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| Year | Stories |
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| 1876 | 1 |
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24 stories matching essay
- The Newspaper That Sent Thousands of Schoolchildren to the Fair
A Seattle paper turned a Tacoma exposition into a mass field trip—free steamers, free admission, and essay prizes for the children of Puget Sound.
- The University of Washington’s First Alumni Reunion
A modest gathering of nineteen graduates reflects on their time at the young university with essays, music, and an unexpected appearance of the next generation.
- The Perils of Amateur Wiring
A Coulee City man survives a terrifying fall from an electric light pole.
- The Pulpit vs. The Ring
Dr. S. Alonzo Bright uses a sermon on the 'Demoniac' to launch a stinging public rebuke against corrupt city politicians.
- A Sharp Rebuttal to the 'Fireside' Creed
A female reader fires back at a young man's unsolicited advice on 'women's place' in society.
- The Manufactured 'Venice of America'
A writer discovers his picturesque essay on the Sound country was secretly rewritten into a promotional advertisement for Tacoma.
- Commencement at the Academy of the Holy Names
A crowded hall celebrates the academic achievements of young women at a cornerstone Seattle institution on Jackson and Ninth.
- Vashon Island's Tent City Summer
An organized assembly on Vashon Island plans for a two-week rural retreat, complete with lecture series, music, and Sunday school drills, promising to appear 'like Jonah's gourd' in a night.
- The Greasy Pole Gambit: Seattle’s Summer of Slapstick and Sweat
On a sweltering July evening in 1889, thousands gathered at the foot of Madison Street not for politics or protest, but to watch three men fail spectacularly at climbing an oiled pole—a moment of pure, unadulterated civic joy.
- The Fight for the City's Conscience
Prohibitionists and law-and-order advocates rally at the Congregational Church, declaring their intent to purge local politics of 'whiskey men.'
- The Greek Symposium of Queen Anne
A stylish, avant-garde literary circle in 1891 Seattle brings the 'Iliad' to life, mocking social hierarchy with a satirical twist on Homer.
- The Brutal Politics of the 1878 Press
A Seattle editor rails against 'poisoned shafts of calumny' after a local newspaper attacks prominent citizen H.G. Struve, labeling the lawyer a 'deserter' and a 'perjurer.'
- The Feast of Lots: Seattle's Jewish Community Celebrates Purim with an Auction of Sacred Letters
At the Hinckley block, the Orthodox congregation dedicated a new Torah scroll and auctioned off its letters to fund education.
- The Price of Vigilance: Lessons on Parenting and Education
A nineteenth-century essay reflects on the heavy responsibilities of raising children, the failures of the 'crowded schoolroom,' and the timeless struggle between rigid tradition and the pursuit of truth.
- Lawyers Descend on Seattle to Fix a 'Deplorable' Legal Code
The State Bar Association opens its convention at the Seattle National Bank building, with judges and attorneys pushing nonpartisan courts, a permanent code commission, and better pay for judges.
- Olympia Debates How Far the Law Should Reach Into a Man's Glass
At Liberal Hall, the Unity Club argued the limits of temperance legislation — whether the state may police private drinking or only the liquor traffic itself.
- The Seattle Literary Club’s Debate on the Future of Womanhood
In an era of rapid transition, local voices gathered to debate whether women should practice law, medicine, or politics—or if they should be spared from the 'mire' of public life.
- The Pioneer Pastor Who Counted Seattle's Weddings and Funerals
Rev. John F. Damon arrived in 1869 and spent a quarter-century marrying and burying Seattle—often without enough in return to cover his car fare.
- Newport Schools Close Banner Year, Approve $8,000 Bond and Plan New Wing
Eighth-grade graduation, teacher re-elections, and a unanimous bond vote cap a successful school year as the board moves to expand the building.
- The Women Who Would Remake Seattle, One Vote at a Time
King County’s temperance unions met in Fremont to report on missions and the White Shield Home — then nearly every woman in the room stood up for equal suffrage.
- The Chinese Girl Barred From the Y.W.C.A. Pool
In a 1926 essay, a Chinese writer catalogues American prejudice—segregated Y.M.C.A.s, a church donor’s daughter turned away from a swimming pool, and lecturers who twist China to fit their biases.
- The Country Estate as Medicine: Why Seattle’s Elite Are Buying Farms to Save Their Nerves
A satirical essay in the Daily Intelligencer argues that small country plots are not financial investments, but essential health remedies for city professionals suffering from 'trade winds' and nervous exhaustion.
- Seattle’s Forgotten Filipino Poets—and the Prejudice They Turned into Verse
A 1928 Filipino Forum essay introduces Narciso Ines and a circle of Northwest poets writing beauty and protest from the margins of Seattle life.
- The 1898 Sales Pitch That Called the San Juan Islands a 'Klondike at Home'
A judge's promotional essay promised apples, prunes, sheep, fish, limestone and health in Washington's island county—and complained that the outside world had not yet noticed.