The Dream of Suburban Seattle
Promoters sell 'garden tracts' near the newly-built Rainier Avenue electric rail line, promising a suburban retreat from the bustling city center.
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 choicest, cheapest and most desirable acre property for gardens and suburban homes in the vicinity of Seattle. This property adjoins the newly-built line of the Rainier Avenue Electric Railway. Call and see us and make your selections from our numerous offers of 5, 10, and 40-acre tracts. We handle the largest body of accessible acre property in or around Seattle. For particulars, see Farraher & Meacham, Olympic Block, Room 22 and 23. Corner Yesler Avenue and Commercial Street.
“The choicest, cheapest and most desirable acre property for gardens and suburban homes in the vicinity of Seattle.”
In 1891, developers used the 'newly-built' electric rail lines as the primary engine for pushing Seattle's residential footprint outward, a practice that defined the city's sprawl. Today, the reverse is true: the city is attempting to densify along modern light rail corridors, turning the 'suburban home' model on its head to address current housing affordability crises.
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