The New Spirit of Front Street
As Seattle's wholesale economy matures in the 1870s, a new firm moves into the Pontius Building to cut out the San Francisco middleman.
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 latest enterprise in Seattle is the fitting up of an establishment on Front street in Pontius' new four-story building, by Messrs. S. Baxter & Co., devoted exclusively to a wholesale trade in liquors and cigars. This business venture is a timely one, and we apprehend that it will meet with excellent success. The absence of a first-class liquor and cigar establishment like the one just opened has been noticeable in this city for some time, and the advent of this new firm will now supply a want long felt by the retail dealers around the Sound who have heretofore had to make their purchases in Portland and San Francisco. The proprietors of this establishment have engaged the first three floors of the Pontius building and have just moved in with their stock. Their large stock, which arrived on the last steamer from San Francisco, is first-class in every particular and comprises a full line of liquors and cigars, including the choicest and most celebrated brands known to the trade. Mr. Baxter informs us that it is their purpose to secure the wholesale liquor and cigar trade from this portion of the Territory that has heretofore gone to San Francisco, and this they propose to do by not only keeping the best of everything in their line, but by actually putting their goods down to San Francisco prices.
“The absence of a first-class liquor and cigar establishment like the one just opened has been noticeable in this city for some time.”
This 1877 account captures the moment Seattle began evolving from a colonial outpost reliant on California to a regional hub of its own. Just as Baxter & Co. sought to capture the 'wholesale trade' once sent to San Francisco, modern Seattle continues to grapple with its role as a regional economic anchor vs. its dependence on global supply chains.
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