Ten Cottages and 110 Lots in an 1888 Seattle Drawing
In 1888, real estate developers in Seattle drummed up interest in a new subdivision by raffling off modern cottages to property 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.
The Jackson and Rainier Streets Addition is one of the largest, best located and most desirable tracts ever placed upon the market, consisting of 110 choice residence lots. We are offering an unprecedented deal: ten elegantly finished, modern design cottages, ranging in value from $750 to $1,000 each, to be given away with the property. Every purchaser secures a lot, and ten out of the whole number secure houses with the lots. The drawing for lots and houses will take place at the office of Messrs. Kittinger, under the supervision of three prominent citizens. A boy or girl will be selected by the purchasers, who will proceed to draw names and numbers from boxes. Warranty deeds will be made for lots as rapidly as the result is known. Remember that there are no blanks; each purchaser secures a lot, and ten out of the whole number secure a house and lot worth up to $1,000.
“Every purchaser secures a lot, and 10 out of the whole number secure houses with the lots, worth from $750 to $1,000.”
This 1888 promotion echoes modern Seattle’s frantic real estate market, where developers use innovative (and sometimes desperate) schemes to entice buyers. While the raffle of the 1880s sounds like a carnival act, the underlying pressure to stake a claim in a rapidly expanding city remains a familiar Seattle struggle.
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