The New Year’s Day Land Rush: Rainier Avenue Electric Line Opens
On January 1, 1891, the opening of the new Rainier Avenue Electric line triggered a speculative scramble for suburban land around Lake Washington.
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 (this New Year's day) opened for traffic. Its course is southeasterly to Lake Washington. This event makes available, for the first time, a large section unsurpassed for attractiveness. The region along the lake is destined to become extremely valuable on account of its peculiar desirability for suburban residences. This fact will be appreciated when the people become acquainted with it as they now will be able to do. Of course, values will advance. There will be a 'scramble' for holdings. We are able to offer a large and varied list to select from: 37 acres at $350 per acre, 8 acres at $300 per acre, 60 acres at $325 per acre, and 5-acre tracts at $300 per acre, on small payment down and balance on installments.
“This event makes available, for the first time, a large section unsurpassed for attractiveness... Of course, values will advance. There will be a 'scramble' for holdings.”
The 1891 scramble for suburban land catalyzed by a new electric transit line mirrors the modern-day phenomenon of 'transit-oriented development' in Seattle. Just as realtors in 1891 leveraged the infrastructure to drive property values sky-high along the lakeshore, today’s real estate market remains intensely focused on the relationship between transit access, desirability, and housing affordability.
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