The 'Marvel of All' Cities
A look back at Seattle's rapid transformation from a frontier settlement to a booming hub of industry and trade.
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.
General H. V. Boynton writes to the Cincinnati Gazette that the excursionists, who had been hurried from one surprise to another after leaving St. Paul, had begun to think at Portland that wonders in the shape of towns would cease, but that they found Seattle 'the marvel of all.' In the course of a long letter describing the city and its surroundings, he makes the following summary of the changes which have taken place in the past thirty years: 'The population is 10,000. The first settlement was not established till 1851. Of six who then came, one was from Ohio. In 1856 the town had a narrow escape from destruction by the Indians. The first vessel came in 1852. There was not a saw-board in town till 1853. The first white child was not born till 1854. The first stone building was erected in 1880, and the first of brick was not built till 1872. Today we landed in a great city, with imposing blocks of business houses, large and elegantly appointed hotels, thirteen churches, a Territorial University, and a high school that would do honor to any Eastern city. There were stocks of goods which were wonderful in their extent, variety and luxury, and lumbering establishments that few, if any, Eastern regions can equal. The private residences were modern in architecture, and those where members of the party called were tastefully and richly furnished. The assessed value of property approaches $6,000,000.'
“Today we landed in a great city, with imposing blocks of business houses, large and elegantly appointed hotels, thirteen churches, a Territorial University.”
In 1883, Seattle was in the midst of its first massive boom, transitioning from a timber camp to a city. Today, we still wrestle with the same 'growing pains' that Boynton noted—the tension between rapid development and the cultural identity of a place that feels like it changed overnight.
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