seattlepi.com history

In 1863, the wild little frontier town called Seattle was freewheeling and feisty.

J.R. Watson founded the Gazette -- the weekly which grew into the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, seattlepi.com's predecessor.

Back then, opinions weren't confined to the editorial page. In an era when justice was often administered by gun, early-day editors also shot from the hip. In the news columns, they regularly reported rumors -- often identifying them as rumors -- and took regular cheap shots at the "so-called Legislature."

Seattle was a small town, and the readers could fill in the blanks. Thus, people named in news articles weren't identified by age, occupation or address. Many of the early news articles omitted important details. For example: "From what we have heard about a certain 'pilotage' transaction in Port Townsend, we are led to believe that our Territory will acquire a bad reputation abroad." It goes on to hint of extortion, but never tells what happened.

In those days before comics pages and crossword puzzles, the newspaper also provided entertainment. It regularly published poetry -- much of it sentimental stuff about young Union soldiers dying heroically on the battlefields, with such lines as "Kiss my little brother and sisters, and tell them I died for my country."

There were also jokes, many of which today would be regarded as sexist, racist and tasteless.

By the turn of the century, both Seattle and the P-I had grown up a lot.

After the ashes of the 1889 fire and the fever of the 1897 Klondike gold rush had cooled, Seattle made itself over into a solid, modern city.

The P-I news pages In the early part of the century, the newspaper thoughtfully worried about plans for a major train switching yard, and that the growth of streetcar, water, sewer and electricity systems would be adequate to serve the growing population.

On the inside pages, however, there often was less dignity. Melodramas were popular in the local theaters, and they also sold well in the P-I.

One article, for example, was headlined "A Wife's Pitiful Story." The article was about one George B. Cave, identified as "formerly a city detective," whose wife filed for divorce.

The pitiful story: "For seven years, according to the complaint, Mr. Cave has not provided for his family, but spent his money in dissipation."

Although the P-I waffled on the anti-saloon issue, preferring local option to outright prohibition, it was solidly against Seattle's bawdyhouses. The newspaper regarded them as an undesirable anachronism left over from the frontier days.

Investigative reporters chased corrupt politicians and exposed a police chief's penchant for bribery. Morality proved to be good business. Between 1910 and 1911, P-I circulation jumped from 18,000 to 31,000.

Prohibition, though, was covered as if it were some kind of game.

When a planned raid on bootleggers in the town of Wilkeson was aborted because of a malfunctioning police car, the P-I showed no remorse. The headline: "Town of Wilkeson Chuckles in Glee as Sleuth Curses."

In the 1920s, the P-I became a more active participant in the community.

No longer did the newspaper just report the news; it often made the news, with various civic projects, youth activities and other programs.

For example, in the 1920s the P-I first sponsored a fund drive to buy an elephant for the Woodland Park Zoo. It was the first of several elephants the P-I was to help purchase over the years. In the mid-1980s, the P-I promoted construction of new housing for the zoo's elephants and kicked off the fund drive with a $60,000 contribution; the William Randolph Hearst Foundation later added a $335,000 contribution.

P-I features continued to change with the times. During the prosperous 1920s, when average families were able to afford automobiles for the first time, the P-I had hundreds of features on auto purchasing and maintenance and the joys of "motoring."

One 1928 "motorlogue," for example, chronicled the adventures of a motorist who drove his new Oldsmobile to San Francisco and back in less than a week.

It was a giddy era, with the benefits of modern technology turning up in the average home -- the electric stove and refrigerator, washing machine and radio. With a radio tower atop the newspaper building, the P-I grandly announced that "perfect results could be obtained by owners of crystal sets within 10 to 15 miles of the P-I, and by those who had tube sets within 50 to 75 miles."

The excitement of the 1920s quickly faded into grim realities of the 1930s Depression, and a more somber P-I chronicled the problems of the homeless, jobless and hungry. Feature articles often offered advice on preparing low-cost, nutritious meals.

Editorials campaigned for a federal job corps to employ homeless, jobless young men and, in the 1932 presidential campaign, the newspaper departed from its traditionally conservative posture to endorse Franklin D. Roosevelt.

After years of fighting the Depression and then World War II, the P-I changed significantly as the nation eased into the first peacetime prosperity it had known for two decades.

As veterans came home and began to start families, the P-I blossomed with features about new housing and family life, and the postwar generation of automobiles.

Almost daily there were exciting stories about cars with automatic transmissions, overdrive, push-button doors and other gee-whiz technology.

When television made its Seattle debut, the P-I quickly embraced it -- carrying schedules of programs on the city's only television station, KING-TV, assigning a reporter to become a TV columnist and sponsoring children's programs.

In 2009 the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper closed, and seattlepi.com became the first major metro daily to go online-only.

Prior to the paper's closure, seattlepi.com attracted 4 million readers every month, including almost a million readers in the Seattle area. Since seattlepi.com went online-only the number of local readers has grown to just over 1 million.

Seattlepi.com in the news: Read the media coverage about the transition to online-only.

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