A City Pauses to Remember: Seattle's 1889 Memorial Day
Mayor Robert Moran calls on the frontier city to close its doors and honor the fallen as the Grand Army of the Republic marks the 21st anniversary of Decoration Day.
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.
MAYOR'S OFFICE, SEATTLE, WASH., May 17, 1889. To the people of Seattle: The Grand Army of the Republic is about to observe for the twenty-first time the beautiful custom of strewing with flowers the graves of their dead comrades. At first the service had in view those only that fell during the period of actual war. But now each veteran, as he passes along, is added to the roll of honor. I invite the citizens of Seattle to lay aside their usual avocations so far as possible, and unite with the Grand Army in the observance of the day, and to that end recommend that all places of business be closed between the hours of 1 and 5 p. m., and that all flags be placed at half mast. ROBERT MORAN, Mayor.
“I invite the citizens of Seattle to lay aside their usual avocations so far as possible, and unite with the Grand Army in the observance of the day.”
This proclamation was issued just weeks before the Great Seattle Fire of June 1889, which leveled the city's business district. Today, Memorial Day in Seattle continues the tradition of public reflection, though the city's scale and the nature of its 'avocations' have shifted significantly from this nascent frontier port.
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