The 1876 Snapshot of a Growing Seattle
A new city directory reveals the frantic pace of 19th-century growth, cataloging the small businesses and shifting population of a frontier town on the cusp of modernization.
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.
Among the many other events marking the Centennial year of 1876 is the issue of the first annual business directory of Seattle. This valuable little compendium, compiled by K. C. Ward and published by B. L. Northup, is ready for distribution today. It is a well-gotten-up volume of 106 pages, neatly bound in the style of other city directories, and reflects great credit upon its energetic projectors as well as the enterprise of the city of whose progress it is an exponent. The alphabetical catalogue gives the names and addresses of one thousand and forty-one heads of families and adults actively engaged in industrial pursuits in this city, and the business department specifies two hundred and seventy-two business establishments. This does not include ministers, professional men, teachers and schools, etc., not enumerated. The number of firms mentioned are: hotels and liveries, thirty-one; boarding houses and restaurants, twelve; markets, seven; mills, three; newspapers, three daily and weekly, and one monthly; foundries and iron works, two; shipyards, two; jewelers, four; wharves, eight. The assessed valuation of property was $1,378,016.76 for 1873; $1,788,172.00 for 1875; and $2,028,095.00 for 1876. A census made by Mr. Ward during August and September of this year found a population of 3,254; however, this census is below the mark for the present population. There have been large arrivals from abroad since the census was taken, and there is always a class of floating laborers which it is difficult to estimate. Adding the vote of the city from last month, we have a population of at least four thousand.
“There is always a class of floating laborers which it is difficult to estimate.”
In 1876, Seattle was documenting its rapid expansion to prove its viability to investors, much as it does today. The struggle to accurately count a 'floating population' of workers remains a central theme in modern debates over housing and census data in a high-growth, transient economy.
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