The Fairview Dream: Installment Housing in 1878 Seattle
A real estate advertisement for the 'Fairview Addition' highlights the city's early embrace of the installment plan to help working-class families buy land.
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.
These lots are situated in a rich, level tract of land, just one mile from White's corner, on Front Street, in what is known as the Fairview Addition to Seattle. They are mostly cleared and ready for building purposes. There are a number of springs on this property, besides a running brook, which never dries up. Parties of limited means will be able to make themselves good, comfortable homes, as these lots will be sold on the installment plan to those desiring to purchase in that manner. Any information in regard to the above lots can be obtained on the premises, or of Frank A. Pontius, Seattle, W. T.
“Parties of limited means will be able to make themselves good, comfortable homes, as these lots will be sold on the installment plan.”
Long before Seattle’s current housing crisis dominated the headlines, the 'installment plan' was being marketed as the solution for 'parties of limited means' to secure land. It is a striking reminder that the dream of homeownership in Seattle has been tied to creative financing and geographic expansion since the city's infancy.
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