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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 2 |
| 1859 | 1 |
| 1860 | 1 |
| 1861 | 5 |
| 1863 | 1 |
| 1864 | 3 |
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 11 |
| 1876 | 28 |
| 1877 | 30 |
| 1878 | 22 |
| 1880 | 6 |
| 1882 | 5 |
| 1883 | 34 |
| 1884 | 13 |
| 1885 | 24 |
| 1886 | 13 |
| 1887 | 13 |
| 1888 | 19 |
| 1889 | 61 |
| 1890 | 13 |
| 1891 | 55 |
| 1892 | 71 |
| 1893 | 64 |
| 1894 | 52 |
| 1895 | 72 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1898 | 15 |
| 1899 | 19 |
| 1900 | 2 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 40 |
| 1904 | 27 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1907 | 1 |
| 1908 | 8 |
| 1909 | 67 |
| 1910 | 6 |
| 1911 | 4 |
| 1912 | 1 |
| 1914 | 14 |
| 1915 | 5 |
| 1916 | 24 |
| 1917 | 11 |
| 1918 | 1 |
| 1923 | 6 |
| 1924 | 5 |
| 1925 | 3 |
| 1929 | 4 |
886 stories matching limit
- Eight Dead, and the Steamboat Owners Owe Only $3,500
A federal judge in Seattle limits the Annie Faxon's liability after a Snake River boiler explosion, extending an old maritime rule to inland steamboats.
- The Oil Men’s Last Stand: Seattle’s Battle Over Fire Safety and Corporate Power
In March 1889, a proposed ordinance to ban oil storage within city limits sparked a fierce standoff between the Board of Trade and powerful petroleum interests. While the city pushed for safety, the oil dealers argued the rules were discriminatory and economically impossible, setting the stage for a legal battle that would define Seattle’s industrial future.
- Land Office Cuts Northern Pacific Claims by One-Third
A government intervention restores a third of Northern Pacific's land claims in Washington to the public domain, sparking a bitter feud between settlers and the railroad.
- Seattle's Filipino Editors Draw a Line: Restrict Us If You Must — But Never Shut Us Out
As agitation builds in Congress to bar Filipinos from the mainland, the editors of Seattle's Filipino Forum weigh the Johnson bill and conclude that a quota, however bitter, is preferable to outright exclusion — which they call an imperialist injustice.
- Seattle's Schools Were Running on Borrowed Money—and the Bill Was Due
In 1895, the school board urged voters to ratify a stack of bonds and warrants incurred to build schools, warning that the alternative was a six-month school year—or repudiation.
- The City Council's Permissive Grift
A frustrated fire official reveals that Seattle's fire safety ordinances are being gutted by the very council members who passed them, as they issue private permits to bypass building restrictions.
- The Taxation Trap: How Seattle’s Liquor Licenses Were Feeding the County, Not the City
In 1876, a territorial newspaper railed against a fiscal injustice: Seattle taxpayers were footing the bill for policing and street maintenance, while the county kept the revenue from liquor licenses sold within city limits.
- Ione Drew Its New Town Limits—and Left the Bridge Bill Outside
Incorporation planners included the boarding houses and shoreline but excluded objecting landowners, partly to avoid making the new town pay for a Big Muddy crossing.
- Rising from the Ashes: The Great Seattle Fire of 1888
While the downtown core smoldered, Seattle citizens gathered in the courthouse—lit by tallow dips—to demand a modern city of brick and stone, rejecting makeshift wooden shacks and dreaming of a reconstructed metropolis.
- The Saloon Turf War: Seattle's 1891 Zoning Scandal
A surprise move by the Board of Aldermen to eliminate limits on where liquor could be sold triggers a fierce public outcry against perceived civic corruption.
- The Price of Reckless Growth
When Lewis County hit its constitutional debt limit, local officials were left holding worthless warrants—a sharp reminder of the pitfalls of municipal overreach in 1891.
- Seattle's Schools on the Brink: The 1895 Debt Vote That Could Have Cut the School Year to Six Months
With floating warrants piling up and the tax base shrinking, School District No. 1 asked voters to ratify about $387,000 in debt and refinance it before the school term was cut from ten months to six.
- 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.
- No Money, No Jury: Tacoma's Judge Stops Court to Prove a Point
Judge Stallcup vacated a jury order because the county had no cash to pay jurors—and his suit over Tacoma's water bonds made the bench itself the story.
- The City Can Tear It Down: The Supreme Court Backs Seattle's Fire Limits
Daniel K. Baxter put up a twenty-foot shell of wooden posts wrapped in corrugated iron inside Seattle's fire limits. The state Supreme Court said the city could knock it down without ever going to court — and municipal building codes came out of it stronger than before.
- Kennewick's Ten-Mile-Per-Hour Traffic Crackdown
City council mandates strict enforcement of speed limits and lighting requirements for automobiles and motorcycles.
- The Great Land Grab: Tacoma Citizens Unite Against Northern Pacific’s ‘Squatter’ Tactics
In a packed hall at Reinig’s Hall, leading citizens condemn the railroad’s seizure of public lands and its attempt to claim hundreds of thousands of acres for a coal line that will never be built.
- The City That Couldn't Pay Its Bills: Seattle’s Fiscal Crisis and the Fight for Expansion
Mayor Moran and Councilman Dane plead with citizens to understand why street paving is stalled and sewer plans are shelved—not from laziness, but because state law caps the city's debt just as the population doubles.
- After the Fire, A New Blueprint for Seattle
When the flames destroyed the commercial district, city leaders fought to enforce strict building codes to prevent a repeat of the disaster.
- Seattle Cut Water Rates—Then Claimed the Lake
In one night at City Hall, the council trimmed water bills for every ratepayer and got legal cover to take Lake Washington water, even if it meant digging its own canal past a private company.
- A Judge Refuses to Seat Jurors Because Tacoma Has No Money to Pay Them
Judge John Stallcup's one-man budget protest shut down his Tacoma courtroom—and exposed a broken system of delinquent taxes and unpaid jurors.
- Fire Trap Expansions at the Globe Hotel
Tacoma building inspectors are ignoring unauthorized, illegal additions to a notorious downtown lodging house.
- The Rules of the Road Come to Kennewick
As automobiles begin to dominate the streets, City Hall codifies the right of way, speed limits, and the requirement for headlights and mufflers.
- The Boom Era's Bitter Hangover
New tax assessments reveal that local property values have cratered to one-fourth of their peak as the Grays Harbor economy struggles to adjust to the end of a speculative bubble.
- The Yakima Water Wars
A landmark federal court decision secures the future of government irrigation projects across the Yakima Valley.
Also about this, in other words
- The Loophole in the City Limits
A technicality regarding state versus city law leaves police empty-handed in a speeding crackdown on Pacific Avenue.
- The Struggle for Tax Equity in 1876
A Seattle editorial argues that delinquent property taxes and legal loopholes are placing an unfair burden on the public, demanding legislative reform for the growing territory.
- The Fire Limit Fiasco: How Seattle’s Elite Dodged Safety Codes
While the city arrested drunks and fined sailors for minor infractions, two prominent developers built a frame house right inside the fire zone—and got away with it.
- The Battle Against the Fire Limits
A Seattle property owner races to build a wooden structure before new city fire regulations take hold.
- A Library in Jeopardy
The City Council's arbitrary deadline for the Woman's Reading Club puts a vital community project at risk.
- The Fight for Transparent Government
A Tacoma citizen challenges the centralization of power in Washington’s early governance, warning against the 'mercenary' influence of political rings and trusts.
- The First Speeding Ticket in Kennewick
A local delivery driver learns the hard way that the city's new traffic ordinance has teeth.
- The City Could Still Take the Land
Judge Humes ruled that Seattle’s constitutional debt limit does not interfere with eminent domain, clearing the way for the Howell Street extension through the Ivey property.