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63 stories matching seattleit
- The Siege of Tacoma: A City Divided by Hatred
While Seattleites marched through the rain to condemn Chinese residents, the city of Tacoma mobilized into an organized, exclusionary force that would soon see the forced removal of hundreds.
- Seattle Rallies for the Franklin Mine’s Widows and Orphans
A relief fund grows by small donations, Black Seattleites organize their own drive, and officials seal the burning mine to starve the fire.
- The Outlaw Who Begged His Mother Never to Know
Thomas Planck confessed to five murders, broke jail and was shot after a last meal at a Kent farm. Then thousands of Seattleites filed past his body.
- The Gold Rush That Wasn't: Copper River’s Scurvy Epidemic and the Ghosts of the Valdez Glacier
As Seattleites debated housing and labor, a grim report arrived from the interior: men dying of scurvy in the Copper River country, and the recovered bodies of seven explorers who froze to death on the Valdez glacier.
- Smallpox Fears Disrupt Trains and Border Crossings
As smallpox cases spiked in British Columbia, Seattleites feared the contagion was crossing the border via Indian canoes and passenger trains.
- The Newcastle Standoff: Labor’s Last Stand in the Shadow of the Mines
As Seattle prepares for its Fourth of July celebrations, a violent labor dispute in nearby Newcastle threatens to shut down the region's timber industry. The Knights of Labor demand the reinstatement of fired worker Kelly Ramsey, while company officials and county authorities clash over jurisdiction, legality, and the very definition of union power.
- The Great Terminus Fever of 1871
As rumors swirled about the location of the Northern Pacific Railroad’s Pacific Coast terminus, Seattleites were gripped by a volatile, real-estate-driven madness that made men 'demented' and land values skyrocket.
- The Narrow Escape of Mr. Browne
A prominent Seattleite faces a targeted arson attempt at his residence, marking the second such attack in a wave of local intimidation.
- A Sea of Supporters Packs the Armory for the Canal
Thousands of Seattleites overflow the First Regiment Armory to rally for the proposed ship canal, signaling a major push for federal infrastructure.
- Seattle’s Half-Million-Dollar Canal Fund Ran Short—and the Committee Wanted Locals to Finish It
Boosters behind the Seattle and Lake Washington Waterway had raised nearly $500,000 in citizens’ subscriptions. With outside money slow to arrive, the committee urged Seattleites to double their pledges and close the tide-flat canal fund by Saturday.
- The Seattle Way: How Local Businessmen Built a Railroad
A Walla Walla newspaper praises Seattle’s 'All pull together' motto after local merchants successfully pressured Henry Villard to finance a new coal-hauling railroad.
- Seattle's Audacious Bid for a Fresh-Water Harbor
In 1890, boosters promised that a ship canal from Lake Washington to Puget Sound would cut docking costs, defeat wood-boring teredo worms, and hand Seattle the world's cheapest harbor.
- The Unemployed Built a Co-op That Served 10,000 Meals in 34 Days
In the winter of 1894-95, 130 jobless Seattleites pooled donations and odd jobs into the Industrial Co-operative Society—and reported a $52.10 balance.
- The Spirit of '76: Seattle’s Grand Centennial Celebration
A meticulous guide to how Seattleites organized their first massive city-wide celebration of the American Centennial in 1876, featuring a parade, a regatta, and grand fireworks.
- The Boom Town on the Sound: Labor and Industry in 1877 Tacoma
A traveler’s dispatch from New Tacoma reports on the frenetic pace of local timber mills, the arrival of new industrial machinery, and the rapid expansion of the labor force as the city builds its future.
- The Monopoly of Water: A Seattleite’s Outrage Over Yesler’s Wharf
In 1877, a local citizen confronted the city's most powerful industrialist over his claim to the waterfront, sparking a debate about public access and private power that echoes in Seattle today.
- The 'Dead Horse' Auction of 1892
Hundreds of curious Seattleites crowded a Commercial Street warehouse to bid on the mysterious, unclaimed cargo of the Northern Pacific Express Company, turning forgotten packages into a city-wide gamble.
- The Great Editorial Tug-of-War
When the National Editorial Association arrived in the Sound, Seattle and Tacoma engaged in a petty, comical, and highly public battle to 'kidnap' the visiting editors.
- D.T. Denny's Farm and the 'Pingree Plan': A 1895 Experiment in Land for the Poor
A committee formed to give unemployed and poor Seattleites land to cultivate, with Denny offering his old North Seattle farm for a year.
- The Fight for Seattle's Unearned Land
A fiery mass meeting in Seattle erupts over the Northern Pacific Railway's grip on public lands.
- The Canal That Would Give Seattle the Finest Harbor on the Pacific
An 1895 editorial urges Seattleites to back a half-million-dollar subsidy to fill the tide flats and dig a canal linking Puget Sound with Lake Washington.
- Seattle's Canal Gamble
Boosters asked Seattleites to pledge a weekly sum to bring the Lake Washington ship canal—and the jobs and ships they believed would follow.
- The Gold Rush That Never Was: Seattle’s First Wave of Klondike Dreamers
As the first steamers arrive from the Yukon with empty hands and full cargo holds, Seattleites prepare to follow them north, unaware that the gold rush is already over.
- The Struggle for a Fire-Safe City
Early Seattleites grapple with the slow, expensive process of organizing a volunteer fire department to protect a rapidly growing town.
- The City That Waited Too Long
A scathing editorial from 1880 chides Seattle’s civic leaders for their 'supine' failure to build the roads necessary to secure the region's economic future.
Also about this, in other words
- The Great One Thing: Seattle’s First Bid to Stop Strangers from Leaving Empty-Handed
In 1876, a group of local citizens proposed an 'Immigration and Labor Bureau' to help newcomers find work and land, recognizing that Seattle was losing potential residents because they didn't know where to start.
- A Home for Seattle's Working Women
A newly opened residence aims to provide affordable, safe housing for the growing class of professional business women in the city.
- The Seattle Boom of 1882
An economic report reveals that property assessments in Seattle have jumped 150 percent in just three months, cementing the city's status as the wealthiest on the Pacific coast north of California.
- A Taste of the New York Style in 1870s Seattle
Before the city’s culinary scene went global, entrepreneurs like William Philpott were racing to introduce the 'New York style' to the rough-and-tumble streets of pioneer-era Seattle.
- Tin Horns and Blue Shoes: Seattle Prepared to Outshout Portland
In 1893, the Seattle Athletic Club drilled at Madison Street Park and stockpiled noisemakers for a Thanksgiving-week football match against the Multnomahs, with 3,000 fans expected.
- The Boom That Built Seattle: A City on the Verge of Explosion
As the new year dawns, Seattle’s leaders are boasting of unprecedented growth—new schools, hotels, and blocks rising from the mud, fueled by lumber wealth and a population that refuses to stay small.
- The $5.5 Million Bet That Would Reshape Seattle's Waterfront
St. Louis investors sign on to fill the tide flats and dig a canal linking Lake Washington to Puget Sound, betting Seattle will become the Pacific coast's leading city.
- The 1888 Seattle Housing Gamble
Developers promised a 'small fortune' to lucky buyers in this early Seattle land scheme.