Chas. Terry First in Seattle

Seattle at 150:

Charles Terry's unlimited energy influenced a city

Tuesday, October 23, 2001

By JAMES R. WARREN
SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER

Charles C. Terry left his home state of New York in 1849 and sailed south, but it was in the distant Pacific Northwest that he was destined to leave his mark -- by and by.

Terry, born in Waterville, N.Y., in 1830, sailed for Panama at age 19. He crossed the isthmus by mule train and headed north to the California gold rush.

The home that Charles Terry built for his bride on the northwest corner of Third Avenue and James Street was considered one of the finest in Washington Territory in the 1850s and '60s.

Two years later, he decided to inspect the Willamette Valley of Oregon. He met up with members of Arthur and David Denny's party in Portland and joined them when the ship Exact departed for Elliott Bay.

Charles Terry's brother, Lee Terry, was on the west shore of Elliott Bay already, helping David Denny build a log cabin for the John Low family. Within a year of their arrival, the Terry brothers and John Low had selected claims on this point of land, while the Dennys and other founders chose the east side of the bay.

Before leaving Portland, Terry bought a stock of tinware, axes, tobacco, whiskey and brandy for a store he would open on Puget Sound. Once he reached his destination, he ordered barrels of pork, gallons of molasses, 800 pounds of hard bread, a case of boots and shoes, materials for clothing, hickory shirts, window sashes and window glass from passing ship captains. He hurriedly built a tiny cabin visible to passing ships and opened a store.

In 1853, the Terry brothers and John Low hired Arthur Denny, a surveyor, to lay out a town site at Alki, which they named "New York" after the Terrys' home state.

During the next five years the two new settlements, New York and Seattle, were competitors -- each with its own stores and sawmill. Both villages shipped lumber and fish to San Francisco.

In these early days, an anonymous pioneer with a sense of humor modified the name of New York by appending the Chinook word "alki" -- which means "by and by." Today, the site of the settlement is known as Alki Point.

Charles Terry wed Mary Jane Russell in 1856, and they became a popular couple in the tiny village of Seattle

Days after Terry's store opened, the first edition of the first Puget Sound newspaper, The Columbian, was printed in Olympia. Its rudimentary press, which is now on display at Seattle's Museum of History & Industry, later printed the early Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

An advertisement that appeared in early newspapers for Charles Terry's "New York Cash Store" read:

"Chas. C. Terry and Co., thankful for past favors, take this opportunity to inform their numerous friends and customers that they still continue at their well-known stand in the town of New York on Puget Sound, where they keep constantly on hand and for sale at the lowest prices, all kinds of merchandise usually required in a new Country."

In 1853, John Low sold his property to Terry and moved his family to Olympia. Lee Terry, lonesome for female company, returned to New York and left his claim for his brother.

Arthur Denny's granddaughter Roberta Frye Watt wrote: "Charles Terry was now the dominating figure on the peninsula. Due to his salesmanship, New York-Alki began to hum, many immigrants stopping there in preference to coming to Seattle. With unlimited energy, this young man of 23 was shaping the wilderness into what he believed was to be a great city."

In April 1853, the Columbian carried a news item that began: "Our enterprising friend, C.C. Terry, has made an excellent change of name for his flourishing town hitherto called New York. It is henceforth to be known by the name of 'Alki.' We never fancied the name of New York on account of its inappropriateness; but Alki ... is a pretty word meaning 'in a little while,' and we approve its application to a growing and hopeful place. Well done, friend Terry."

Even after six blocks of eight lots each had been platted in the town of Alki, Seattle began to dominate local society and commerce. The Alki plat eventually was vacated and a half-century would pass before the area was incorporated as part of Seattle.

Terry, however, did manage to acquire land that would appreciate in value. He bought a major part of Carson Boren's property in what is now downtown Seattle. He traded his less valuable Alki property for Dr. Maynard's unsold lots in the Pioneer Square area and bought a large farm on the Duwamish River.

Today in Seattle, which once competed with his settlement of New York-Alki, a major street is named for Charles Terry.

In 1854, Terry traveled to the East Coast to transact business and visit his family. In those prerailroad days the journey consumed several months and cost about $1,000, a fortune back then.

Shortly after he returned to Seattle, he found a wife. On July 13, he married Mary Jane Russell, whose family had once lived at Alki.

Terry's business success allowed him to build what was described as "one of the finest residences in Washington Territory" at the northwest corner of Third Avenue and James Street.

When Charles Terry learned that Arthur Denny's donation of land for the original University of Washington campus was short nearly two of the 10 acres needed, he quickly gave the difference from adjacent property that he and Judge Edward Lander owned.

By 1867, Seattle was home to nearly 1,000 residents and the population was increasing. Charles Terry had long promoted the development of Seattle as Puget Sound's developing major metropolis.

The Intelligencer of Feb. 18, 1867, reported Terry had died, probably of consumption, at age 37.

Clarence Bagley lauded Charles Terry with these words: "It seems hardly credible that so young a man should have accomplished so much under all the adverse conditions of pioneer life on Puget Sound."