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.
Refine
Show the numbers
| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 7 |
| 1858 | 4 |
| 1859 | 4 |
| 1860 | 3 |
| 1861 | 8 |
| 1862 | 5 |
| 1863 | 3 |
| 1864 | 1 |
| 1871 | 2 |
| 1872 | 12 |
| 1876 | 54 |
| 1877 | 36 |
| 1878 | 38 |
| 1879 | 1 |
| 1880 | 11 |
| 1882 | 8 |
| 1883 | 33 |
| 1884 | 23 |
| 1885 | 45 |
| 1886 | 25 |
| 1887 | 14 |
| 1888 | 42 |
| 1889 | 83 |
| 1890 | 9 |
| 1891 | 59 |
| 1892 | 97 |
| 1893 | 74 |
| 1894 | 87 |
| 1895 | 166 |
| 1897 | 1 |
| 1898 | 7 |
| 1899 | 33 |
| 1903 | 40 |
| 1904 | 36 |
| 1905 | 6 |
| 1907 | 1 |
| 1908 | 13 |
| 1909 | 49 |
| 1910 | 12 |
| 1911 | 7 |
| 1912 | 9 |
| 1914 | 11 |
| 1915 | 6 |
| 1916 | 24 |
| 1917 | 8 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 4 |
| 1925 | 3 |
| 1928 | 3 |
| 1929 | 1 |
1,229 stories matching shall
- Who Gets to Vote in the Primaries?
Seattle's corporation counsel says registration is not optional—even for party primaries—and that election judges cannot waive it.
- The Great Moss Panic of 1878
Seattle's early city council once declared war on rooftop greenery to prevent the city from burning down.
- The State Tries to Soften the Panic for Delinquent Taxpayers
The Senate passes a bill remitting penalties and interest on delinquent 1893–94 taxes, citing “great financial stringency” and declaring an emergency.
- A Receivership Sale Rewires Seattle's Street Railway
Bondholders sign a deal to merge the troubled Rainier Power and Railway Co. into a new Third Street Suburban Railway Company, with the Denny family’s claims still shaping the terms.
- The Old Settlers' Legislative Fantasy
In an 1871 satirical 'Act,' a Seattle newspaper mocked the arrival of ambitious newcomers by proposing that long-time residents receive supreme, legally mandated authority.
- Seattle’s 1895 Co-op Where 150 Unemployed Men Ate for 7 Cents a Day
At a Belltown barracks, unemployed single men pooled their wages, submitted to military-style rules and fed an average of 150 people daily for about 7 cents each.
- The Strict Rules of Territorial Ballot Boxes
Before the secret ballot was standardized, Washington Territory enacted stern penalties to prevent election-day fraud, coercion, and liquor-fueled chaos.
- The Hustlers of the Waterfront: Regulating Seattle's Hotel Runners
In 1878, the Seattle City Council cracked down on the aggressive solicitors who haunted the docks, requiring them to wear badges and pay a quarterly tax for the right to hawk boarding houses.
- The Great Timber Heist: Federal Law Cracks Down on Puget Sound Loggers
In 1872, the U.S. government enforced a strict new law protecting live-oak and red-cedar from unauthorized removal, threatening massive fines and ship seizures for anyone caught logging federal lands without Navy permission.
- State Supreme Court Upholds Lake Washington Canal Contract, Clearing the Way for Tide-Land Transformation
The Washington Supreme Court rules that the Lake Washington Waterway Company's contract to dig a canal and fill tide lands is constitutional, rejecting a landowner's challenge and affirming the state's power to remake the waterfront.
- The Socialist Platform for County Management
Dr. B. M. Angus outlines an eight-point plan to eliminate bureaucratic waste and restrict the use of county vehicles.
- The Price of a Drink in 1885 Seattle
A newly passed city ordinance lays out a complex, bureaucratic, and cash-heavy system for anyone hoping to open a saloon or bottle house.
- The City Council’s War on Inflammable Storage
New regulations restricted the storage of petroleum, naphtha, and gasoline, mandating fireproof construction and buffer zones from the waterfront.
- The Mugwump’s Ledger: How Seattle’s Territorial Secretary Gamed the Law Printing Contract
A fierce editorial exposes Secretary Owings for delaying the publication of territorial laws to favor a cronies’ printing bid, while padding the bill with 40 pages of his own party platform.
- The City Council Sets Rules for Seattle’s Streetcars
A new ordinance dictates how street railways will operate, mandating street paving, track maintenance, and fare standards to protect the public interest.
- The Mine That Stood Still: How One Man’s Leave Sparked a Labor War in Newcastle
A dispute over a fired miner named Kenny Ramsay has shut down the Newcastle coal mines, pitting the Knights of Labor against the company and threatening to flood the pits if arbitration fails.
- The City Health Board Closed Two Schools. The School Board Asked Who Gave It the Power.
When scarlet fever fears shut Rainier and South schools, Seattle's school board dug in—not against quarantine, but against what its lawyers called an 'arbitrary' order that skipped the City Council.
- Federal Crackdown on Alcohol Sales in Indian Country
New legislation expands enforcement powers to seize wagons, teams, and goods used in the illegal spirit trade on tribal lands.
- Newport Merchants Agree to Close at 6:30 — and Fine Themselves $50 If They Don’t
In 1908, local shopkeepers signed a pact to shorten business hours, hoping clerks and owners alike could finally take part in public life. Violators owed $50 to the Commercial Club.
- Telescoped at the Crossing: A Grant Street Horror
When a Northern Pacific freight train plowed into an electric streetcar on May 20, 1909, one man died and dozens were mangled in the icy water below. The crash exposed dangerous speeds and negligent watchmen at a city intersection that remains vital today.
- Ten Cents a Month to Read: Seattle Votes to Put Its Library on the Payroll
After a night of wrangling, the Board of Aldermen and the House of Delegates agree to spend $250 and charge adult borrowers a monthly fee to keep the circulating department open — over the objection that the city cannot afford it.
- The Last-Week Jam in Olympia: Liquor, Primaries and a Budget Nobody Counted
With the 60-day session expiring, Washington's lawmakers settle local option, rewrite the primary ballot, kill the initiative and abandon the joint budget committee — leaving taxpayers to foot a three-mill levy.
- The Citizen Soldiers Rewrite the Rules of the Guard
Officers of the First Regiment, National Guard of Washington, pick apart a proposed military code — deciding who can drum a man out of a company, setting the adjutant general's salary, and asking why the troops who put down last summer's riots are still waiting to be paid.
- The Yellow Flag Mandate of 1872
Before the age of modern public health infrastructure, Seattle's early municipal government passed strict, penalty-heavy laws to contain contagious diseases through quarantine and public shaming.
- The Founding Charter of the Seattle Public Library
A look back at the 1888 constitution of the city's first library association, which operated on membership dues, fine-print regulations, and a dream of civic enrichment.
Also about this, in other words
- A Councilman's Attempt at Control
A local Everett union official tries to insert 'obey' into the oath of office for his colleagues.
- The Reverend and the Editor Spar Over Grammar
A local minister demands public corrections for his column, leading to a feisty rebuttal from the newspaper's editorial staff.
- The Wealthy Landowner and the Guardianship Fight
A judge rules that being a 'habitual drunkard' is not sufficient legal grounds to seize control of a man's assets, thwarting his children's attempt to secure their inheritance.
- Seattle’s 1889 Debates on Race and Rule
A local group of attorneys gathered at a private cottage to debate the explosive question: 'Shall negro majorities rule?'
- A Boy’s Quick Thinking Saves the May Creek Trestle
When a youth discovered a blaze on a high railway bridge, his rapid response prevented a catastrophe for the incoming train.
- Try Masel and Risk Contempt, Council Is Warned
Attorney John Wiley says an appeal has stayed the case against the deposed fire commissioner—and that city officials could be hauled before the supreme court if they proceed.
- The Martyrdom of the Needle
A fiery plea from the pulpit for women's right to work and fair wages.
- The Mob Rule at Our Doorstep
When an organized society in Walla Walla issued threats against anyone hiring Chinese labor, the press decried the move as a return to the lawless spirit of the frontier.