The Brick Fortress on Commercial Street
In 1872, Bailey Gatzert and Schwabacher Bros. erected a $26,000 commercial landmark that signaled Seattle’s arrival as a financial hub.
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.
The magnificent new brick, iron-front store building for Schwabacher Bros. Co., on Commercial Street, is now completed and presents a fine appearance, fully equal to the best upon Front Street in Portland. We are informed that the cost of this building, when completed, exclusive of ground, will be about $26,000. The business of this house for the current year will be about $250,000, and this large business has been built up within the past three years, from a branch store, by the sagacity, integrity and business tact of Mr. Bailey Gatzert, the managing partner of the house.
Mr. Gatzert will duplicate all Portland bills at a liberal discount on wholesale prices. Stone Burnett, in the same line of general merchandise, an older house and started on much less means, it is supposed to do nearly an equal business, both wholesale and retail.
This 1872 report on Bailey Gatzert’s massive commercial expansion mirrors modern debates over Seattle's rapid commercialization and the rise of local tycoons. Just as Gatzert’s brick building signaled a shift from frontier trading post to established city, today’s high-rise developments define Seattle’s economic identity, raising similar questions about who benefits from this growth.
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