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 |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 1 |
| 1876 | 7 |
| 1877 | 4 |
| 1878 | 4 |
| 1880 | 2 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 6 |
| 1884 | 3 |
| 1885 | 3 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1887 | 4 |
| 1888 | 7 |
| 1889 | 12 |
| 1890 | 3 |
| 1891 | 8 |
| 1892 | 11 |
| 1893 | 13 |
| 1894 | 3 |
| 1895 | 7 |
| 1899 | 3 |
| 1903 | 6 |
| 1904 | 2 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1908 | 2 |
| 1909 | 6 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1915 | 1 |
| 1917 | 1 |
| 1920 | 1 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1928 | 1 |
126 stories matching landlord
- The Satchel Swindle: How a Miner Outsmarted a Seattle Landlord
A crafty miner used a bag of lead pipe to play on his landlord’s greed and secure two months of free room and board.
- The Judgment Day Landlord
A Seattle resident finds his patience tested when his neighbors' millennial religious fervor leads to the systematic expropriation of his household goods.
- A Christmas on the Ice King: The Climb That Saw Rainier Smoking
In 1894, Major Ingraham led six men, seven homing pigeons, and a camera onto Mount Rainier’s glaciers. They came back with frostbite, a story of steam and smoke rising from the crater—and one pigeon missing.
- The Marshal's Staged Room Inspection
A Seattle detective relies on the local marshal to nab a mail thief hiding out in a Cosmopolis hotel.
- The Drain Detectives
A warning to tenants: sewer gas is a hidden killer, and your landlord’s thrift might be costing you your health.
- The Great Rent Refund Fight
A landmark Seattle court case establishes a precedent for tenants demanding rent back after their buildings are destroyed.
- The Siege of Third Street
When tenants refused to vacate their boarding house, a Seattle landlord responded by nailing the gates shut and mounting a guard.
- Rents Jump Twice in One Year on Hewitt Avenue
Mill hands in 1920 watched their rent climb faster than their wages — and the landlords' explanation will sound very familiar.
- The Strange Tale of Henry B. Mayo
A Seattle death, a suicide note, and a landlord's theory that a man took his own life to save a condemned killer from the gallows.
- Fire and Rent
A judge rules against tenants whose homes burned down, sparking an uproar in the jury box.
- The Price of Disaster: Seattle’s Post-Fire Rent Gouging
Landlords are accused of doubling rents on business and housing, turning the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 into a predatory profit machine.
- Rent Pressures in the Red Light District
A street worker is arrested after struggling to meet the high rent demands of a boarding house landlord.
- A Suicide Attempt at the Columbia House—and a Landlord's Cold Comfort
Flora Sullivan, separated from her husband, took morphine in her room at Third and Columbia. She survived, but the paper made her despair a public story.
- A Tenant, a Beam, and a Broken Window: Seattle's Rent Fight Turns Into a Siege
When a landlord tried to move a renter out on Chestnut Street, the dispute ended with a warrant read through a window and a defiant Joyce holding the fort.
- Railroads Fight Taxes on 40 Million Acres
A Chicago editorial rips into railroads for claiming massive land tracts while dodging local taxes, warning that the territory is being sold into corporate feudalism.
- New Washington State Law Grants Farmworkers Liens on Crops
Legislature passes protective measure ensuring laborers and landlords can secure payment against seasonal harvests.
- The Unintended Boarding House Scandal
A Seattle property owner finds themselves in court after leasing a building to tenants who turned the premises into a 'disorderly house,' sparking a legal debate over landlord responsibility.
- The Violent Eviction at the Medical Offices
A landlord's dispute over unpaid rent turned into a street brawl in downtown Tacoma, with professional men resorting to brute force to secure the premises.
- A Night at the St. Charles Hotel
A local journalist's late-night attempt to 'clean out' a hotel leads to a public brawl and a courtroom spectacle.
- The Library Was Closed Because the Landlord Wouldn't Turn Up the Heat
In 1895, Seattle's public library shut its doors over a $25 balance, unpaid rent, and a landlord who promised warmth 'in the spring.' City Council considered a rescue.
- The Oyster King’s Blueprint: How Connecticut’s ‘Submarine Landlords’ Could Save Washington’s Economy
A visiting shellfish commissioner reveals that state-owned oyster beds create wealthier workers and richer treasuries—a radical land reform idea taking root in Aberdeen.
- The Wheelbarrow Penance
A local landlord settles a lost election wager by wheeling his attorney through the streets of Yakima to the tune of a brass band.
- The landlord's dilemma when the building burns
Legal experts debate whether tenants are entitled to a rent refund when their rented rooms are destroyed by fire mid-month.
- The Struggle for Water and Land
Senator Paris Gibson warns that current public land laws benefit speculators over families, urging a return to the Homestead Act to prevent the West from becoming a territory of landlords.
- A Dog's Bark Saves Sleeping Guests as Usk Hotel Burns
A pre-dawn fire consumed a Usk hotel in 1908, forcing guests to flee with little more than what they wore—and leaving the landlord's watch and money behind.
Also about this, in other words
- Be Your Own Landlord: The 1889 Dream of Homeownership
An early Seattle building society promised a path to middle-class stability, urging residents to stop paying rent and start buying into their own homes.
- The Landlord's Coup: A Woman’s Restaurant Seized by Force
In a bold display of property rights and gender dynamics in 1888 Seattle, Mrs. Mary Ostedberg took to the justice court after William Brown forcibly evicted her from the St. Elmo restaurant she had leased.
- The Lease a Husband Had No Right to Sign
A Tacoma mercantile firm stopped paying $500-a-month rent, arguing the leased property was community property and the wives had never signed. Washington’s Supreme Court said the lease was not absolutely void—but the tenants had rights too.
- The City Hall Landlord Problem
When Tacoma condemned land for a street project, it ended up in the house-moving business.
- Legal Ruling Defines Validity of Real Estate Leases
A court case in Port Townsend clarifies the strict requirements for property leases, warning landowners that failing to notarize agreements can lead to disastrous litigation.
- The Landlord’s Lie: How a Seattle Developer Stole His Own Property
In 1888, real estate magnate W.B. Bourn Jr. was forced to publish a public defense after discovering that his father had secretly transferred the title of his home and land to another party—leaving him with nothing but a contract.
- City Hall Turns Landlord on the Tideflats
Tacoma assumes control of former Northern Pacific Railway properties and begins collecting rent.
- The Landlords' New Playbook: How Seattle's Elite Are Cornering the Housing Market
In a move that mirrors today’s corporate housing boom, lumber barons Yesler, Foster, and Lowman are launching a massive development on Broadway to control supply and dictate prices for new arrivals.