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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 6 |
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30 stories matching firework
- Seattle’s Fourth of July Gets a Cash Injection: $5,000 for Fireworks, $300 for the Parade
As crowds from across Puget Sound descend on the city, the Fourth of July Committee has slashed its budget estimates to fund a 'big' celebration, appealing to residents for immediate donations to cover the shortfall.
- The City’s Welcome Wagon: Seattle Prepares a Grand Ovation for the 'Washington Boys' Returning from Manila
As the Philippine-American War drags on, local officials, school superintendents, and citizens rally to raise funds for a massive parade and fireworks display to honor the First Washington Volunteer Regiment.
- Seattle's Chinese New Year: Fireworks, Debt Settling, and a Tartar Emperor
Local Chinese merchants celebrate the new year with fireworks and a week of festivities, while manager Woo Gen voices his opposition to the ruling Tartar dynasty.
- Tragedy on Pioneer Square: A Young Woman’s Brush with Death
While visitors from Victoria watched the fireworks display on Pioneer Square, a stray firecracker ignited a young woman's clothing, leading to a harrowing struggle for survival.
- The Republican Machine Sweeps Seattle
Byron Phelps wins the mayoral race in a landslide as the city undergoes a political shift.
- The Price of a July Fourth Celebration
A Seattle printer and a child suffer grave injuries from an errant Chinese bomb during the 1872 Independence Day festivities.
- The Filipino Community That Organized Like Fireworks and Vanished Like Smoke
Seattle's Filipino editor calls out a pattern of flashy associations that burn bright, elect officers before the election, and leave nothing behind but speeches.
- Homemade Cannon Blast on Yesler Avenue
Two young boys narrowly escape death while attempting to build an improvised firework cannon on the Fourth of July.
- Seattle Invites the Territory to a Centennial Fourth
As the United States turned 100 in 1876, Seattle's civic leaders mobilized an ambitious, city-wide organizing committee to prove the frontier outpost was a proper American town.
- The Great Peace Jubilee: Seattle’s Plan to Outshine Washington City
As the capital prepares for a national celebration of peace, Seattle residents are rallying with unprecedented unanimity to host their own magnificent reception for the First Washington Regiment, promising fireworks on Puget Sound and a naval battle reenactment.
- Seattle’s First Independence Day Mega-Festival
As the United States approached its 1876 Centennial, Seattle organizers launched an ambitious, city-wide effort to host a monumental July 4th celebration that would signal the town's arrival on the map.
- Seattle’s First 'Big' Fourth of July
As the nation prepared to mark its Centennial in 1876, the citizens of Seattle mobilized every merchant, captain, and dignitary to prove the young town was ready for the spotlight.
- The Great Baptist Schism of 1885
A regional convention turns into a heated public spectacle over the management of church funds and the role of the 'superintendent of missions.'
- A Monitor, a Greased Pig, and a City on Fire for the Fourth
Seattle's 1895 Fourth of July committee promised a naval sham battle, fireworks over the water, yacht and canoe races, and two days of frontier sports.
- City Council Denies Chinese Community's Request for Firecrackers
During a meeting regarding city licenses and infrastructure, the Seattle City Council rejects a petition from local Chinese firms to celebrate their new year with traditional fireworks.
- Seattle's Grand Independence Day Jubilee
A massive display of civic pride, featuring a grand parade of labor unions, military companies, and elaborate trade floats, marks the most ambitious celebration in the city’s history.
- The Spirit of '76: Seattle’s Grand Centennial Celebration
A meticulous guide to how Seattleites organized their first massive city-wide celebration of the American Centennial in 1876, featuring a parade, a regatta, and grand fireworks.
- The Centennial Fourth: Seattle's 1876 Independence Day Extravaganza
Before the skyscrapers, Seattle celebrated the nation's 100th birthday with a massive, carefully choreographed procession of coal miners, firemen, and laborers winding through the dusty streets of a growing frontier town.
- Seattle’s Fourth of July: A City Adorned in Light and Iron
As the nation celebrates its birthday, Seattle’s business leaders have transformed downtown into a spectacle of gas jets, electric lamps, and iron arches, proving that the young city is ready for its moment on the national stage.
- Seattle's Call for a Grand Independence Day
The Post-Intelligencer urges the city to invest in a spectacular Fourth of July celebration to attract visitors from across the Sound and boost the local economy.
- The Great Welcome: Seattle Plans a 'Rousing' Ovation for Returning War Heroes
Mayor Humes and city officials rally behind a public subscription to fund fireworks, banquets, and even a mock battle at Lake Washington to greet the Washington Volunteers returning from Manila.
- When Seattle Rolled Out the Red Carpet for the Nation's Editors
In 1900, Seattle’s civic leaders threw a lavish, boat-filled spectacle for visiting journalists to burnish the city's image as a rising metropolis.
- The Great Telephone Switchboard Fire
A tangled mess of high-voltage arc light wires sends fireworks cascading through the central telephone exchange, nearly incinerating the entire plant.
- The Midnight Mystery of Alki Park
A recent arrival to Seattle is left wounded in the dark after an unseen assailant fires twice into his hand during a walk through the woods.
- The Rowdy Election Eve of 1880
Before the ballots were cast in Seattle’s pioneer-era election, Republicans and Democrats clashed with torchlight processions, partisan jeers, and competing rallies that defined the territorial political climate.