1889 land prospectus uses the promise of a new streetcar line to drive up property values, listing an elite roster of buyers to signal progress—and profit.
- The City That Vanished: Seattle’s First Real Estate Bubble and the Ghosts of Terry’s Addition
A look back at January 1890, when Seattle’s land boom was in full swing, prices were soaring, and developers like George Dorffel were selling lots in new subdivisions to speculators eager for a quick profit.