Seattle’s Early 1878 Council Meetings
Before the skyline, the city was built on ordinances, grain dryers, and the push for a trans-mountain railroad.
The Common Council met pursuant to adjournment with Mayor Brown in the chair. The bill of the Seattle Trucking Co. was ordered paid by a warrant drawn on the proper fund for $175. The bill of J. J. McGilvra, for attorney fees, was passed by the council, striking out the two last items, and was suspended by the Mayor for further consideration. Petition of Samuel Kenny was received and referred to the finance committee. It was moved and seconded that the Clerk be authorized to issue a license to the glass blower at the rate of $2.50 for each and every day of the performance. The salary of the person taking care of the engine and room was set at $35 per month. The matter of grading Commercial Street from Washington Street to the Bay was referred to the road committee, with instructions to report by ordinance at the next meeting. Engineer Scurry has made preliminary surveys up Cedar River six miles and is now engaged in putting in the grade stakes. Meanwhile, G. Smith and Fay, who arrived from Yakima, report that the people of that section are unified in their sentiment to raise $50,000 for their quota for grading the railroad across the mountains, buoyed by recent rich discoveries in the Swauk mines.
“The matter of grading Commercial street from Washington street to the Bay, was referred to the road committee.”
The 1878 council's preoccupation with 'grading streets' and securing rail links to the east prefigures the massive infrastructure debates that have defined Seattle’s growth for nearly 150 years. The constant push to connect the interior to the waterfront remains the central tension of the city's development, from the early rail lines to the modern Link light rail expansion.
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