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Many Of Seattle's First Pioneering Women Were Originally "Mercer's Belles"

Photograph of an illustration from Harper's Weekly, January 6, 1866, p. 8-9. Photographer: Warner, Arthur Churchill, 1864-1943, Negative #70x
The Departure

This story originally aired on January 20, 2018.   

“Here Come The Brides” was a short-lived television show from the late 1960s. In the show, 1860s Seattle is faced with losing its lumberjacks to other cities because Seattle doesn’t have enough women, until they import a bunch of marriageable ladies from the East Coast, and hilarity ensues.

Kind of an outlandish premise, right? Except that it really happened. Asa Mercer was president of the University of Washington (at the time they had exactly one student), and he took it on himself find wives for the loggers in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Sue Armitage is a former professor of history at Washington State University. She told us the story of this unusual journey to Washington Territory.

Kevin Kniestedt is a journalist, host and producer who began his career at KNKX in 2003. Over his 17 years with the station, he worked as a full time jazz host, a news host and produced the weekly show Sound Effect. Kevin has conducted or produced hundreds of interviews, has won local and national awards for newscasts and commentary.