The Struggle for Suburban Stability in 1891 Seattle
Advertisements for installment-plan housing plots reflect the anxiety of a growing city where 'hard times' pressured residents to settle in rapidly developing suburbs like Medina.
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.
Have you a home? A home is a permanent investment and should require thought. Look on your map and do a little figuring on your own account. Is not the additional advantage in the location great? Are not the transportation facilities good? Are not the improvements being made a decided benefit to the home builder? Is not the scenery in this addition the finest around Seattle now? Granting these facts as positive, won't it pay to buy a lot there? Consider Medina, Washington: Lots on an installment plan of $20 cash and balance $10 per month. Handsome residences are now being erected. No chance to make a miss. Buy now before the advance in prices catches you napping. 108 Columbia Street. Lots all cleared. Streets being graded.
“A home is a permanent investment and should require thought.”
The aggressive marketing of 'installment plan' plots in 1891 Seattle highlights the birth of the suburban dream in the Pacific Northwest. Today’s housing market continues this cycle, where the promise of affordable land on the periphery of the city remains the primary, albeit increasingly strained, path to homeownership for working-class families.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.