The Original Queen Anne Land Rush
An 1889 promotional advertisement offers a rare look into how early developers sold the 'aristocratic' promise of Seattle’s steep topography to land-hungry investors.
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.
We have purchased the only piece of unplatted land overlooking the Sound within the city boundary in North Seattle. We shall have in all 320 lots, 30x120 feet, with 16-foot alleys and 74-foot avenues. The lots are all cleared, streets will be graded, and sidewalks laid. A sightly location! A view of the salt water from every lot! First 60 lots $500 each. Remember that the lots are 30x120 in size; that the alleys are 16 feet and the avenues 74 feet wide. Close to the proposed line of the cable road on the east side of the addition and the Electric Motor on the west side of the addition, in close proximity to the S. L. S. & E. railroad, thus solving the problem of rapid and cheap transit to and from business. For the benefit of non-residents, we might mention that this addition is the cheapest property on the market; that the most aristocratic resident portion of the city is in North Seattle, and that this addition is within easy walking distance of the present terminal of the electric and cable roads. Secure a home at once in the only Seattle in America.
“Its matchless climate, unparalleled beauty, and grandeur of scenery, its marvelous growth, resources and kindred attractions, are becoming more thoroughly known.”
This 1889 ad highlights the birth of Seattle's 'aristocratic' hilltop identity, marketing steep, unplatted land as prime real estate based on proximity to future transit lines. Today, the tension remains exactly the same: Seattle’s housing market continues to be driven by the scarcity of developable land and the race to buy in before transit-oriented growth makes a neighborhood unaffordable.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.