A House and Lot for Sale on Second Street (Dec 16, 1876)
A straightforward classified advertisement for a house and lot on 2nd Street offers a window into the rapid, transactional growth of 1870s Seattle.
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 page carries a brief classified notice offering one house and one lot for sale. The lot is described as 60 by 120 feet, located on Second Street between Seneca and University. No price, terms, or description of the building itself is given in the advertisement.
Applications are directed to R. J. Moore, the only name attached to the notice. The same page holds separate sale notices for other property, including two two-story dwelling houses and three lots in Law's Addition, but the Second Street house and lot are listed on their own and without further detail.
“One House and ONE LOT 60X120 FEET. LOCATED ON 2d Street, between Seneca and University.”
In 1876, a 60x120 foot lot in the heart of what is now downtown Seattle was a manageable commodity for a settler. Today, that same land sits in the center of the city's most intense housing affordability crisis, where a single lot is worth millions and is often the subject of fierce debate over density and high-rise development.
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