The Price of Seattle’s Growth: A 1878 Land Liquidation
A wave of court-ordered property auctions in 1878 reveals the precarious nature of land ownership and debt in early Seattle, as local families and businesses faced the loss of their holdings.
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.
By virtue of an order of sale issued out of the District Court of the Third Judicial District of Washington Territory, holding terms at the City of Seattle, in King County, on the 15th day of February, 1878, in the case numbered 364, where James Guinand and William A. Harrington, partners, doing business under the firm name of Guinand & Harrington, are the plaintiffs and Thomas J. Jackson and Eliza Jackson, his wife, William Baunton, James Scott and Andrew Moore are defendants. I have levied upon the property described in said decree to wit: All of lots two (2) and three (3) in block numbered twenty-four (24) in that part of the City of Seattle laid out and platted by A. A. Denny, and known as A. A. Denny’s Addition in Seattle. And now, by virtue of said decree and order for sale, on Monday, the 6th day of May, 1878, at the hour of 10 A.M., in front of the Court House door in said City of Seattle, I will sell to the highest bidder, for cash, gold coin, all the right, title, interest and equity of redemption of said defendants in the above described property.
“I will sell to the highest bidder, for cash, gold coin, all the right, title, interest and equity of redemption of said defendants.”
In 1878, Seattle property was being liquidated to satisfy debts, a stark reminder of the financial instability that historically underpinned the city's expansion. Today, the names on these land plats, like A.A. Denny, remain etched into the city's geography, even as the struggle to maintain affordable ownership in these same neighborhoods continues to define the local housing crisis.
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