The Unbeatable Fence of Old Town
A standoff between property owners and the city government plays out on an obstructed public thoroughfare, mirroring the modern tensions of land access in a growing metropolis.
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.
On Monday afternoon, City Attorney Carroll instructed the street commissioner to tear down the fence which had been built by Messrs. Gropcer & Newman to enclose the property belonging to them, that obstructing the Old Town road which ran through the said property. When those persons who have occasion to use that thoroughfare saw, yesterday morning, that the obstruction had been removed, they were happy. But their happiness was doomed to be of very short duration, for in the afternoon, workmen appeared upon the scene and in a short time had the fence rebuilt, and the road was closed up for the second time. The owners of the property have determined that they have the right to build the fence without any regard to the public highway, but the city fathers evidently differ with them, and the Prosecuting Attorney will probably issue orders today for the arrest of the parties who have thus defied the authorities.
“The owners of the property have determined that they have the right to build the fence without any regard to the public highway.”
This 1886 dispute over a public road being swallowed by private property development reflects the ongoing friction in modern Seattle regarding private land ownership versus public access, right-of-way, and the limits of developers in a dense urban environment.
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