The Great Seattle Rebound
A fiery defense of the city’s resilience following the Great Fire, dismantling rumors that the local economy had collapsed.
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.
The statement in a letter from Joseph Hicks, formerly of your city but now exploring the country, published in the Troy Press of June 19, that 'Washington territory is a humbug; that the city authorities of Seattle are sending 150 to 300 people every day out of town or helping them with money to leave,' and that 'the bottom has fallen out of Seattle,' led me to take up my pen to refute these statements so unjust to our beautiful territory and the queen city of the Pacific. Our readers, however, will probably place but little reliance upon the statements quoted when they stop to consider that the letter was written from Spokane Falls, which holds the same relative position to Seattle that Troy does to Buffalo. Seattle certainly had a wealth of natural beauty before the fire, which still remains undiminished and unaltered. Does anyone imagine that a fire could stop this enormous traffic, daunt our courage, or shake our faith in the future? If so, let him come among us and see. The flames had not yet ceased to burn when tents sprang up in every direction; dwelling houses were turned into offices and dooryards utilized for the erection of temporary wooden structures. Business men received a stunning but not a knock-out blow, and immediately after the fire were on their feet and fighting harder than ever. Four thousand men are engaged in reconstructing the city; the cable and electric roads are already running even through the burnt district.
“Business men received a stunning but not a knock-out blow, and immediately after the fire were on their feet and fighting harder than ever.”
This 1889 editorial captures the raw, defensive optimism of a city forced to reinvent itself overnight. It echoes the familiar Seattle tradition of aggressive boosterism—a reflex the city still leans on whenever its economic foundations are questioned.
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