The Electric Line Opens a New Frontier
A newly inaugurated transit line promises to transform the wilderness along Lake Washington into the city’s next affluent suburb.
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 Rainier Avenue Electric line is now (with New Year's Day) opened for traffic. Its course is southerly to Lake Washington. This has made available, for the first time, a large section hitherto unoccupied for settlement. The region along the lake is to become extremely valuable because of its unparalleled desirability for suburban residences. This fact will be appreciated when the people become familiar with it, as they soon will be able to do. Of course, values will advance. There will be a 'scramble' for lots. We are able to offer a large and varied list to select from; 3-5 acres at $250 per acre, 5 acres at $300 per acre, 10 acres at $350 per acre. 5 acre tracts at $300 per acre, on small payment down and balance on installments.
“The region along the lake is to become extremely valuable because of its unparalleled desirability for suburban residences.”
This 1891 advertisement captures the exact moment transit-oriented development began to define Seattle's expansion. The 'scramble' for cheap lakefront land mirrors the city's century-long pattern of using new infrastructure to push the urban growth boundary outward, a cycle that remains a central friction point in modern Seattle housing policy.
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