The Real Estate Fever of 1889
Before the city’s massive expansion, syndicates and speculators mapped out the future of West Seattle and Lake Union, promising a new 'pleasure and suburban resort' for the growing masses.
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.
At the office of Stern, Miller & Co., Monday, March 25, starting at 9:00 A.M., lots will be offered for sale. Everybody knows the beauties of this property; it is the coming pleasure and suburban resort of Seattle. Prices range from $75 up. The land syndicate is formed to purchase, subdivide and sell 35 acres at Smith's Cove, adjoining Gilman addition. The property is situated on a plateau overlooking Puget Sound and Salmon Bay. Level and all cleared. We offer $15,000 of the capital stock. The tract to be handled is situated north of Lake Union, between Gilman and Wood and Parks, and overlooking Salmon Bay. It can be subdivided into 250 lots containing from 6,000 to 7,000 square feet each, with avenues 75 and 100 feet wide. To be placed on market June 1, 1889. The steam motor line to Green Lake via Gilman Park will be running by July 4, and the cable road extension to Woodland Park is promised for 1889. We also offer the West Seattle Land & Improvement Co. holdings. We have some of the choicest properties in all parts of the city which we will be pleased to show intending purchasers. As seen from West Seattle: 'On one side of you the majestic Rainier points his hoary crest into the very heavens... in front of you Mount Baker... thrusts himself upon your view.' Though this property will take the southern route, it will at once be rapidly pushed to completion with a depot close handy to the ferry slips.
“God made it, and live men are making Ellensburgh.”
This 1889 advertisement captures the exact moment Seattle transitioned from a small town to a speculative boomtown. The 'syndicates' described here—precursors to modern developers—built the geography of the city, using the same selling points of mountain views and transit access that drive Seattle's heated real estate market over 130 years later.
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