The Delinquent Tax Auction of 1878
A sweeping list of King County residents facing property forfeiture offers a window into the messy, frontier-era accumulation of Seattle 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.
Notice of Sale: By virtue of an act of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Washington, I will, on Monday, April 1, 1878, at 10 o'clock A.M., sell at public auction at the Court House of this county, all delinquent county, school, and special taxes for the year 1877 on the real estate described in the following list, unless the same is sooner redeemed. I will also sell at the same place all lands heretofore sold to the county for delinquent taxes for the years 1875 and 1876, which have not since been redeemed. The sale will continue from day to day until all such real estate shall have been sold or offered for sale. Geo. D. Hill, Treasurer, King County.
“I will, on Monday, April 1, 1878, at 10 o'clock A.M., sell at public auction... all lands heretofore sold to the county for delinquent taxes.”
This 1878 tax roll records the birth of Seattle's modern urban landscape, listing names that would become local street signs (Maynard, Boren, Denny, Judkins) as they struggled to pay early municipal taxes. It serves as a reminder that the city's concentrated land ownership was built on a volatile foundation of speculative debt and recurring fiscal crises that would be instantly recognizable to today's homeowners and renters.
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