The Seattle Building Boom
A survey of the rapid industrial expansion, from the doubling of the steamboat fleet to the explosion of sawmills and the soaring price of local real estate.
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.
We all see the new houses going up, we all see the new people crowding our streets, and we all see the great movement of shipping and merchandise. The increase of the steamboat business is remarkable; at least twenty steamers have been built or are building now. There never before was such activity in our shipyards. Lumber production is another growing industry. Four years ago there was only one saw mill within the limits of the city. Now there are eleven saw mills in the city, or a greater number than at any other one point within fifteen hundred miles. Real estate is equally feverish. A profit of very nearly 50 percent in a single month on so large a sale is not to be sneezed at. Residences are in great demand, and rents remain firm. As many houses are being built as materials for their construction can be obtained.
“There never before was such activity in our shipyards, and more than this they have been compelled to turn away work.”
The frantic pace of 1883 Seattle development, driven by resource extraction and rapid population influx, set the blueprint for the city's modern boom-and-bust housing cycles. Today's residents might recognize the same anxiety about rapid transformation and the struggle to build homes fast enough for those flooding into the city.
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