The Unsinkable Pioneer of Seattle
Moses Korn, a forty-niner and prominent merchant, passes away after a life defined by gold rushes, the Great Seattle Fire, and an unwavering belief in the city's destiny.
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.
Ex-Alderman Moses Korn died of appendicitis at his residence, corner of Yesler Avenue and South Second Street, yesterday at 2 o'clock. Mr. Korn was born in Eppingen, Baden, Germany, and struck out for himself at age 11. He participated in the California gold rush of 1849, later opening a butcher shop in Diamond Springs and a store in Gold Hill, Nevada. After settling in Seattle in 1881, he established himself as a merchant, building the Korn Block. When the Great Fire of 1889 razed his property, he immediately committed to rebuilding, cementing his reputation as a man of faith in the city's future. He served as an alderman from the Fourth Ward in 1894 and remained active in politics and his community until his passing.
“Reverses, however, never affected his spirit, and he always hoped for the morrow.”
Moses Korn represents the quintessential Seattle booster whose identity was inseparable from the city’s rapid, disaster-prone growth. His rebuild-at-all-costs attitude after the 1889 fire mirrors the resilient (if sometimes short-sighted) civic optimism that defines Seattle’s development narrative to this day.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.