The Auction Block of 1878: A City’s Property Under the Hammer
While Seattle’s Common Council met to approve small municipal expenses, the sheriff was busy auctioning off downtown blocks to satisfy debt in the growing territory.
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.
The Sheriff’s sales of the Jackson property, in the vicinity of the old railroad track, and the property of the Talbot Coal Co. took place in front of Maddocks’ Hall this morning. The bidding on the Jackson property, consisting of lots 2 and 3, block 24, of A. A. Denny’s Addition, was pretty brisk, there being three bidders, and it was finally knocked down to Crawford Harrington, the mortgagees, for $4,250. The Talbot property was bid in by the plaintiffs, Dexter Horton & Co., for $928.
“The bidding on the Jackson property... was pretty brisk, there being three bidders, and it was finally knocked down to Crawford Harrington, the mortgagees, for $4,250.”
The mention of 'Dexter Horton & Co.' as a major player in property acquisition marks the rise of the financial institutions that would define Seattle's development for the next century. Today, these same locations in Pioneer Square and the central business district remain the focus of intense struggles over ownership, land value, and the legacy of the city's early economic power-brokers.
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