Seattle appears in print for the first time on October 30, 1852.

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On October 30, 1852, the Olympia newspaper Columbian prints an advertisement for Dr. David S. Maynard's store, the "Seattle Exchange." This (and a notice in the same issue about Henry Yesler's sawmill) marks the first use of the name Seattle in print.

Seattle founders briefly called their village "Duwamps" or "Dewamps" after the native name for the Duwamish River. Physician and merchant "Doc" Maynard (1808-1873) was lured north from Olympia in the summer of 1852 by his friend Chief Seattle (d. 1866), and he returned the favor by convincing his new neighbors to rename the settlement in honor of their defacto host. Chief Seattle was reputedly alarmed by the appropriation of his name but remained a friend of the newcomers.

Sources:
Clarence Bagley, History of Seattle (Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1916); Clarence Bagley, History of King County, Washington (Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1929); Murray Morgan, Skid Road, An Informal Portrait of Seattle (New York: Viking Press, 1951).

By Walt Crowley, October 15, 1999

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Dr. David S. Maynard (1808-1873), ca. 1868
Courtesy MOHAI