The Brickyard Expansion: Fueling Seattle's Rapid Growth
As Seattle transitioned from a frontier outpost to a developing city, a local businessman secured a four-year lease on the city's primary brickyard to meet the surging demand for permanent construction materials.
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.
C. McAllister announces that he has leased the brick yard known as the Pioneer yard for four years, intending to supply the demand at reduced rates. He says he will be prepared to furnish to order in June next. The notice is dated Seattle, March 1877.
The same page carries building-material and supply advertisements: Seattle Planing Mills offers sash, doors, blinds, frames, shutters, wood finish and seasoned lumber; Craig & Marshall at Stone Burnett Wharf advertise hard and soft wood and lumber; and Star Mills lists flour, cracked wheat, corn meal, bran, shorts and feed.
“I have leased the brickyard known as the Pioneer yard, for a term of four years, with the intention of supplying the demand at reduced prices.”
In 1877, Seattle was a timber town beginning to eye permanence, transitioning from wood to brick to combat the constant threat of fire. Today, that same desire for density and fire-safe construction drives our modern debates over the cost and environmental impact of concrete and steel high-rises.
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