The Great Seattle Fire: A Call to Rebuild
In the shadow of the 1889 Great Seattle Fire, a local editor calls for unity, resilience, and an end to public complaining as the city begins the monumental task of reconstruction.
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.
There are croakers everywhere. Seattle has been kept momentarily from the fire, but as soon as there is time to listen to them, they will doubtless pipe up again, and the atmosphere will be largely murky with the dismal things that they still predict. A word to these Seattle croakers may be in place before they continue to croak; it may save them time and effort to know that the public generally understands the extent of the disaster which has befallen us. The croakers should not go about telling all who will listen that we have had an awfully big fire in Seattle, and that the very best part of the city was destroyed. We all know it. We have known it since the evening of June 6. And we are making arrangements to rebuild the city just as soon as we can get around to it. It is useless to go about talking of a disaster whose effects are known to all. They should not put in their time denouncing the city council and the city officials generally, and predicting that if those misguided men persevere in their course, they will put a final blight upon Seattle. We all know that our city officials are human. They may have made mistakes, and they may make other mistakes, but they are not ruining our city or inviting destruction upon it. In fact, they are doing very well in a very trying position, and they deserve the encouragement of all who have the welfare of the city at heart. A few pleasant words in reference to them will do more good than all the condemnations and evil prognostications that the croakers can express in language.
“We listen to do our best to build a better and greater city than that which was destroyed, and the croakers will only retard our steps.”
This editorial, written shortly after the 1889 Great Seattle Fire, captures the exact same tension found in modern Seattle: the debate between those who demand rapid, unified development and those who fear bureaucratic mismanagement. It serves as a reminder that Seattle’s identity as a city of 'endless rebuilding' is baked into its historical DNA.
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