The Real Estate and Money Brokers of the Pacific Coast: 'Collect Instead of Pay Rents'
A bold advertisement in the Seattle Daily Post-Intelligencer invites locals to become landlords rather than tenants, promising that Seattle will double in population within twelve months.
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.
COLLECT INSTEAD OF PAY RENTS.
Seeker after a fortune.
The Real Estate and Money Brokers of the Pacific Coast, POST BUILDING, MILL STREET, SEATTLE, OFFER FREE OF COST TO YOU.
And if you should wish to plant some money in the THE ONLY SEATTLE IN AMERICA, As well as to all residents, to call at their office. And spend a few minutes' time in looking To your Friends and Acquaintances 1st, We can sell you lots in BE YOUR OWN LANDLORD.
Seattle will double in population within twelve months. The railroad capital and population are coming to Seattle. Become one of her prosperous citizens. We are bringing a fortune while you have a chance. Wealth is now within our grasp; have faith, meet us and become a fixture in the New York of the Pacific Coast.
This 1886 advertisement captures the fever pitch of Seattle's post-fire real estate boom, where brokers aggressively marketed land speculation as a path to wealth. The promise that the city would 'double in population within twelve months' was a classic booster tactic; while Seattle did grow rapidly, this hyperbolic language mirrors modern marketing tactics used during housing bubbles and gentrification waves, urging residents to buy now before prices skyrocket.
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