Research the archive
Narrow 25,688 newspaper stories by words, years, place, newspaper and subject. See when and where they ran, then download what you find.
Put a phrase in quotes ("rent strike") or leave a word out with a minus (strike -baseball). Old scans misspell names, so when little is found, near-spellings are offered.
Refine
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1860 | 3 |
| 1861 | 1 |
| 1862 | 3 |
| 1863 | 2 |
| 1864 | 2 |
| 1865 | 2 |
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 6 |
| 1876 | 15 |
| 1877 | 19 |
| 1878 | 11 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 3 |
| 1882 | 2 |
| 1883 | 6 |
| 1884 | 5 |
| 1885 | 6 |
| 1886 | 4 |
| 1887 | 2 |
| 1888 | 5 |
| 1889 | 15 |
| 1890 | 2 |
| 1891 | 17 |
| 1892 | 21 |
| 1893 | 19 |
| 1894 | 25 |
| 1895 | 32 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1898 | 4 |
| 1899 | 2 |
| 1900 | 3 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 12 |
| 1904 | 9 |
| 1907 | 2 |
| 1908 | 7 |
| 1909 | 16 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1915 | 2 |
| 1916 | 1 |
| 1917 | 2 |
| 1918 | 2 |
| 1919 | 1 |
| 1925 | 1 |
298 stories matching heretofor
- Before the Tide Lands Sold, Seattle Had to Erase Its Own Streets
Property owners rushed the City Council to vacate old street lines across Elliott Bay tide lands before a May 13 purchase deadline—or risk tangled titles and lost waterfront.
- The Citizens' Revolt Against the 'Official Ring'
When an informal mass meeting in 1872 Seattle bypassed party conventions to nominate their own candidates, the local press didn't just report it—they waged a war against the city's political machine.
- The Land Grab That Built Tacoma: How the Northern Pacific Railroad Stole Millions of Acres
A furious editorial in the Seattle Star exposes the Northern Pacific Railroad’s scheme to misappropriate public lands for a private coal line, arguing that the company is using legal loopholes to steal from settlers in King and Snohomish counties.
- A City Accused of Stealing Its Water by Night
A rancher with an injunction, a mayor at the end of his borrowing power, and a reservoir that empties at dusk and fills by dawn: Tacoma's fight over Clover Creek water becomes a standoff between the city and the man who owns the creek.
- The Makah Sealers’ Schooner Controversy
A bureaucratic fight over whether tribal sealers can legally use schooners as refuge during dangerous Bering Sea storms.
- The Counterfeit Gold Dust Panic That Brought Vigilantes to the Valley
A vigilance committee in the Payette Valley smashed a counterfeiters' mill and sent suspects fleeing toward Walla Walla, where fake gold dust began showing up in trade.
- The Price of Neglect: Seattle's 1877 Health Crisis
As diphtheria sweeps through a growing Seattle, an 1877 editorial warns that city-wide sanitation failures and individual negligence are turning the climate's natural health into a breeding ground for disease.
- Fremont and Green Lake Lose Their Streetcars—and Their Conductors
A new schedule halves service, strips conductors from the cars, and has Fremont residents crying foul over a city ordinance.
- The Governor Who Wasn't: How a Walla Walla Businessman Became Washington's First Territorial Governor
In March 1889, President Harrison appointed Miles Moore to steer the territory toward statehood, bypassing Eastern political machines in favor of local 'home rule.'
- The 'Astonishing Weakness' of the Whitman Democratic Ticket
A scathing critique of local party nomination tactics, accusing the Democrats of poaching 'turncoats' and rejected candidates.
- The Milk Scientist
A breakthrough in chemical detection methods brings local scientists together to test the deadly effects of formaldehyde in the food supply.
- The Newspaper Feud of 1876
A local editor’s blistering public breakdown of an auditor who dared to write letters to the editor.
- Washington Apples Fight Back Against a New York Snub
A Seattle commission man rebuts a trade journal's claim that Northwest fruit can't match California's, citing 10,000 boxes of fancy apples already shipped east.
- The Railroad That Came for the Fir
A Chicago, Burlington & Quincy official tours Puget Sound mills and says his line may soon build freight cars from Washington fir.
- The New Spirit of Front Street
As Seattle's wholesale economy matures in the 1870s, a new firm moves into the Pontius Building to cut out the San Francisco middleman.
- A New Frontier for Richland’s Harvest
Local entrepreneurs launch a commercial canning and drying facility to eliminate agricultural waste and boost valley profits.
- The Unwelcome Arrival of the 'Legal Luminaries'
A satirical jab at two self-styled lawyers who drifted into Snohomish with big egos and empty heads.
- The Great Seattle Rebuild: How the 1889 Fire Transformed the City
In the chaotic days following the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, the city raced to replace charred ruins with brick, while grappling with the ethical dilemma of redirecting disaster relief funds intended for distant cities.
- The Wharf King’s Victory: Yesler Wins Millions in Land Battle
Judge Lichtenberg rules that the state cannot seize waterfront property without paying just compensation, halting the Harbor Line Commission and protecting H.L. Yesler’s empire.
- The Day Seattle’s Women Lost the Vote
When the Territorial Supreme Court struck down women’s suffrage in 1887, the city’s lawyers, politicians, and citizens scrambled to interpret the fallout of a ruling that suddenly stripped thousands of their hard-won rights.
- The Lawyer Who Sold Out the Settlers
A local editorial exposes future President James Garfield’s role as a corporate attorney for the Northern Pacific Railroad, accusing him of betraying Washington Territory homesteaders to protect railroad land holdings.
- A Massive Land Grab Stalled: Seattle’s Northern Pacific Victory
A pivotal decision in Washington Territory nullifies a $125,000,000 corporate claim on public land, forcing a reckoning for the Northern Pacific Railroad.
- The Dawn of Political Equality
Washington Territory grants women the right to vote, marking a landmark triumph for human rights.
- Spokane Falls Devastated by Fire
Following the Great Seattle Fire, the sister city of Spokane Falls faces its own catastrophic conflagration, with millions in damages.
- The Delegate Who Sold Seattle’s Future for Five Thousand Dollars
A scathing editorial in the Puget Sound Dispatch accuses Territorial Delegate George Freeman Willard of betraying Seattle’s interests—specifically the mud flats of Duwamish Bay—to secure his own political and financial gain, while simultaneously accepting bribes from rival railroad companies.
Also about this, in other words
- The Reverend and the Editor Spar Over Grammar
A local minister demands public corrections for his column, leading to a feisty rebuttal from the newspaper's editorial staff.
- The Abandonment of Ong Let
A Chinese domestic servant faces death alone in the hospital after his community fund dries up and authorities offer no help.
- A Community Gift for a Sick Neighbor
When J. J. Heatherington fell ill with paralysis, his White Bluffs neighbors organized a subscription to buy him a cow, offering a lifeline of support in a time of crisis.
- The Hypocrisy of the Saloon Petition
The local editor lashes out at the moral contradiction of community members who sing hymns in church on Sunday while petitioning for a new saloon on Monday.
- A Sculptor's Gift to the Presbyterian Church
A newly installed white marble baptismal font at the First Presbyterian Church celebrates local craftsmanship and memorializes a Philadelphia parishioner.
- The Struggle for Dignity at the County Farm
King County breaks ground on a modern, fireproof hospital to replace a crowded, dangerous almshouse described as a 'tinder box'.
- A Fight for the Right to a Shave in Pioneer Square
H. R. Cayton, editor of a Black Republican weekly, is thrown out of a barber shop after the proprietor demands an old debt, sparking a scuffle and a smashed window.
- Racing Against the Wreckage at Ilwaco
A federal official promises to speed up equipment for the new life-saving station after a local attorney demands action following a maritime disaster.