A Night at Brown's Hall: Seattle's Military Gala
In 1886, the city's militia hosted a lavish, high-society dance at Brown's Hall, complete with visiting dignitaries and a display of precision drills.
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 grand drill, dress parade and guard mount given by Company D, 1st Regiment, National Guard of Washington, in Brown's Hall, last week, proved a success in every particular. The hall, which is now one of the greatest in the Territory, being 100 feet in area, is without post or obstruction. The floor is of selected, seasoned flooring, laid with great care and waxed after being oiled. The entrance is from Front Street. On the right of the entrance is a gentlemen’s dressing room, and on the left the ladies’ dressing room. The building is lighted with gas and decorated with flags of all nations, the Stars and Stripes predominating.
During the afternoon a large number of visitors and invited guests attended the drill, coming from the Sound. The militia of British Columbia was represented by a delegation, which arrived on the North Pacific and later on the messenger brought thirty members of Company E, 1st Guard, under command of Captain W. H. White. They paid a visit to the armory and escorted them to their armory.
At 8:30 p.m., Company D and the Tacoma Guards fell into line, headed by a drum corps and drum major, and marched to the dancing hall, where they found several hundred people waiting for the affair to commence. In the hall the two companies went through the regular dress parade drill, and so satisfactory were their tactics that there were frequent outbursts of applause by the spectators. The ball was very largely attended, there being forty-one honored couples on the floor at once. The orchestra occupied a raised platform near the center of the hall. The music was good, and after a little while the floor became smooth, and dancing was very enjoyable. At midnight supper was served at several of the best restaurants, after which dancing was continued until 3 o'clock.
“The hall... is now one of the greatest in the Territory, being 100 feet in area, is without post or obstruction.”
While Seattle’s 1886 social life revolved around military galas in halls like this on Front Street (now First Avenue), the underlying struggle for civic identity and 'the right kind of growth' persists. Today, the city’s dance halls have long been replaced by high-rises, but the civic energy directed at these venues—and the anxieties surrounding the 'proper' use of public-facing spaces—remains a defining feature of the Seattle experience.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.