1888 Seattle Development Offered 60 Lots and Five Cottages
Developers used a high-stakes giveaway to lure buyers to the city’s growing outskirts, blending real estate speculation with a chance at a 'small fortune.'
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 60 choice residence lots, located in the growing direction of the city, and only 17 minutes' ride from the Post Office. The greatest building enterprise ever inaugurated in Seattle, affording to each purchaser the full value of the original investment, and a small fortune in every five of the whole number. Five elegantly finished, modern design cottages, ranging in value from $500 to $1000 each, are to be given away with the property. Every purchaser secures a lot, and five out of the whole number secure houses with the lots. Transportation is provided by the Jackson Street Cable Railway, which runs from Jackson and Second Streets to Lake Washington, passing within a few hundred feet of the Addition. Cars will run every 20 minutes, with service increasing to every 10 minutes within three months.
“Every purchaser secures a lot, and 5 out of the whole number secure houses with the lots, worth from $500 to $1000.”
This 1888 promotion for the Jackson and Rainier streets area illustrates the early days of Seattle's rapid expansion and speculative real estate growth. Today, the area remains a dense corridor of development, showing that the cycle of selling 'the future' of the city's outskirts has been a core part of Seattle’s DNA for over 130 years.
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