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.
Refine1 on
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1877 | 2 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1889 | 2 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 2 |
| 1894 | 6 |
| 1895 | 8 |
| 1910 | 1 |
30 stories matching mode
- The Mayor's Power to Fire: Seattle's Removed Police Commissioners Fight for Their Jobs
J. G. Niggle and E. G. Cheasty argue that Mayor Byron Phelps removed them without notice or hearing—and that the city charter requires cause, not whim.
- The Great Tree Planting Contest: Who Knows How to Grow a Forest in Seattle?
A local committee has rejected the first round of submissions for a $150 prize on orchard design, declaring them insufficient. Now, they are asking the public to try again with a more rigorous plan for planting 30 acres of fruit trees.
- The Campaign to Purge Seattle’s Chinatown
In 1885, as anti-Chinese sentiment surged across the Pacific Northwest, a Seattle city official led a raid on the city's Chinatown, marking an early, aggressive move in the movement to drive the Chinese community out of the city.
- The Scandal That Shook the Interior
A federal investigation into Secretary of the Interior Richard Ballinger reveals allegations of land fraud and corruption involving Washington state coal claims.
- A Grandmother’s Protest Against Modern Medicine
An 88-year-old Seattle resident challenges the medical establishment's use of grease and drugs to treat scarlet fever, advocating for a return to water-based remedies.
- The Battle for Kenney Street
A dispute over a blocked street in the Williams addition marks the first legal test of new laws allowing the city to condemn land for public use.
- The Political Campaign Against Chinese Labor in 1886
A local representative’s fiery defense of anti-Chinese exclusionary policies, detailing the economic anxieties that gripped Seattle workers during the late 19th century.
- The Fight for Public Land
Seattle activists organize to challenge the Northern Pacific Railroad's control over vast swaths of Washington Territory.
- Who Gets to Rewrite Seattle's Charter — the Council or the People?
A crowded, argumentative hearing at City Hall: the Chamber of Commerce is accused of a 'somersault,' a lawyer sneers at 'the people,' and Dr. Ramsey answers a councilman with a line of Latin.
- Rain Turns Early Seattle's Front Street to Mud
When heavy rains turned downtown thoroughfares into impassable quagmires, residents demanded better engineering than the temporary, 'penny-wise' patch jobs of the 1870s.
- The Safety of City Lights
A San Francisco electrician tours Seattle's growing network of lights and warns that competition among workers leads to dangerous, sloppy wiring.
- The Pastor, the Circular, and the Hung Jury
For three days a Seattle courtroom heard accusations of adultery, an illegitimate son, and a pastor’s libelous circular. At 12:35 a.m., the jury was still deadlocked.
- The Unawakened Giant: Why Washington Territory Is the Next California
A sweeping editorial in the *Diligent Intelligencer* argues that railroads are about to unlock the 'inland basin' of Eastern Washington, transforming it from a feared desert into an agricultural empire rivaling the Golden State.
- The Postal War: How Snohomish’s Star Exposed Seattle’s Corrupt Postmaster
In June 1877, the editor of the *Snohomish Star* launched a blistering public attack on the Seattle post office, alleging that political cronyism and negligence were deliberately delaying his paper to protect local rivals.
- The Wealth of the Nation Trapped in the Vaults
A century and a half ago, President Grover Cleveland grappled with a modern-sounding crisis: federal budget surpluses causing economic panic, skyrocketing costs for common goods, and the crushing weight of a tariff system on working families.
- The City Council's Expensive Do-Over
After the Supreme Court tossed out a faulty assessment, the City of Seattle passes an emergency ordinance to squeeze residents for a new payment on a completed sewer project.
- When Seattle's Mayor Took on Poverty: The 1895 Charity Bureau Meeting
At the Chamber of Commerce, Mayor Byron Phelps and local leaders discussed unemployment, aid to families, and the growing demand for relief during a depression year.
- In the County Jail, a Prisoner Fashions His Own Rope From a Sash
Awaiting a trip to Auburn to face a murder charge, a Japanese prisoner tries to end his life with the only materials his cell allows — and is found in time.
- The Chicken-Head Oath Was Not Used in This Seattle Courtroom
Chin Chew was acquitted of beating and robbing a fellow Chinese laborer, but the case is remembered for a judge's refusal to repeat a rival jurist's 'chicken oath' experiment.
- An Electrifying Encounter at the Drug Store
A Seattlite's bonnet catches fire, leading to a rather unconventional rescue by an observant clerk.
- The City Wants Its Fair Share: Republican Wards Revolt Over Delegate Math
Three ward clubs storm the county Republican committee to protest an apportionment that hands the countryside outsized power — and the committee adjourns without budging an inch.
- A 28-Mile Dream Road Between Seattle and Tacoma
A landowner's 1895 letter urges the legislature to charter a direct highway from South Park through Des Moines to Tacoma, selling it as relief for the unemployed, a check on speculators and the making of the 'Twin Cities of Puget Sound.'
- The 1895 Plan to Straighten the Sammamish River
A petition from H. K. Kelsey and forty others asked King County to drain, deepen and straighten Squak Slough, reclaiming 3,000 acres of overflowed land.
- The Con Artist of the Y.M.C.A.
A smooth-talking grifter exploited the goodwill of Seattle churchgoers by playing on his 'sick wife's' needs, until an umbrella heist landed him in the city jail.
- The Single Tax: A Seattle Paper Takes On Henry George
In 1894 the Post-Intelligencer mounts a full-throated attack on Henry George's land-value tax, warning it would 'rob labor' and hand the ground itself to the rich.
Also about this, in other words
- An Ex-Priest Turns a Packed Seattle Hall Against the Jesuits
At Ranke's Hall, former Catholic priest J. B. Daly tells the A.P.A. that the Society of Jesus is a secret political machine—then drapes himself in the flag and leads three cheers.
- A Cultural Tableau in Fremont
Lake Union Lodge members stage an elaborate Japanese-themed wedding and fan drill to celebrate local community spirit.