The Iron Heart of Industrial Seattle
A look at the expansive storefront of Waddell & Miles in 1876, a one-stop shop for the pipes, stoves, and industrial machinery that built the frontier.
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.
Waddell & Miles, Wholesale and Retail Dealers in Stoves and Ranges. We offer the largest stock and greatest variety of Cooking and Box Stoves in Washington Territory. Over 50 different kinds and styles to select from, including the old favorites: Diamond Rock, Superior, Chief Cook (for wood or coal, plain or extension top), Eureka, and Mammoth. We also carry iron pipe for gas, water, or steam, in both black and galvanized, alongside malleable iron pipe fittings and suction and force pumps. We carry tinware, hollow ware, and brass goods of all descriptions. Having the largest pipe-cutting and threading machine on Puget Sound, we are prepared to cut and thread pipe of all sizes from 1/4 inch to 3 inches with promptness. We are agents for Van's celebrated wrought-iron ranges and patent coffee urns for hotels, steamboats, and restaurants. Parties in want of any goods in our line will find it to their interest to give us a call before purchasing elsewhere, as we have the largest and most complete stock on the Sound.
“Having the largest pipe cutting and threading machine, and the most complete pipe tools on Puget Sound, we are prepared to cut and thread Pipe, all sizes, from 1/4 in. to 3 in.”
In 1876, Seattle was a town defined by its ability to import and fabricate the raw mechanical parts of civilization—stoves and pipes were the literal infrastructure of settlement. Today, while the storefronts of Front Street (now First Avenue) have shifted from ironmongery to tourism and high-end retail, the city's obsession with being the primary provider of regional industrial tools remains the backbone of the local economy.
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