The Sermon on Seattle’s Future
In 1880, a local minister preached that Seattle’s prosperity depended less on its natural harbor and railroads, and more on the moral integrity of its citizens.
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.
Seattle's day is dawning—so we all believe. The eastern hilltops glow in the flash of morning. The city is the queen of the sea and queen of the land. Ancient cities were walled in with massive masonry; our city is walled about by mountains, with two gates in her mountain walls, one opening upon the ocean and one upon the continent. Through the landward gate is an empire; through the ocean gate is another. If capital in its secret counsels has indeed issued a mandate for the railway to rush through the eastern gate and the ship lines to pass through the western gate, it will be obeyed. The bluff shores of island and mainland will be clouded with the black smoke of our furnaces. I doubt if one in a hundred of us realizes what is to be here.
But a railroad is not everything. The character of our people will play a mighty part in Seattle’s future. There is something called righteousness which is an indispensable factor in the problem of enduring greatness. The older countries are strewn thick with ruins of great cities—want of character has overmatched all the forces of material greatness. Let us applaud men in business who are open and generous, who, while they have influence and make money, do not overreach and oppress, monopolize and make corners. We do not want sharks and sharpers and greedy monopolists and flotten speculators controlling our business interests. Let every business man of Seattle write upon the frontlet on his brow the words: 'Righteousness exalteth a nation.'
“We do not want sharks and sharpers and greedy monopolists and flotten speculators controlling our business interests. Such men make us a stench and reproach near and far.”
Reverend J.F. Ellis’s 1880 sermon highlights a tension that defines Seattle to this day: the constant struggle between rapid, capital-driven growth and the civic responsibility to build a city that is equitable and 'righteous.' His warnings about 'greedy monopolists' and the need for schools and churches mirror contemporary debates about housing, corporate influence, and the soul of a city undergoing explosive change.
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