The Price of Early Seattle: A 60x120 Lot for Sale
Before the skyscrapers and the tech giants, a simple real estate listing in the 1876 press reveals the humble origins of land ownership in a budding Seattle.
The page’s Miscellaneous column carries a for-sale notice for “One House and One Lot,” measuring 60 by 120 feet, located on 2d Street between two street names that the scan leaves garbled. The notice is signed R. J. Moore.
The advertisement gives no price and no further description of the house or lot. It appears among other Seattle business notices and cards, including harness, saddlery, boot-and-shoe, grocery, hotel, saloon, and steamer advertisements.
“One house and one lot! 60x120 feet, located on 2d Street, between Seneca and University.”
In 1876, a 60x120 foot lot on 2nd Avenue between Seneca and University was a standard residential parcel. Today, that same footprint sits in the heart of downtown Seattle’s high-density urban core, currently valued at millions of dollars, illustrating the dramatic escalation of land value in the city over the last 150 years.
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