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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1883 | 5 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1887 | 3 |
| 1889 | 4 |
| 1890 | 2 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 5 |
| 1893 | 3 |
| 1894 | 8 |
| 1895 | 5 |
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| 1909 | 4 |
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| 1925 | 1 |
54 stories matching demolish
- The Avalanche That Threw a Snowplow Down the Canyon
A slide above Alvin swept a rotary snowplow and engine 200 feet down the mountainside, demolished a snowshed and bridge, and left an Italian laborer missing.
- Heavy Snows Collapse Buildings in Gray's Harbor City
A winter storm brings devastation to the new townsite, demolishing a two-story hotel that never saw a guest.
- The Great Train Wreck of 1907
A look back at a dramatic freight derailment that sent twenty-one cars into a Kennewick gully.
- Tornados and Vanishing Towns: The Floods of 1894
A voluntary weather observer describes an unprecedented summer of destruction in Okanogan County, where tornados flattened 'shacks' and the Columbia River rose to record heights.
- The Phoenix City: Seattle's Rapid Rebirth After the Great Fire
Just 18 months after the 1889 fire leveled the downtown, Seattle transformed from charred ruins into a modern metropolis of stone, steel, and electric streetcars.
- Union and Non-Union Seamen Clash at Port Townsend
A saloon becomes a battleground as a labor dispute over shipping jobs descends into a violent, armed confrontation.
- The Sewer Blunder Heard 'Round Seattle
A multi-thousand dollar engineering failure exposes political cronyism and a laughable construction mistake on Front Street.
- The Waterfront War: Railroads Clash Over Seattle Tide Flats
A long-standing right-of-way dispute between the Great Northern and the Oregon Improvement Company turns physical as crews rip up tracks at the foot of Washington Street.
- Point Defiance Dynamite Disaster
A workplace explosion at Point Defiance Park leaves one man dead and several others gravely injured.
- They Seized a Locomotive to Stop a Train—Then Faced Judge Hanford
After a mob of 3,000 surrounded a Northern Pacific train in Spokane, ten men were charged with contempt and riot; three pleaded guilty and two were sent to hard labor.
- A Nighttime Train Wreck Near Chehalis
A northbound express train derails after striking a steer, leading to a miraculous escape for the crew and passengers.
- The Axe Squad Strikes First Avenue
Seattle police leave nothing standing as they raid the Breakers' cafe over liquor sales.
- Democratic Campaign Rally Turns Into Street Brawl
A political meeting in Seattle dissolved into violence when Democratic attendees attacked a band of Black minstrels who were innocently marching down the street.
- A Train Derails in the Smoky Woods
A Satsop Railroad locomotive plunges off the tracks after hitting a fallen tree in the fire-choked timberlands near Shelton.
- The Last Hours of the Bark El Dorado
A harrowing account of a merchant ship's destruction in a fierce gale off the Washington coast, as told by one of the few men to survive the wreckage.
- A Cow on the Track, a Freight Train in the Air, and Two Dead Railroad Men
A wandering cow derailed a freight train near Latona in 1894, killing two railroad workers and scattering thirteen cars while crewmen ran ahead to flag the passenger trains.
- The Monroe Wreck: Two Railway Men Perish in Midnight Crash
A westbound Great Northern overland train slams into a siding near Monroe, claiming the lives of a head brakeman and a fireman.
- The War on Tacoma's Public Market
Stallkeepers and property owners accuse the city council of conspiring with a 'grocery trust' to demolish a vital public resource.
- Tragedy at the Crossing
A Grant County sheep rancher and his wife are struck by a Great Northern train near Ephrata in a harrowing vehicle collision.
- Tragedy at the Black Diamond Sewer Pipe Works
A boiler explosion in the works at Black Diamond Landing resulted in one death and multiple fatal injuries.
- City Bids Farewell to Fireman Killed in Line of Duty
Police and fire departments honor Dan Noonan, who died after a collision between a hose wagon and a streetcar in South Tacoma.
- A Mysterious Cyclone Tears Through the Cascade Mountains
An eye-witness report describes a straight, 40-rod-wide path of destruction cut through the forest near North Bend, leveling timber and blocking mountain roads.
- Smoke So Thick You Could Not See a Block: The August the Sound Went Dark
Forest and peat fires from Lynden to Wilkeson filled Puget Sound with smoke in late August 1894. Seattle's weather observer promised rain within thirty-six hours, and Whatcom County counted its losses.
- A Violent Storm Strikes the Yakima Valley
High winds leveled buildings and tore heavy equipment from foundations in a storm that locals described as a true tornado.
- A Coal Elevator Gives Way at the Foot of Madison Street
Two coal cars and three workers fall twenty feet when a corroded hydraulic cylinder bursts at the Seattle Coal & Iron Company bunkers; all escape without a scratch.
Also about this, in other words
- The Unlawful Demolition of a Family Home
A Seattle property owner sues for damages after his house was forcibly torn down and hauled away by a mining company.
- The City Can Tear It Down: The Supreme Court Backs Seattle's Fire Limits
Daniel K. Baxter put up a twenty-foot shell of wooden posts wrapped in corrugated iron inside Seattle's fire limits. The state Supreme Court said the city could knock it down without ever going to court — and municipal building codes came out of it stronger than before.
- The War on Weeds
Mayor Richardson threatens property owners with tax liens if they fail to clear noxious weeds before they become fire hazards.
- The Power to Seize: A New Law reshapes Seattle
A sweeping new state law gives cities unprecedented authority to condemn private property for public projects, fundamentally changing the relationship between the city and its citizens.
- The Salvage Diver Threatens Dynamite in Seattle Harbor
A wreckage contractor, locked in a legal battle over a sunken steamer, vows to use explosives to clear the waterway despite an injunction.
- The Failed Disruptor of Tacoma
A political agitator attempts to shout down a Republican rally, only to find himself performing for an empty street.
- The Riotous Destruction of a Home
When a house caught fire, neighbors and bystanders didn't just help extinguish the flames—they tore the home apart.
- The Mayor's Purge: Tacoma's Public Works Scandal Erupts Into Impeachment
A sewer-pipe kickback, secret electric-light favors and a board loyal to the old machine: Mayor Orr moves to oust President Demorest.