The Waterfront Real Estate Gamble of 1876
A modest land offering on M Street captures the ambition of a growing frontier town.
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.
FOR SALE. One House. ONE LOT 60x120 FEET. LOCATED ON M Street, between Seneca and University. Apply to B. J. MOORE.
“Go to Beta McAllister's new grocery store, on Front Street, if you want the worth of your money.”
In 1876, 'M Street' (later renamed Western Avenue) was a prime location for the city's expanding workforce. Today, this stretch remains a site of intense competition for housing and commercial space, mirroring the 19th-century struggle to claim a piece of Seattle's rapidly shifting urban core.
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