The Dream of 'Wine Hill': A Victorian Real Estate Mirage
Developers in 1888 touted a booming Seattle suburb near Salmon Bay with a schoolhouse and factory jobs, long before the reality of the city's sprawl caught up.
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.
WINE HILL. Lots 40, 50, and 60x110 feet. Only $100 to $150 per lot. The most desirable and cheap suburban property on the market today. It is situated within one and a half miles of the Seattle Post Office, served by the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad. It is within a ten minutes' easy walk of the station on that road, a near minutes' walk to Salmon Bay, and one mile to the Smith Cove car shops. This beautiful locality is particularly suited for the location of homes. As it is within easy reach of Seattle, either by rail or carriage road, and with the new iron factories already situated there, and the iron men who are there to reside within the next few months, there will be openings for hosts of machinists, carpenters, laborers, and in fact all kinds of skilled and unskilled laborers. A post office is to be established, as also a general merchandise store, which will add much to the value. A great advantage is that there is a schoolhouse on the ground for the children.
“Collect instead of pay rents. Be your own landlord.”
The 'Wine Hill' advertisement captures the exact same booster spirit that fueled Seattle’s early expansion. While the amenities promised—like the 'new iron factories' and specific schoolhouses—often vanished or moved, this recurring dream of the affordable, 'ideal' suburban lot persists today as modern Seattleites continue to push into new neighborhoods in search of homeownership.
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