The Great Seattle Fire
Shelton residents receive news of a massive inferno consuming the business district of Seattle, causing millions in damage.
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.
Big fire raging in Seattle as we go to press. Much of the business portion burned. Front street to Mill cleaned on both sides. Loss reached $2,000,000, and fire still raging at last accounts.
“Loss reached $2,000,000, and fire still raging at last accounts.”
This is a contemporary report of the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, a disaster that reshaped the state's largest city and triggered a massive urban planning and fire-code overhaul. It serves as a reminder of how interconnected the regional economy of Puget Sound was, even when communication was limited to print and rail.
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