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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 12 |
| 1877 | 7 |
| 1878 | 2 |
| 1879 | 2 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1882 | 3 |
| 1883 | 10 |
| 1884 | 3 |
| 1885 | 3 |
| 1886 | 2 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1888 | 23 |
| 1889 | 9 |
| 1890 | 4 |
| 1891 | 8 |
| 1892 | 4 |
| 1893 | 6 |
| 1894 | 9 |
| 1895 | 10 |
| 1899 | 2 |
| 1903 | 1 |
| 1909 | 2 |
| 1911 | 1 |
| 1916 | 1 |
128 stories matching eleg
- The Price of Growth in Early Snohomish
While town elites built elegant homes and secured university futures for their sons, a diphtheria outbreak devastated the river settlements, revealing the stark human cost of frontier expansion.
- A Haven for Working Women
A newly opened, elegantly furnished hotel designed to provide safe, dignified housing for the city's growing workforce of stenographers, dressmakers, and clerks.
- The Gift of an Elegant Era
Tacoma club women receive a historic windfall as the W.R. Rust family donates the entire contents of their mansion for a new clubhouse.
- The Dawn of the Suburban Developer in Seattle
Two young businessmen announce a new model for homeownership, pledging to clear and grade land for 'elegant homes' for the city's growing population.
- The Perils of Seattle's Cherry Street
In 1877, a local editor called out the city for the dangerous sidewalks and 'savory' sewage runoff plaguing one of Seattle’s most elegant residential streets.
- The Detective Who Could Smell a Crime
A keen-nosed Tacoma detective tracked an opium den by its scent, leading to the arrest of two men and the confiscation of 'elegant' pipes.
- The Empire of the Sun: How a New Hotel in Seattle Will Define the Territory
A glimpse into the ambitious construction of the new British Hotel, signaling Seattle's rapid growth and confidence as a territorial capital.
- The Great Price War of 1878
A Seattle mercantile firm attempts to win over Snohomish customers by slashing prices in the face of local competition.
- The Man Who Laughed Through the Flames: A Snohomish Tragedy of Love and Loss
When a gas leak ignited his home in Fruitland, Washington, Chandler Chandler didn't run for safety—he shielded his wife from the blast. His subsequent conversation with the doctor reveals a stoicism that defies belief.
- The Inspector's Lost Son Was Working at Providence Hospital
Edward Byrnes Jr., abducted from Brooklyn as a boy, was found at Providence Hospital in Seattle and says he was stolen to punish his father, the famous New York police superintendent.
- The Collapse of the Merchants' National Bank
Tacoma’s banking elite face a ruinous assessment as the city’s failed financial institutions attempt to settle their debts.
- The Real Estate Titan Who Fell to Earth
Allen C. Mason, the man who built the Tacoma boom, sees his mortgage empire collapse under the weight of taxes and hard times.
- A Clerk’s Error Won Seattle an Army Post
A mix-up in the civil appropriation bill let the Secretary of War skip a site board and choose Magnolia Bluffs—giving Seattle a federal payroll and a decisive win over Tacoma.
- Racist Exclusion and the Main Street Real Estate Panic
Local property owners react with outrage as landlords lease buildings to Chinese residents, illustrating the exclusionary climate of 1880s Seattle.
- Seattle’s First Chinese Theater Opens Its Doors
A new cultural space on Washington Street signals the growing presence and permanence of the Chinese community in the city.
- Carnegie Offers Walla Walla $25,000 — If the City Will Say Yes
A Thanksgiving-week letter from Andrew Carnegie promises a library building for the city, on the condition that Walla Walla furnish a site and $2,500 a year. The council has not yet voted, and the Statesman is impatient.
- The Great Labor War: Seattle Council Erupts Over Chinese Workers
In a fiery session in April 1882, Seattle’s City Council nearly came to blows over whether public grading contracts should be reserved exclusively for white laborers.
- The End of Wooden Seattle
A historic property deal marks a turning point as Seattle trades its 'dilapidated, squatty, and dangerous' wooden storefronts for modern, multi-story brick architecture.
- The Pilot Who Dropped Dead at the Helm
A seasoned navigator suffers a fatal stroke while guiding a British ship through the Golden Gate, only for the crew to be extorted by a tugboat captain who demands an 'exorbitant' fee to save them.
- The Gilded Union: A Chorus Girl and a Chinese Actor Defy Convention in Seattle's Chinatown
In a scandalous departure from social norms, Jessie Kitchie and Ah Bock exchanged vows in the opium-scented apartments of Jackson Alley, marking a rare public union across racial lines in 1889.
- The City with Two Police Chiefs
While a legal battle over the city charter rages in court, Seattle finds itself in the absurd position of having two men claiming to lead the police force at once.
- The Great Seattle Lot-and-Cottage Gamble
In the summer of 1888, developers launched a high-stakes, city-wide lottery to sell residential lots, promising ten lucky buyers a move-in ready home.
- The Great Seattle Housing Lottery of 1888
Promoters promised a ‘small fortune’ to anyone buying a lot, dangling five fully finished cottages as a randomized bonus in an early, high-stakes real estate marketing scheme.
- The Political Brawl at the Territorial University
A scathing editorial from 1872 exposes a 'Klux clan' of government officials caught in a web of corruption, bribes, and public dishonesty.
- The Mysterious Disappearance of the 'Captain'
A suave equestrian and fencing master vanishes from Portland, leaving behind a trail of unpaid debts and a bewildered society.
Also about this, in other words
- A New Bank Opens on East Main
Local business leader J.L. Elam expands his empire with a new private banking institution.
- A Heartbreaking Winter in Cle Elum
A Northern Pacific railroad worker's family struggles with extreme poverty and illness in Cle Elum.
- Fatal Train Wreck Near Cle Elum
A freight train section breaks loose on a steep grade, colliding with a passenger train.