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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1877 | 1 |
| 1882 | 2 |
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| 1887 | 1 |
| 1888 | 4 |
| 1889 | 4 |
| 1891 | 4 |
| 1892 | 2 |
| 1894 | 1 |
| 1895 | 3 |
24 stories matching tokla
- The Great Seattle Retail Fire Sale of 1885
Toklas, Singerman & Co. issues a city-wide 'panic' announcement to clear out summer stock to make room for fall shipments.
- The Great Seattle Retail War of 1886
As Seattle merchants faced an economic downturn, a fierce 'price war' erupted between downtown clothiers, with competing shops slashing prices and using aggressive marketing to survive the season.
- Aberdeen’s New Retail Palace Opens in a Blaze of Light
Over 1,500 residents crowded into the new Toklas & Kaufman brick block, marking a milestone in the city's Gilded Age expansion.
- 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 City Rallies for Roslyn
Seattle organizations and individuals pool resources to support the widows and orphans of a devastating coal mine disaster.
- The Great Funeral of the Dead Man's Flats
Seattle prepares for a bizarre civic spectacle: a mass burial of thousands of dead men in a reclaimed swamp, complete with a parade and a $5 entry fee.
- The Pioneer Fever: Why Aberdeen's First Business Leaders Stayed
Early commercial titans share the accidents, rainy days, and raw optimism that led them to build a city on the muddy banks of Grays Harbor.
- Seattle Firm Builds Temporary Store After Great Fire
After the catastrophic 1889 fire destroyed their downtown store, the merchants of Toklas, Singerman & Co. share a testament of resilience and their plans for a new, larger establishment.
- The Retail Empire of Front Street
How Toklas, Singerman & Co. transformed a Seattle storefront into a massive, booming mercantile powerhouse at the dawn of 1891.
- The Pride of Aberdeen
A new brick business block on Heron Street marks a milestone in Aberdeen’s development.
- The Department Store Revolution in Pioneer Square
Before the mall, there was the 'mercantile establishment'—a 19th-century retail behemoth that promised the modern consumer everything from tailor-made suits to beaded capes under a single Seattle roof.
- The Great Fire of 1889: Seattle’s Retail Phoenix
After the Great Seattle Fire leveled the city’s business district, Toklas, Singerman Co. rebuilt their massive dry-goods emporium, vowing to anchor the city’s economic recovery.
- Rising from the Ashes: A Retail Giant’s Rebirth
After the Great Seattle Fire destroyed their store, Toklas, Singerman Co. pledges to build a new retail empire in a city still cleaning up the soot.
- The 1895 Push to Split Seattle From King County
A Chamber of Commerce meeting with new state legislators turned into a drive to separate Seattle from King County—and to force the school board to live within its means.
- A Night of Ruin: Olympia’s Business District Ravaged by Fire
A catastrophic blaze tears through a full city block in Olympia, leaving shopkeepers and residents devastated in its wake.
- After the Great Fire: A Retail Giant Rises from the Ashes
How Seattle merchant Toklas, Singerman & Co. leveraged the trauma of the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 to expand and dominate the regional market.
- The Transformation of Front Street
As property values soar in 1887, Seattle’s downtown business district begins a rapid transition from wood to brick, signaling a new era of permanence.
- Seattle Tried to Garden Its Way Out of Unemployment
At a Chamber of Commerce meeting, civic leaders pledged vacant land, tools and seed so jobless families could grow vegetables through the winter, borrowing a relief plan from Detroit.
- The Ghost of the Sound: A Swindler’s Vanishing Act
A glib salesman charms his way into the good graces of a prominent Seattle firm, only to disappear with their funds and a trail of aliases.
- A Kerosene Lamp Burns Olympia's Only Good Hotel to the Ground
An exploding lamp gutted the Carleton House on Monday evening, killing the capital city's chief lodging house and leaving the town almost without a place to put up travelers.
- The Real Estate Fever That Never Broke
As coal shipments swell and new wharves rise, Seattle’s property market remains feverish in May 1889—just months before the Great Fire reshaped the city.
- The Million-Dollar Protest: Front Street Owners vs. The Cable Car
Pioneers and property magnates rallied against a proposed cable railway on Seattle’s main thoroughfare, arguing that the city council was ignoring the will of taxpayers in favor of outside capital.
- Seattle’s Food and Shelter Depot Served 5,572 Free Meals in December
The charity’s weekly report defended free meals, promised work for the able-bodied, and insisted it served all comers regardless of race or religion.
- A House of Prayer for All the Nations
In 1892, Seattle's Congregation Ohaveth Sholom dedicated the first Jewish synagogue in Washington, filling the new sanctuary at Seventh and Seneca with Jews and Gentiles and with sermons that insisted the building must be more than stone and gold.