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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1878 | 1 |
| 1880 | 1 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1888 | 3 |
| 1889 | 2 |
| 1891 | 2 |
| 1894 | 3 |
| 1895 | 6 |
| 1903 | 2 |
| 1910 | 1 |
22 stories matching subdivis
- The Subdivision of the Boyer Ranch
A significant 800-acre land deal signals shifting ownership in the Walla Walla valley.
- The Birth of a Neighborhood on Queen Anne Hill
A 1891 promotional advertisement offers a glimpse into the rapid expansion of Seattle, as land developers pushed into the forests above Lake Union.
- The Muckleshoot Reservation Is Carved Into 40-Acre Allotments
Federal agents move to survey and divide the Muckleshoot reservation near Auburn into individual tracts, a policy that will reshape Indigenous land tenure.
- The Colville Reservation Is Surveyed for White Settlement
A treaty strips the Colville Indian Reservation down to individual allotments, and surveyors are called to run more than 1,000 miles of lines across northeastern Washington.
- Ten Cottages and 110 Lots in an 1888 Seattle Drawing
In 1888, real estate developers in Seattle drummed up interest in a new subdivision by raffling off modern cottages to property buyers.
- The Retired Colonel and the County Treasurer
A judge instructs a Grand Jury on whether a retired U.S. Army officer is legally permitted to hold the civilian office of King County Treasurer.
- The Real Estate Boom of Salmon Bay
Promotional copy for a 1888 Seattle subdivision promise rapid riches, mirroring the city's perpetual hunger for land development.
- The Real Estate Rush to Lake Union
A 1891 developer's pitch for the 'fine' residential property of Lake Union, promising transit access and views of the burgeoning city.
- The High School Building Scandal
A legal opinion alleges the Walla Walla School Board acted illegally by building a new high school without taxpayer authorization and exceeding constitutional debt limits.
- The Wild West of Washington Land Speculation
A 19th-century land agent pitches the 'script' system for acquiring Snohomish homesteads, revealing the complex, sometimes predatory, machinery behind early settlement.
- The Dream of 'Palatine Hill': An 1888 Real Estate Pitch
Before the city sprawled into the hills, developers promised the 'cheapest property' and a future of manufacturing jobs in this ambitious suburban subdivision near Seattle.
- Washington Asked Congress for $34,500 to Finish Carving Up the Colville Reservation
An 1894 dispatch from the capital details the surveying and allotment machinery behind opening the northern Colville Reservation to settlement — right down to the promise that the cost would be repaid 'from the proceeds of the lands when sold.'
- A Dry County, a Thirsty Town, and the January 1st Loophole
Ione voted on whether to license saloons weeks after the county unit went dry. The Anti-Saloon League's superintendent said the law forbade it — and produced out-of-state precedents to prove the town had to stay closed until 1911.
- The Great Seattle Land Rush: West Seattle and Lake Union Lots Vanish in Days
As the city expands beyond its original hills, developers are selling off prime waterfront real estate at bargain prices before the next boom hits.
- The Heirs Who Came for a Snohomish Subdivision — and Went Home Empty
Five years of litigation over half of a $40,000 estate ends in a demurrer: under the law of 1879, a dead wife's share of the community property belonged to her husband, and the people who bought lots in the Clay addition can keep their houses.
- The Farmer’s Cabinet: Why Seattle’s Papers Are Fighting a War in Washington
An editorial in the *Seattle Daily Post-Intelligencer* argues against elevating the Department of Agriculture to Cabinet status, warning that it would create bureaucratic chaos and ignore the true role of federal oversight.
- 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 Booster Who Sold a Forest by the Lot
A Tacoma real-estate promoter turned a virgin forest into a one-day $135,000 land rush—then got lost in the woods and stumbled on a surveyor’s stake from his own subdivision.
- A Will on Note Paper Survives a Husband’s Challenge
A Seattle court admits Lena Shay Baldwin’s handwritten will, ending a long contest with her surviving husband over Washington, D.C. property, family furniture and jewelry.
- The Tide Lands Plat: A Waterfront Laid Out for Sale
State appraisers file the plat for the Tacoma tide lands, opening 600 acres of shore and mud flats to sale—unless upland owners claim them first.
- A Farmer Vanished Near Mica, and His Neighbors Blamed a Populist 'Shotgun Club'
Charles F. Glovstein disappeared from his Spokane County farm on July 28, 1894. Republicans called it political murder; the governor could offer only $1,000 for answers, and a secret 'protective association' was said to hold its members for life.
- The City That Vanished: Seattle’s First Real Estate Bubble and the Ghosts of Terry’s Addition
A look back at January 1890, when Seattle’s land boom was in full swing, prices were soaring, and developers like George Dorffel were selling lots in new subdivisions to speculators eager for a quick profit.