The Price of Debt in 1877 Seattle
Foreclosure notices reveal the rapid shift in property ownership as King County land was liquidated at the courthouse steps.
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.
Under and by virtue of a decree of foreclosure and order of sale, made and entered of record in the District Court of the Third Judicial District of the Territory of Washington, on the 3rd day of September, A.D. 1877, wherein Sarah M. Benton and Wm. Benton her husband, the plaintiffs, obtained a judgment against Robert Robinson and Fanny Robinson his wife, defendants, for the sum of $1,245 gold coin of the United States, with interest at 1.5 per cent per month, and costs taxed at $21.10, and an attorney fee of $60. Public notice is hereby given that on Saturday, January 12, 1878, at the hour of 10 o'clock A.M., at the Court House door in the city of Seattle, County of King, and Territory of Washington, I will, in obedience to said order of sale and decree of foreclosure, sell the following described lots or parcels of land, to wit: Lots one (1), eight (8), nine (9), ten (10), and eleven (11) of block two (2); lots two (2), three (3), four (4), five (5), six (6), seven (7), eight (8), and nine (9) of block four (4); lots one (1), two (2), three (3), four (4), five (5), six (6), seven (7), eight (8), nine (9), and ten (10) of block seven (7); lots three (3), four (4), five (5), six (6), seven (7), eight (8), nine (9), and ten (10) of block eight (8); lots seven (7) and eight (8) of block eleven (11); lots four (4), five (5), six (6), seven (7), eight (8), nine (9), eleven (11) and twelve (12) of block thirteen (13); lots one (1), two (2) of block fifteen (15); lots one (1), two (2), three (3), and four (4) of block twenty-one (21), and all of defendants' interest in blocks three (3), five (5), six (6), nine (9), ten (10), twelve (12), thirteen (13), sixteen (16), eighteen (18) and nineteen (19), in what is known on the plats of record in the Auditor's office of said county as Ward's Addition to the city of Seattle.
“I will, in obedience to said order of sale and decree of foreclosure, sell the following described lots or parcels of land... to the highest bidder for gold coin.”
In 1877, Ward's Addition was being carved up and liquidated to settle debts in a territory hungry for gold coin and development. Today, Seattle remains a hotbed of property litigation and land-use battles, echoing the same high-stakes instability that characterized the city's early expansion as it evolved from a colonial frontier outpost into a booming metropolis.
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