'Sufficient for the time and place': The beginning of Seattle's first newspaper

This photo has previously been credited as the first building of the newspaper under the Seattle Post-Intelligencer masthead, photographed in 1881. But that may not be quite accurate. Other information would suggest that this was in fact the temporary office of the P-I after the Great Fire of 1889 burned the Post Building (108 Yesler Way) more or less to the ground. less This photo has previously been credited as the first building of the newspaper under the Seattle Post-Intelligencer masthead, photographed in 1881. But that may not be quite accurate. Other information would ... more Photo: Courtesy MOHAI Photo: Courtesy MOHAI Image 1 of / 65 Caption Close 'Sufficient for the time and place': The beginning of Seattle's first newspaper 1 / 65 Back to Gallery

The Denny Party landed in Seattle just 12 years before the publication that would later become the Seattle Post-Intelligencer published its first edition.

That paper was the Seattle Gazette, which printed its first edition on Dec. 10, 1863 -- Seattle's first newspaper.

Publisher J.R. Watson, who was born in Ohio and moved west during the gold rush, became the owner of Olympia's Overland Press after its previous owner was shot to death. That same year, Henry Yesler, who opened the city's first steam-powered sawmill about a decade prior, invited him to live in Seattle rent-free ... if he established a newspaper for the city.

The paper had four pages, dense type and no photos. In addition to publisher, Watson wore the hats of the Gazette's editor and lone reporter for a time.

"It is neither so large as a barn door nor the London Times; but it is the best we can offer for a beginning and is, we trust, sufficient for the time and place," Watson wrote in an inaugural message to readers.

After the first paper garnered a winning response from readers, Watson packed up his Olympia printing press and moved it to the Emerald City, to a building located on what is now the corner of First Avenue South and Yesler Way.

At that time, single copies of the paper cost 10 cents. A yearly subscription was $4.

By 1870, the city's population had grown to just over 1,000 residents.

After a warm welcome, the paper struggled. After making multiple appeals to readers to subscribe, publication was suspended for two months in June 1864.

When the paper re-launched in August, it was given a (slightly) new name: The Seattle Weekly Gazette. Later that year, a semi-weekly competitor called the People's Telegram launched, so Watson began publishing "extras" for important news items that arrived by telegraph. The Telegram didn't last a month.

Watson eventually handed over his publication to Robert G. Head and the Seattle Publishing Company. It went through three additional owners before it wound up in the hands of S.L. Maxwell, who purchased the paper and its assets for $300.

Maxwell gave the publication a familiar name: the Weekly Intelligencer, first published on Aug. 5, 1867.

The publication now had eight pages -- which meant twice as much real estate for advertisers. Maxwell sold the Weekly Intelligencer to David Higgins seven years later for $3,000.

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Higgins updated the Intelligencer's printing press from a Ramage Model No. 913 to a Potter cylinder model powered by a steam engine, which lived in a building located at what is now First Avenue and Cherry Street. With the new press in place, the Weekly Intelligencer became a daily newspaper, with its first issue publishing on June 5, 1876.

Nearly two years later, one of the paper's editors, Thaddeus Hanford, bought the Daily Intelligencer for $8,000. His first mission: take out the competition.

In 1878, Seattle was a three-paper town. In addition to the Daily Intelligencer, Puget Sound Dispatch and Pacific Tribune were circulating in Seattle. Hanford purchased both, folding them into the Intelligencer, and took editor Samuel L. Crawford in as a part-owner.

Meanwhile, a new daily, The Post, began printing in October 1878. However, the Post Publishing Company began with debt, and later constructed a $30,000, three-story brick headquarters for the publication. To save themselves from their financial troubles, in 1881, the owners of The Post arranged a merger with the Intelligencer.

The first issue of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer printed on Oct. 3, 1881.

The Seattle P-I passed through several owners over the next 40 years before Hearst (then headed by William Randolph), the current owner of the paper, purchased it in 1921. In that time, it grew in size, circulation and influence. By 1896, the Post-Intelligencer's circulation was almost equal to the circulations of all of Seattle's other newspapers combined.

Decades later, Seattle's oldest newspaper became a pioneer again, as it became the first major daily publication to move online only in 2009.

Today, we're still here ... neither so large as a barn door nor the London Times, but, we trust, sufficient for the time and place.

*Note: Unless otherwise attributed, historical descriptions and other information was compiled from Historylink.org essays, MOHAI photo captions and SeattlePI archives.