The Real Estate Hustle of 1888
Before the skyline, there were the speculators: a look at how early Seattle developers used the 'Great City' narrative to sell lots in mud-soaked additions.
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.
Eshelman, Llewellyn & Co., the Real Estate and Money Brokers of the Pacific Coast, offer every facility to parties in Seattle, as well as in all suburbs, to sell their property. We are the premier Real Estate Agency in the Future Great City of the Pacific Coast—the only Seattle in America. Can sell you lots in D.T. Denny's Second Addition for $175 or $200. This is the surest rate of profit in Seattle. Or you can invest in the best business property in the city. We have a list of all classes of property for sale. Collect instead of pay rents. Be your own landlord.
“Collect instead of pay rents. Be your own landlord.”
This advertisement from 1888 highlights the 'future city' fever that built Seattle. The promise of becoming one's own landlord as an escape from rent cycles is a recurring dream in Seattle, yet the 'additions' sold on paper back then remain the very neighborhoods struggling with modern-day density, affordability, and the displacement of those very 'owners' the brokers once courted.
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