Topic: People's Histories
Roscoe Sheller of Sunnyside gave this talk about Yakima and Ellensburg pioneer Ben Snipes (1835-1906) to an April 1958 meeting of the Spokane Westerners. The talk was published in the Fall 1959 issue ...
This is the story of the brothers Harald Blekum (1865-1950) and Einar Blekum (1864-1910) and their assimilation to life in Seattle, 1891 to 1950. It is based on research, documents, and images submitt...
This essay surveys the development of Seattle's South Lake Union and Cascade communities from 1854 to 2003, with emphasis on visions for its future including Virgil Bogue's 1911 Plan of Seattle, the 1...
The Southgate Roller Rink (now Southgate Event Center) is located in the center of White Center (at 9646 17th Ave SW), a neighborhood of South Seattle. It was originally built by Hiram Green (1863-193...
Two members of HistoryLink's staff, Alyssa Burrows and Chris Goodman, happened to be at the Speakeasy Cafe the night it burned down. This is Alyssa'a first-hand account of the confused scene as the bu...
The long career of John Spellman (1926-2018) in local and state politics began in 1967 when he was elected a King County Commissioner. His term overlapped the controversial Forward Thrust capital impr...
In this original essay, Spokane historian Sharon De Mills-Wood writes about the Broadview Dairy, a turn-of-the-century business that grew along with the burgeoning city, first delivering milk in horse...
The White Elephant stores began in Spokane in 1946 when John R. Conley Sr. started selling Army surplus materials before converting his business into a sporting goods store. As he began to welcome the...
Though the Irish in Seattle have always celebrated St. Patrick's Day, there was no official St. Patrick's Day Parade in Seattle until 1972. Before (and after) that first official procession, the late ...
Before rail service reached the West Coast steamboats, stagecoaches, and wagons were the principal means of transportation to and from the inland areas of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho territories. Go...
Betty (Batchelor) Miles of Samish Island contributed this piece on Jack W. Stangle, who was a celebrated artist in Seattle from 1953 to his death in 1980. He was a member of the Northwest School and h...
This is an account by Stanley Willhight (b. 1914) of the Willhight family's journey to Vashon Island in 1883. Willhight also recalls the impressive sight of trains in Smith Cove carrying huge bales of...
Richard Hall of Coupeville offers this account of the business his grandfather, Stanton Hall, built in Everett. Stanton Hall later served as a member and as president of the Washington State Universit...
This file presents the statement of Alonzo Russell (1839-1926), Seattle pioneer, on his arrival to the region in 1852 as a boy of 14, and on the Indian War of 1856. His statement, provided by Liz Russ...
African American Seattleite Joseph Isom Staton (b. 1910) was born in Fort Lawton, Washington, on September 19, 1910. His mother originally came from Kentucky, his father from Missouri. This is an exce...
In this HistoryLink interview conducted by architectural historian Heather MacIntosh on September 18, 2000, native Seattleite and businesswoman Priscilla (Patsy) Collins (1920-2003) provides perspecti...
The author of this People's History, Barbara Fleischman Cochran, was a regional historian in Spokane, author of Exploring Spokane's Past, and a member of the faculty at Washington State University. Sh...
Robert E. Strahorn (1852-1944) and his wife Carrie Adell Green "Dell" Strahorn (1854-1925) had a significant impact on the Northwest in the 1880s and 1890s, through their writings that publicized the ...
Sultan is an incorporated town in Snohomish County, about 23 miles east of Everett at the confluence of the Skykomish and Sultan rivers. Highway 2, the road to Steven's Pass, runs through it. Sultan w...
Susan Edgerly is the youngest daughter of John G. von Herberg (1880-1947) and his third wife, M. E. Darling. Based in Seattle, von Herberg was a prominent motion picture exhibitor throughout the Pacif...
There have been about 75 teachers' strikes in the state of Washington since the first one, in Aberdeen, in 1972. The author of this People's History, Steve Kink, had a long career with the stateâ...
The year 1978 saw an unprecedented Washington primary campaign, one that pitted powerful pro-business incumbent State Senator August Mardesich against retired firefighter and pro-union newcomer Larry ...
A 1967 proposal to build a seven-story, 168-unit condominium on a 480-by-100-foot concrete platform to be constructed above the waters of Lake Union at the foot of East Roanoke Street in Seattle's Eas...
Dorothea (Pfister) Nordstrand (1916-2011) wrote this affectionate reminiscence about a sisterly altercation that took place in Seattle around 1928. Dorothea's older sister was Florence (Pfister) Burke...