The Seattle Real Estate 'Gigantic Scheme' to Chicago
A proposed state law to widen Seattle streets is condemned as a speculative ploy to unload property on unsuspecting Eastern buyers.
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.
In the state senate, a bill enabling cities of the first class to exercise the right of eminent domain for taking land for public purposes faced sharp opposition. Senator Butler contended that the measure was nothing more than a 'gigantic real estate scheme' lobbied for by Seattle dealers. The plan, he claimed, was intended to widen streets in and around Seattle to create an 'immense boulevard from 200 to 250 feet wide,' specifically designed to be mapped and exhibited at the upcoming Chicago World's Fair to unload property on Eastern buyers. A petition protesting the bill, signed by prominent citizens including A.A. Denny, Dexter Horton, D.T. Denny, and Angus Mackintosh, was presented to the senate as evidence of the measure's unpopularity among heavy property owners.
“It is the intention to attempt to unload the property on Eastern buyers.”
This 1893 debate over 'speculative' street widening and eminent domain echoes contemporary Seattle anxieties about development and the influence of big real estate. Even then, city leaders were using the promise of 'grand boulevards' and international attention (like the Chicago World's Fair) to lure outside capital, a practice that remains central to the city's growth machine today.
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