The Last Midnight of the Washington Constitutional Convention
After fifty days of grueling debate and back-room maneuvering, delegates in Olympia finally finish the document that would define the state’s future.
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.
Olympia, August 22, 1889—After a session of fifty days, the constitutional convention has finished its labors. They have spent some time in causing a good deal of interest to the state, and generally those considered necessary, and the conclusions reached are naturally not always satisfactory either to the members or to the people. But taken all in all, the result is satisfactory. Actual work was finished this morning. During the final session, a large eight-day clock located above the president's chair, which had faithfully and unceasingly recorded the time during the entire session, ran down and stopped at 10:00. Being wound up and started, it stopped again just as the convention adjourned, at 11:30. The convention, organized on the 4th of July, finished its work on August 22—six months after February 22, the birthday of Washington. The delegates, having affixed their signatures, adjourned sine die.
“The great tide land question, after ten days' continuous discussion, was finally disposed of.”
The state constitution drafted in this frantic 1889 summer session established the legal framework for Washington. Today, the debates over 'tide lands' and 'navigable waters' mentioned in the article echo in modern battles over public access to Seattle's waterfront and the shifting lines of private versus public property.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.