Seattle’s First City Hall: A $500 Bill for Front Street
In September 1876, the fledgling city council authorized a payment to George Edwards for rebuilding the cribbing and earthworks on Front Street, marking one of the earliest municipal infrastructure contracts in Seattle's history.
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.
ORDINANCE NO. 123.
To pay George for rebuilding the cribbing, and the earth-work done by him on Front Street, between Columbia and Marion Streets.
The City of Seattle do ordain as follows:
SECTION 1. That the Clerk draw a warrant on the Treasurer payable out of the proper fund, in favor of George Edwards, or order, to pay him for rebuilding the cribbing and the earth-work done by him on Front street, between Columbia and Marion streets—as soon as said work shall be approved by the City Surveyor—the amount to be Five Hundred Dollars.
SEC. 2. This ordinance shall be in force from and after the date of its publication.
Passed September 18th, A.D. 1876. Published September 21st, A.D. 1876.
O. A. WEED, Mayor. W. A. Ismay, City Clerk.
This 1876 ordinance reveals the gritty reality of early Seattle: a town built on mudflats and riverbanks that required constant, expensive engineering just to keep its main commercial artery, Front Street (now Yesler Way), from washing away. The 'cribbing' mentioned refers to timber retaining walls essential for stabilizing the steep slope down to the waterfront—a foundational struggle against geography that defined Seattle's development long before modern zoning debates.
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