The Price of a Drink in 1885 Seattle
A newly passed city ordinance lays out a complex, bureaucratic, and cash-heavy system for anyone hoping to open a saloon or bottle house.
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 City of Seattle does ordain as follows: Section 1. That the words 'intoxicating liquors' as used in this ordinance shall include all spirituous, vinous and malt liquors. Section 4. The license fee for the sale of intoxicating liquors by wholesale shall be at the rate of two hundred dollars per year. The license fee for the sale of intoxicating liquors by retail shall be at the rate of three hundred dollars per year. The license fee for the sale of malt liquor only shall be at the rate of one hundred dollars per year. Section 6. All applications for license to sell or dispose of intoxicating or malt liquors shall be by petition, signed by the applicant and filed with the city clerk. Said petition must be presented to the Council and be referred to a committee, before the issuance of such license. No license shall be granted until the next subsequent meeting of the Council after its reception. Said petition shall set forth the name in full of the person or persons applying, the character of the business, the number of the ward, the exact location of such place so that the same may be certainly identified, the title the applicant has to such place, whether as owner or lessee, and the time the applicant has been a resident of the city of Seattle. Section 7. If the applicant is not the owner of the premises, he shall file with his petition the consent, in writing, of the owner or lessor of the building in which the business is to be conducted. There shall be also filed with said petition a bond, running to the City of Seattle, in the penal sum of one thousand dollars, signed by the petitioner and at least two sureties, conditioned that the applicant will keep the room or place where said liquors are sold in a quiet, peaceable and orderly manner.
“Said petition must be presented to the Council and be referred to a committee... Said petition shall set forth the name in full of the person or persons applying... the exact location of such place so that the same may be certainly identified.”
This 1885 ordinance captures the transition of Seattle from a frontier outpost to a growing city with a formal regulatory framework. Today’s debates over Seattle’s liquor licensing and nightlife permits mirror this historical effort to exert civic control over the social and physical spaces where alcohol is sold.
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