Late-Night Revels in North Seattle
High society turns out for an elaborate evening of Japanese lanterns, dancing, and midnight supper at the home of Mr. and Mrs. A. M. Urich.
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.
Mr. and Mrs. A. M. Urich held a delightful dancing party at their new home in North Seattle last Wednesday evening. The residence was handsomely decorated and the grounds were brilliantly lighted up with Japanese lanterns. The party did not care to retire until midnight, assembling and continuing several hours later. The following ladies and gentlemen were present: Mr. and Mrs. Bailey Gatzert, Mr. and Mrs. P. Stewart, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Llewellyn, Mr. and Mrs. J. Kirtley, Mr. and Mrs. H. K. Whitney, Mr. and Mrs. Morris Miller, Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Coulter, Mr. and Mrs. W. D. Wood, Mr. and Mrs. Erastus Brainerd, Mr. and Mrs. F. Edward Winder, Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Blackwell, Mr. and Mrs. F. E. Sanders, Mr. and Mrs. F. Whittlesey, Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Jennings, Mr. and Mrs. J. P. McRedmond, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph M. Axworthy, Mr. and Mrs. Davidson, Mr. and Mrs. N. B. Engle, Governor and Mrs. E. P. Ferry, Mr. and Mrs. C. M. Lilliebridge, Mr. and Mrs. O. H. Presby, Mr. and Mrs. V. H. Liffingwell, and many others.
“The residence was handsomely decorated and the grounds were brilliantly lighted up with Japanese lanterns.”
In the 1890s, 'North Seattle' was a burgeoning residential frontier, much like today’s rapidly densifying urban villages. These elaborate late-night parties were the social glue for the city’s elite, mirroring the exclusionary, neighborhood-focused social circuits that persist in Seattle's private residential enclaves today.
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