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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 2 |
| 1877 | 2 |
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1883 | 3 |
| 1885 | 2 |
| 1886 | 1 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1888 | 3 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1890 | 1 |
| 1891 | 2 |
| 1892 | 3 |
| 1893 | 5 |
| 1894 | 6 |
| 1895 | 6 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1903 | 1 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 1 |
| 1918 | 1 |
45 stories matching pillar
- The Tragedy of Pillar Rock
An old resident recounts the Indigenous legend of how a powerful magician created a massive rock formation on the Columbia River.
- Miners Trapped in Newcastle Cave-In
Two workers survived a terrifying collapse in the Coal Creek mine after being pinned under four feet of rock and coal for ninety minutes.
- The Night a Gilded Age Mansion Lit the Road to Its Own Party
In 1894, Horace and Susan Henry welcomed nearly 200 guests to their new showpiece house above Lake Union—then sent them home by special streetcar under a private line of electric lights.
- The Sudden End of a Tacoma Tycoon
A wealthy real estate developer and pillar of the financial community takes his own life following financial struggles.
- The Passing of Bailey Gatzert
Seattle mourns the loss of a pioneering merchant and pillar of the early commercial establishment.
- The Fall of a Puyallup Banker
Sam B. Duelnberre, a pillar of the local banking community, is charged with embezzling $41,000 from his shuttered bank.
- The Collapse of the Merchants' National
Tacoma bank officials indicted on charges of false entry and 'straw paper' schemes amid a brutal city-wide financial rivalry.
- The Church Fair Scandal: When Seattle’s Clergy Played Prank on a Congregation
A reverend and his colleagues turned a charity fundraiser into an elaborate joke, dressing two women in 'shabbily' clothes to perform a 'Irish spectacle'—only for the punchline to backfire spectacularly.
- The Miracle of the 'Wilmington'
After her machinery failed in a gale off the Oregon coast, the steamer Wilmington was rigged into a brig and sailed herself into Port Townsend with her crew miraculously intact.
- The Sudden Death of a Beloved Seattle Physician
Dr. E. L. Smith, a pillar of the Seattle medical community and veteran of the National Guard, dies unexpectedly in his sleep at the Butler Hotel.
- The Comedian’s Shadow
A veteran actor watches from the wings as his son eclipses his own fading career on the Seattle stage.
- A City Turned Out to Bury George Heilbron
In 1895, Seattle’s governor, mayor, judges, businessmen and laborers filled the First Unitarian Church for the funeral of a civic leader who had helped build the young city.
- The Theater That Wanted the Street
Tacoma’s grand new opera house design sparks a city council debate over encroaching on public sidewalks and creating private carriage driveways.
- The Grammar Grudge of 1876
An editor and a local developer get into a petty, hilarious feud over building codes, split infinitives, and civic competence.
- The Scandal That Nearly Ruined the Colonel
A prominent Seattle businessman finds himself the center of a moral firestorm when rumors spread that he was ‘squeezing’ the factory girls—but the truth was far more mundane.
- The Perilous Rescue at Pillar Point
A steamship crew's desperate battle against a violent storm and a jagged coastline ends in a daring rescue on the Puget Sound.
- Puget Sound Towns Vie for Methodist University
Tacoma, Olympia, and Port Townsend compete to host the Puget Sound University, sparking a rivalry over land, mortgages, and civic pride.
- The Preacher, the Presiding Elder, and the Typewritten Screed
An obscure minister accuses a Methodist leader of seduction and embezzlement, setting off a Seattle church scandal and a criminal-libel warrant.
- The Banker, the Preacher and the Indictments in the Pews
When a Tacoma grand jury indicted officers of the failed Merchants National Bank, the Rev. Alfred Martin used a Friday sermon to remind his congregation that ancient curses were mild compared with modern indictments.
- The Unraveling of a Seattle Banker
When the cashier of the Snohomish National Bank was found to be a defaulter, the resulting financial ruin exposed deep cracks in the stability of local frontier finance.
- The Port Townsend Lottery Fugitive
A pillar of local society is unmasked as the mastermind behind a massive multi-city lottery swindle.
- Spokane Dressed for a Railroad King—and Waited Until Midnight
Spokane Falls spent a week building arches and hanging evergreens for Henry Villard's Northern Pacific excursion, but delayed trains turned the grand reception into a series of after-dark whistle-stops—and Ulysses S. Grant drew the crowd that the railroad had promised.
- Down the Dark Drift: A Tour of Seattle’s Coal Mines
In December 1876, a reporter takes readers on an arduous journey from Lake Union to Newcastle to witness the grueling labor and industrial scale of Puget Sound's most vital industry.
- The Hypocrisy of Seattle’s 'Conservative' Moralists
A citizen's sharp critique of the local council and police force, highlighting their hypocrisy in failing to enforce Sunday closing laws while positioning themselves as pillars of order.
- The Palace of God on Fourth and Spring
A grand architectural marvel marks the rise of the First Presbyterian Church from a tiny frontier congregation to a pillar of Seattle’s establishment.
Also about this, in other words
- The Political Value of Infrastructure
Port Angeles residents celebrate Senator John B. Allen's success in federalizing local infrastructure projects.
- A Senator’s Gift of Stone
Senator Watson C. Squire offers the city free rock from his Duwamish River quarries to help jumpstart local street paving efforts.
- Four Years, Four Factions, and Still No Pavement on Pacific Avenue
Tacoma's property owners have bickered for four years over how to pave the street running through their town — bituminous rock, plank, wood, or plank-on-gravel — so the council has finally given them until June 1 to agree, or it will choose for them.
- The Human Spider of Occidental Square
A sailor scaled a 135-foot flagpole in downtown Seattle to keep the city’s Fourth of July celebrations on schedule.
- The Battle for the Paving of Pacific Avenue
Tacoma business owners hash out a heated, two-hour debate over whether to use locally sourced fir blocks or imported vitrified brick for the city's main street.
- The Pastor and the Organist
A physical brawl between a clergyman and his church organist raises the question of how to handle insubordination in the pews.
- The Senatorial Tug-of-War
As the legislature gathers in Olympia, Northern Pacific lobbyists and political hopefuls fight for control over Senator John B. Allen’s seat.
- A Frontier Independence Day Warning
On the Fourth of July, 1891, Senator Claypool delivers a scathing critique of corporate power, political corruption, and the shifting identity of a growing nation.