Queen Anne Addition Advertised 420 Water-View Lots
Developers pitch the 'Queen Anne Second Addition' with lofty promises of salt-water views, rapid transit, and colossal fortunes for the savvy investor.
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 with a steady boundary in North Seattle. We shall have 420 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 $300 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 of the S. L. S. & E. railroad, thus solving the problem of rapid and cheap transit to and from business. Invest at once. Plant your crop in the Queen Anne Second addition, the best, safest and cheapest property for the home builder or speculator. Title perfect. Full warranty deed and abstract of property given to every purchaser.
“The boom is up, and he who would ride must catch on.”
This 1889 advertisement reflects the genesis of Seattle’s permanent 'boom-town' cycle. The rhetoric of 'solving rapid transit' and 'cheap property' targeting 'non-residents' mirrors the modern tension between real estate development and the city’s struggle with housing affordability and infrastructure.
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