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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1859 | 2 |
| 1862 | 2 |
| 1872 | 5 |
| 1876 | 22 |
| 1877 | 15 |
| 1878 | 11 |
| 1880 | 6 |
| 1882 | 5 |
| 1883 | 12 |
| 1884 | 10 |
| 1885 | 20 |
| 1886 | 3 |
| 1887 | 19 |
| 1888 | 24 |
| 1889 | 43 |
| 1890 | 2 |
| 1891 | 42 |
| 1892 | 61 |
| 1893 | 63 |
| 1894 | 62 |
| 1895 | 14 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1898 | 3 |
| 1899 | 28 |
| 1900 | 1 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 29 |
| 1904 | 18 |
| 1905 | 4 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 16 |
| 1910 | 5 |
| 1911 | 4 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 7 |
| 1915 | 4 |
| 1916 | 9 |
| 1917 | 2 |
| 1918 | 1 |
| 1923 | 1 |
| 1924 | 2 |
| 1925 | 2 |
583 stories matching fourth
- Free Mail Delivery Is Coming to Olympia—If the City Numbers Its Houses
Postmaster V. A. Milroy says carriers, boxes and three new routes will be ready by New Year’s Day, but two-thirds of the city’s houses still lack numbers and property owners must pay to add them.
- A Gavel, a Roar, and a Populist Ticket Born in Chaos
King County's People's Party convention at Turner Hall turned into a shouting, proxy-fighting, faction-splitting marathon—and buried Dr. J. Eugene Jordan and Jack McDonald on the way to nominating a ticket.
- 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 That Couldn't Say No: Seattle’s Fourth of July Extravaganza
In the summer of 1903, Seattle invited the entire Northwest to a Fourth of July celebration so massive it threatened to break the city's capacity for hospitality.
- 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.
- The Rockets Turned Around: Tacoma's Fourth of July Went Up in a Sheet of Flame
A spark touched off the entire $500 pyrotechnic stock at Wright Park, driving rockets and bombs into a crowd of thousands and leaving women and children burned, trampled and briefly lost in the smoke.
- The Westside Gets Left Off the Mail Route
Olympia divided its new free-delivery service into three districts, but the neighborhood that paid its taxes and owned its homes was excluded—again.
- The Missionary Who Claimed the Pacific Northwest
A century of folklore credits Marcus Whitman with winning Oregon and Washington for the United States through a patriotic Fourth of July ritual.
- The Westside Railway Deal and the Councilman Who Didn't Read It
Olympia's council weighed a cheaper route through C. M. Moore's block to reach the Westside Railway—until one committeeman admitted he had signed the report blind.
- The Brick Blocks That Told Olympia It Had Arrived
In 1891, three pressed-brick buildings rose along Olympia’s business streets—and boosters read them as proof the wooden capital was becoming a real city.
- The Great Fourth of July Exodus: Tacoma’s Streets Empty as Seattle Claims the Holiday
While Tacoma lay quiet and deserted on Independence Day, its residents flocked to Seattle for steamers, picnics, and political meetings, leaving behind only a few 'pocket pickets' and a marching army of women.
- The Unlucky Entrepreneur of Fourth of July
A man’s ambitious plan to capitalize on the holiday crowds turns into a street-side cautionary tale when his dray and goods go missing.
- The Day Farmers Blew Up a Dam
In a bold act of agrarian rebellion on the Fourth of July, Stuck River farmers used dynamite to destroy the White River dam, draining the muck and reclaiming their land.
- The Transformation of the Potlatch
Indigenous communities around Skokomish evolve the ancient tradition of the potlatch into a Fourth of July celebration.
- The Night They Were Left in the Brush: A Highway Robbery on Third Avenue
Two desperate men held up three victims at gunpoint near the Union Trunk Hotel, binding them in the cold wet brush while a fourth escaped. One victim’s wife walked within twenty feet of the scene, unaware her husband was lying bound nearby.
- The Stocking-Foot Burglar of Fourth Street
A bold burglar stalks a home on Fourth Street, invading the upstairs in his stocking feet while the family is inside.
- A City on the Brink: Olympia’s 1891 Debt Crisis and the Fight Over Jobs
Facing a constitutional debt limit, Olympia’s city council considers firing the deputy clerk, assistant city attorney, and city engineer—while a motion to revoke the street railway franchise fails by a tie.
- The Streetcar Company That Asked Olympia for Land—and Promised the Moon by July 4
In 1892, the Olympia Light & Power Company pitched an electric railway to Tumwater as a bargain for landowners: donate a strip or an acre, and watch city-limit land double in value. The trust deed gave them until Independence Day to make it real.
- The Day Seattle Swallowed 10,000 Strangers: The Great Fourth of July Flood
In 1888, the Territory of Washington threw its biggest-ever Independence Day celebration. Steamers arrived loaded with visitors until the streets were so packed that police could barely move. Here is how Seattle hosted a crowd that nearly burst its seams.
- The Battle for the Homecoming: Tacoma vs. Seattle Over the First Washington
As Secretary of War Alger hints that troops may bypass Seattle to land in Tacoma, a civic war erupts over who gets to welcome the returning volunteers from Manila.
- The Rain-Soaked Fourth: Seattle's 1899 Celebration
A persistent storm could not dampen the spirits of thousands as Seattle paraded through muddy streets, celebrated the anniversary of Manila, and grappled with the 'reckless debauchery' of a damp Fourth of July.
- The Town That Wouldn't Sleep: Snohomish’s Fourth of July Overflow
When the steamers arrived with guests from Seattle and upriver, two hotels couldn't hold them all. The town celebrated with a reading by a woman, a poem by a local man, and a boat ride that nearly capsized on the Skagit.
- Fourth of July at Fort Simcoe
A report on an orderly, celebratory Fourth of July gathering of Indian families and local white residents at Fort Simcoe.
- She Left County Limerick as a Child and Died on North Fourth Street
Mrs. William Ryan crossed the Atlantic at seven, buried her first husband in Walla Walla in 1871, married again, and raised six children. Her funeral leaves the family home at 115 North Fourth on Friday afternoon.
- A 'Godsend' on Fourth Street: Olympia's Mothers Furnish a Room to Keep the Boys Out of the Saloons
In a hard-times autumn, the women's auxiliary of the new Young Men's Christian Association canvassed the town for chairs, papers and games — and promised the doors at 406 Fourth Street would open December 1.