Seattle Property Owners to Assess Front Street Widening
A mid-summer legal notice reveals the bureaucratic struggle to widen Front Street—modern-day First Avenue—as the city demanded property owners share the cost of modernization.
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.
Notice is hereby given to the owners of property by ordinance No. 341, entitled, 'An ordinance to widen and open Front Street in the city of Seattle, King County, Washington Territory, and to provide for the condemnation of estates and interest therefor,' that the said property owners are required to appoint one person to act with two other persons (one of whom is to be the mayor of said city) to assess the damages and benefits within the district for the widening and establishment of said street, as ordered and established by section four of ordinance No. 341, in accordance with the provisions of section 31 of an act of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Washington, entitled, 'An act to reincorporate and define the charter of the city of Seattle.' Said appointment to be made in writing and filed with the city clerk of the city of Seattle on or before the 15th day of July, 1888.
“The property owners are required to appoint one person to act with two other persons to assess the damages and benefits within the district.”
Today, Seattle's property owners and taxpayers still debate the funding of street and transit infrastructure, though the 1888 'Front Street' is now the historic commercial spine of First Avenue. The mechanics of the city—widening corridors to accommodate growth—remain as contentious today as when this notice was posted in the late 19th century.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.