Research the archive
Narrow 22,457 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.
Refine1 on
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1862 | 1 |
| 1872 | 7 |
| 1876 | 45 |
| 1877 | 30 |
| 1878 | 40 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 10 |
| 1882 | 14 |
| 1883 | 41 |
| 1884 | 20 |
| 1885 | 49 |
| 1886 | 31 |
| 1887 | 23 |
| 1888 | 33 |
| 1889 | 82 |
| 1890 | 1 |
| 1891 | 27 |
| 1892 | 100 |
| 1893 | 99 |
| 1894 | 134 |
| 1895 | 32 |
| 1899 | 37 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 11 |
| 1904 | 5 |
| 1909 | 1 |
| 1910 | 1 |
| 1914 | 1 |
| 1916 | 2 |
| 1917 | 1 |
| 1925 | 1 |
881 stories matching hour
- The Eight-Hour War: Seattle’s Labor Law Hits a Legal Wall
As the state’s landmark eight-hour workday law takes effect, prosecutors and judges clash over whether it applies to private contractors like the Pacific Bridge Company, leaving workers in limbo.
- The Receiver Cut Their Pay 2 Cents an Hour. A Judge Made Him Put It Back.
When the Rainier Avenue Electric Railway's court-appointed receiver trimmed motormen's wages from 20 cents to 18 cents an hour, the crews — months behind on pay, with houses in Columbia City bought out of their own wages — took him to court and won.
- The First Strike Against the Eight-Hour Day
Contractors are already looking for loopholes in the new Washington state labor law, sparking a legal showdown between building firms and the Western Central Labor Union.
- The Nine-Hour Day: Seattle Carpenters Win Shorter Hours and Wage Hike
After months of negotiation, the city's carpenters have secured a landmark agreement reducing the workday from ten to nine hours while maintaining pay rates, signaling a shift in labor power during Seattle’s boom years.
- The Fight for the Ten-Hour Day on the Puget Sound
A historic, voluntary move by the Puget Mill Company to limit the workday sparks a push for better labor conditions in the mills.
- Sewer Workers Strike for Eight-Hour Day
Laborers on a Twenty-ninth Avenue sewer project successfully force a return to the eight-hour workday against contractor pressure.
- The Nine-Hour Day: Seattle Carpenters and Contractors Strike a Deal
In a rare moment of labor harmony, the Seattle Building Trades Union and local contractors have agreed to reduce the workday from ten to nine hours while maintaining wages, setting a precedent for the city's construction industry.
- The Eight-Hour Day That Was Amended to Death
A bold proposal to limit public works labor to eight hours faces a grim fate in the Washington State Senate, where 'amendments' have stripped the bill of its power before it can even reach the House.
- The Eight-Hour Day Battle Reaches Seattle
As local carpenters and painters walk off the job to demand an eight-hour workday, the city faces a wave of labor unrest echoing across the Pacific Northwest.
- Telescoped at the Crossing: A Grant Street Horror
When a Northern Pacific freight train plowed into an electric streetcar on May 20, 1909, one man died and dozens were mangled in the icy water below. The crash exposed dangerous speeds and negligent watchmen at a city intersection that remains vital today.
- A Funeral Crowd Calls for a Killer's Neck
Thousands filed past the bodies of Philipina Miller and her child as Seattle police rushed the accused murderer to the county jail to stop a lynching.
- The Nine-Hour Day Battle in Seattle
A local mill contract sparks a tense standoff between the Carpenters' Union and Seattle contractors, testing the strength of the nascent labor movement.
- Congress Enacts the Eight-Hour Day
A national rail strike is narrowly avoided as federal law mandates an eight-hour basis for railroad workers' pay.
- The Baker’s Strike: Twelve Hours for $12
In a bold move against grueling labor conditions, Seattle’s bakers are contemplating a strike to demand shorter hours and fair wages, challenging the era's standard of 18-hour workdays.
- The Fight for the Ten-Hour Day
A department store faces legal action for forcing saleswomen into fourteen-hour shifts.
- City Contractors Collude Against the Eight-Hour Day
Labor unions in Seattle allege that local contractors are manipulating the courts to strip workers of their legal protections.
- The Brewery Workers’ Stand of 1892
Seattle brewery workers hold the line against a forced return to ten-hour days and mandatory unpaid Sunday labor.
- The Eight-Hour Law Backlash
Young workers organize against labor reform, fearing the end of Saturday half-holidays and annual vacations.
- The Water Inspector Who Shut Off Seattle’s Lawn Sprinklers
Seattle’s water superintendent cracks down on out-of-hours sprinkling on Renton Hill, turning off service until offenders pay—and finally restoring pressure.
- Seattle Bricklayers Push for a Nine-Hour Day
The city's bricklayers' association counted 29 members and commanded $5 a day—more for top hands—as workers eyed shorter hours without a pay cut.
- When the Great Railroad Strike Reached Seattle
In July 1894 the Pullman boycott finally tied up the Lake Shore road in Seattle — local switchmen walked out in sympathy, and the company answered with firings, Winchester-armed deputies and a federal judge.
- Under Fire on the Way to Spokane: Seattle's Militia Rode Into a Rail War
Col. Joseph Green's detachment returns from Spokane after escorting a mutinied company through burned bridges, ambushes and striker country—and the city turns out to cheer.
- The Price of the Eight-Hour Day
A Seattle merchant faces threats and a physical assault for defying a boycott and keeping his shop open to protect his clerks from sixteen-hour shifts.
- The 1888 Crusade Against '13-Hour Days' in Seattle
When local shopkeepers refused to close their doors at 8 p.m., the Clerks' Union launched a public campaign to boycott the stores that kept their workers trapped in a cycle of exhausting, long-hour shifts.
- The Eight-Hour Day Battle in 1887
Washington territorial legislators spar over radical new labor laws, including mandates for an eight-hour workday and the end of company-scrip payment systems.