A New School for a Growing City
The Seattle School Board secures a central block from developer W. N. Bell for a new permanent schoolhouse.
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 Directors of School District No. 1 (as we are informed by Capt. Taylor, Clerk of the Board) have agreed to purchase of W. N. Bell a piece of land 340 feet square, known as block 8, paying therefor $4,000, on which a magnificent school building will be erected during the present season. The Board were anxious to get this block at a much more reasonable figure, but Mr. Bell could not be made to see it, and hung out for the full price. The block is a very pretty and finely located lot for school purposes, on account of its central location and sightliness.
“The Board were anxious to get this block at a much more reasonable figure, but Mr. Bell could not be made to see it, and hung out for the full price.”
The tension between private real estate speculation and public infrastructure needs is timeless. In 1883, as in 2024, the struggle to secure affordable land for public goods remains a defining feature of Seattle’s development.
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