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 |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 4 |
| 1877 | 4 |
| 1878 | 4 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 3 |
| 1884 | 3 |
| 1885 | 8 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1887 | 2 |
| 1888 | 3 |
| 1889 | 8 |
| 1891 | 2 |
| 1892 | 13 |
| 1893 | 7 |
| 1894 | 17 |
| 1895 | 10 |
| 1899 | 3 |
95 stories matching odd
- Fraternity Stiffed by City and Chamber
Local Odd Fellows lodges footed the entire bill for entertaining the visiting Sovereign Grand Lodge after the city and Chamber of Commerce reneged on their promises to split the costs.
- The Unpredictable Life of Seattle’s 'Odd Job Man'
William D. Southworth, a local eccentric, attempted to organize a national guard, impersonated high-society figures, and left a trail of bafflement across 1880s Seattle before his final confinement.
- From Vera Cruz to Seattle: The Improbable Life of Levi F. Compton
A Mexican War veteran, gold rusher, bridge builder and Odd Fellows patriarch died at his Spring Street home, leaving a civic record that stretched from Virginia slavery to a Chehalis reform school.
- Fraternity on the Diamond: The Odd Fellows' Grand Celebration
When Seattle’s Odd Fellows hosted a massive multi-day anniversary celebration in 1892, they turned the local baseball park into a scene of chaotic amateur athletics, friendly rivalries, and unbridled civic enthusiasm.
- The Black Odd Fellows Who Built Their Own Order—and Filled a Seattle Hall
Barred from the white Odd Fellows, Seattle’s Mount Rainier Lodge No. 88 celebrated the Grand United Order’s 54th anniversary with speeches, uniforms and a crowd of about 400.
- The Great Odd Fellows Sleep-In: A Night of Fractured Rituals in Seattle
When the Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows convened in June 1909, a bizarre mix of procedural delays and social distractions turned a solemn ceremony into a chaotic spectacle that spilled onto the dance floor.
- The Odd Fellows' Tug-of-War Over Permanence
Members of the Odd Fellows gather in Tacoma to debate moving their Grand Lodge headquarters to Seattle, highlighting a long-standing regional rivalry.
- The 'Odd Fellow' and the Suspicious Wife
A Seattle man's secret late-night meetings with his fraternal order spark a domestic showdown over 'goat riding,' moral uprightness, and marital suspicion.
- The Strange Impostor of the Secret Societies
A concerned member of a legitimate Victoria-based lodge warns Seattle that a grifter is posing as an I.O.O.F. organizer to swindle local recruits.
- Seattle’s Wild Reaction to the Corbett-Sullivan Fight
Thousands filled the streets and saloons as the underdog James J. Corbett defeated John L. Sullivan in twenty-one rounds.
- The Land Grab That Built Seattle’s West Side
In 1890, a powerful syndicate led by George M. Van Doren bought up the entire Verier Addition in Kent and began aggressively marketing West Seattle lots to speculators, setting the stage for the city's explosive real estate boom.
- The Open Sewer at the Center of Town
A pedestrian’s fall into an unguarded sewer trench in front of the Odd Fellows Hall sparks a legal battle over municipal negligence in Seattle.
- A Hanging in the Armory: The Unpopular Corporal and the Men Who Stuffed His Uniform
Company E turned a grudge into theatre — an effigy rigged with an electric-light wire, a pair of odd-coloured glasses and a chalked gravestone — and a military court may follow.
- The Odd Fellows' Missing $144.15: A Treasurer's Fall From Grace
Henry A. Swift, a Fremont mill worker and lodge treasurer, is charged with embezzling $144.15 after a shutdown left his family in need.
- The Pastor Broke Down: Seattle Buries the Pioneer Who Built Its Reform School
A crowded North Seattle church, a room full of old pioneers, and a eulogy so affecting that the minister — a friend since 1849 — had to stop and compose himself.
- An Odd English Collier Sails In, and the Wharves Fill to See Her
The first ship of the new Great Eastern line ties up at Baker's wharf after eighteen days from Yokohama, carrying tea, matting and curios — and no passenger cabins at all.
- A Library for North Seattle
How the local lodge of Odd Fellows stepped up to provide education and public gathering space to a growing community.
- The Great Storm of 1894
A violent cyclone-like windstorm tears through Western Washington, leveling buildings and trapping citizens in the debris.
- 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.
- The Checkerboard Trap: How the Northern Pacific Railroad Hoarded Washington’s Land
An editorial in The Daily Intelligencer exposes how the railroad company used federal land grants to block settlers from claiming homesteads, leaving thousands of acres in legal limbo and stalling the growth of Seattle and Tacoma.
- The Ghost of Ballast Island
A laborer’s body washes up on the Seattle waterfront, leaving a trail of questions about a midnight splash and a missing man with a light overcoat.
- A Murder Plot on Puget Sound and a Sickbed Betrayal
A boat captain says two young 'timber buyers' planned to shoot him and rob an Admiralty Head rancher. The same circle of suspects is accused of robbing a sarsaparilla agent while he lay delirious in a Seattle hotel.
- The Benevolent Monopoly: Henry Villard Promises a New Railroad
Northern Pacific President Henry Villard visits Seattle to discuss expansion and pledges a new railroad line to the coal fields, cementing the city's future.
- A Saw Cut Through His Brain. Seattle Doctors Watched Him Live.
Horatio Stetson's head was nearly split in two by a rip saw at a Seattle mill. Thirty-six hours later, he was talking, moving his limbs, and astonishing the physicians at Providence Hospital.
- The Great Fire That Turned Seattle’s Suburb into Ash
A fast-moving blaze in the early morning hours consumed nearly all of South Seattle's business district, leaving dozens of families destitute and causing over $100,000 in damage.
Also about this, in other words
- The Clerk’s Odd Sales Pitch
A farmer learns a strange and aggressive new way to test if his wife is 'sound' while shopping in 1877 Seattle.
- The Strange Order from the North
A local merchant is tasked with sourcing a custom gravestone for an Alaska Native man who is very much alive.
- The Eccentric Professor: A Man of Culture Lost in the Streets
An itinerant lecturer with 'peculiarities' captivates Seattle crowds, leaving locals to wonder if he is a genius or just mad.
- The 'Wild Man' of Kearney Street
A profile of Leonor Borcharts, known as 'Oofty Goofty,' a performer who made a living by enduring physical abuse for public entertainment.