The Unprecedented Heatwave of 1887
As temperatures soared to over 100 degrees, Seattle grappled with a record-breaking heat spell that left dozens dead and the city in a state of exhaustion.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Seattle, July 18 — With a temperature of 100 degrees in the shade, the city has experienced the most intense heat in its history. Up to this hour, forty-six people were struck down, and fifteen have already died of sunstroke. The total number of cases cared for by the police department today was over 100. Thirty have proved fatal. When a complete record is made, it will be unprecedented in the history of the city. Such a degree of heat has not been experienced in this city for 20 years. At 11 o'clock tonight, the latest returns show that 63 persons have died either in or on the way to various hospitals of heat exhaustion. A number of patients in the hospitals are in a condition their doctors consider hopeless. The thermometer has remained almost unvaryingly high for 36 hours. A wind storm followed by a light rain passed over the city this morning and at 10 o'clock tonight the temperature has dropped to 79.
“Such a degree of heat has not been experienced in this city for 20 years.”
While Seattle is historically famous for its mild, temperate climate, the city’s aging housing stock and general lack of residential air conditioning mean that modern heat events now mirror the crises of the 19th century. This 1887 report captures a moment when the city was entirely unequipped for climate extremes, a vulnerability that remains a central concern for public health and urban planning today.
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