The Seattle Rail Boom of 1888
A massive new contract with a Canadian firm promises to connect Seattle to the transcontinental rail line, fueling the city's rapid, foundation-building growth.
The people of Seattle have good reason to feel elated over the news which has been received in regard to the Seattle West Coast railroad. Never in the history of our city has there been received any news more full of promise. A contract has been signed by which Sinclair & Co., a well known and thoroughly responsible firm of Canadian contractors, agree to complete the line of road now under construction between Seattle and Snohomish and to continue the road to the Canadian border, all to be completed within one year. It is therefore safe to say that the Canadian Pacific train will be running into Seattle by the first of January, 1889. The growth of the city is undoubtedly rapid, but it is a growth which has a sound foundation. For every man who comes here, there is work to do. For every store opened, there is plenty of trade. Never did a city have a more steady and substantial growth. The value of the buildings erected during the year is more than a million and a half dollars, yet so rapidly is the population of the city increasing that it is almost impossible for new arrivals to find houses in which to live.
“Build houses as rapidly as we may, we cannot build them fast enough to accommodate the people who are flocking to our city.”
In 1888, Seattle was racing to build enough housing to accommodate a massive influx of newcomers and infrastructure investment, a struggle that remains at the heart of the city's contemporary identity and political discourse.
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