The Seattle Post-Intelligencer had some notable employees over 155 years.
Click through the slideshow to see some of them, their history with the P-I and where they ended up.
Adapted from SeattlePI archives
E.B. White He wasn't always a children's novelist. He worked as a reporter for The Seattle Times from 1922 to 1923 before he was fired. But have no fear -- the Seattle Post-Intelligencer picked him up as a substitute for a short time. On his firing, White reflected : "I operated, generally, on too high a level for routine reporting, and had not at that time discovered the eloquence of facts. I can see why the Times fired me. A youth who persisted in rising above facts must have been a headache to a city editor."Bettmann/Bettmann Archive
E.B. White
He eventually boarded the S.S. Buford headed for Alaska. He later returned to New York, where he was a contributor to The New Yorker magazine before writing such classics as Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little.
He
died on Oct. 1, 1985 due to Alzheimer's disease.
Bettmann / Contributor / Getty Images
Tom Robbins
Novelist Tom Robbins worked in newspapers before he became a best-selling author. Here, he is seen in his LaConner home office on April 16, 1978.
Courtesy MOHAI archives
Tom Robbins
Robbins worked both as an art critic for The Seattle Times and on the copy desk of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
In a 2014
interview with The Seattle Times , Robbins said he especially liked working on the copy desk, because "it didn't drain off the narrative energy that writing actual articles did," and left something in the tank for when he was ready to write fiction in his off time.
Ulf Andersen / Contributor / Getty Images
Frank Herbert
Tacoma-born Frank Herbert was a reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer from 1969 to 1972. In this photo, he sits at his desk in a loft above the kitchen of his Port Townsend home.Courtesy MOHAI archives
Frank Herbert In addition to reporting, Herbert was also photographer, short story writer, book reviewer, ecological consultant and university lecturer at some point in his career. He is most well-known as a science fiction writer, however, with titles including Dune and its five sequels. He died of cancer in 1986.
In this photo, he is seen with his wife, Theresa Shackelford, as the two attend the Dune premiere on Dec. 3, 1984 in Washington, D.C.
Ron Galella / Contributor / Getty Images
Royal Brougham
Royal Brougham's tenure at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is impressive -- 68 years total with titles including sports writer and editor. He got his first job at the paper in 1910, when he dropped out of Franklin High School to be a copy boy in the P-I's sports department. The job
paid $6 per week .
In this photo, Brougham holds a cake and waves while sitting on a wooden, painted horse.
Courtesy MOHAI archives
Royal Brougham
He quickly made his way up the ranks to part-time writer, then full-time sports journalist. He became known for his informal style. His stories often included personal anecdotes or rhymes.
Brougham accumulated numerous honors and accolades throughout the years and was involved in many charitible causes.
Courtesy MOHAI archives
Royal Brougham Among Brougham's assignments was a trip to Berlin to cover the University of Washington's crew team in the 1936 Olympics. However, none of his work appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, since the publication's staff went on strike while he was in Germany.He said upon his retirement that, "It has been a vacation with pay." He
died in 1978 after suffering a major heart attack in the press box during a Seattle Seahawks/Denver Broncos football game.
His mark on Seattle continues to this day: The Royal Brougham Pavilion at Seattle University and Royal Brougham Way, the street between the Mariners and Seahawks stadiums, were both named after him.
Courtesy MOHAI archives
Emmett Watson
Emmett Watson was a fixture in Seattle media from 1944 until his death in 2001.
Thirty of those years were spent working for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Courtesy MOHAI archives
Emmett Watson He began his stint at the P-I in 1950 after two years with the Seattle Star and four years with The Seattle Times.
When he started with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, his main beat was sports, especially baseball, but he eventually began writing columns that provided social commentary. He famously first reported that Ernest Hemingway had died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, not by accident as initially stated by Hemingway's wife.
In this photo, five members of the Post-Intelligencer staff smile happily during presentation of certificates at the Washington State Press Club's ninth annual Distinguished Writing Awards dinner in 1952. Watson is third from the left, in the back.
SeattlePI archives
Emmett Watson
Watson, who wrote the "This Our City" column for years, became known as someone who was "entertaining and knowledgeable about everything Seattle," according to a column in the
University of Washington's alumni magazine .
He died on May 11, 2001 due to complications with a burst abdominal aneurysm.
Courtesy MOHAI archives
David Horsey
Editorial cartoonist and columnist
David Horsey began working for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in
1979 and won two Pulitzer Prizes during his tenure -- once in 1999 and again in 2003 -- for his cartoons.
By Grant M. Haller, SeattlePI archives
David Horsey
Horsey's work has been syndicated for about 200 newspapers, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and Houston Chronicle. By David Horsey, SeattlePI archives
David Horsey
In 2011, Horsey
left the P-I to take a job at the Los Angeles Times, where
he still works as a cartoonist and political commentator.
By David Horsey, SeattlePI archives
Andrew Schneider
Andrew Schneider won two Pulitzer Prizes in 1986 and 1987 for his investigative work at The Pittsburgh Press. He later moved to Seattle where he spent several years working as an investigative reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
SeattlePI archives
Andrew Schneider He wrote an investigative series on asbestos contamination in Libby, Montana and how it was affecting the environment and citizens for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Schneider died in 2017 at the age of 74 due to heart failure. Joann Byrd, SeattlePI's editorial page editor during Schneider's time there, told The Seattle Times Schneider "was always on the side of people who were suffering or being treated badly.” In this photo, Andrew Schneider and fellow investigative reporter Carol Smith look at dangerous particles in brake linings for a story.SeattlePI archives
Morris the Cat
OK, OK, Morris was never an employee of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Morris was the star of television commercials for 9 Lives cat food.
However, he did stop by the P-I newsroom during a visit to Seattle in 1981 on a publicity tour. In this photo, a Post-Intelligencer photographer caught him trying out a computer in the newspaper's offices.
Courtesy MOHAI archives
Take a journey with us through the Seattle's history with a look at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's historic front pages.
SeattlePI
Here's the first edition of The Seattle Gazette, which is considered the debut issue of what was to become The Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Dec. 10, 1863. Stories of the front page included a poem about friendship in old age, Civil War news and a harrowing story from Naples, Italy, in which a mason was kidnapped to carve a hole out of a wall, where a young woman was forced into a coffin that was then inserted into the hole and walled off by the mason.
University of Washington archives
News about the Civil War described Union deaths as "our loss" and Confederate death's as "the enemy's loss."
University of Washington archives
The Gazette, which ran weekly, initially cost 12 cents.
University of Washington archives
The Weekly Intelligencer debuted Aug. 5, 1867 as a later iteration of the Seattle Gazette. It became the Daily Intelligencer in 1876 and then took over a new daily startup, The Post, in 1881, becoming the Seattle Post-Intelligener.Read more about its early history here.
MOHAI archives
The Weekly Intelligencer debuted Aug. 5, 1867 as a later iteration of
the Seattle Gazette. It became the Daily Intelligencer in 1876 and then
took over a new daily startup, The Post, in 1881, becoming the Seattle
Post-Intelligener.Read more about its early history here. MOHAI archives
The first edition of The Weekly Intelligencer, a predecessor to the modern-day SeattlePI, prominently featured a poem title, "A Summer Scene" by Isaac M'Lellan.
MOHAI archives
The front page advertised attorney services, a dry goods dealer, cigars, a barbershop and bath house and a Port Townsend shipping office. MOHAI archives
The front page also included an article about a "new way to propagate grapevines."
MOHAI archives
The one-year anniversary paper of The Great Fire ran June 6, 1890. It contained an image of its June 7, 1889 edition detailing The Great Fire within a frame of new text that recounted the effects of the fire. The P-I was the only daily publication in Seattle to report the details of the fire the morning after it destroyed more than two dozen city blocks.Read more about the P-I's error - and subsequent correction - about the fire as reporters pieced together details of its origin.
MOHAI archives
The one-year anniversary paper of The Great Fire detailed the city's rehabilitation, calling Seattle "Daughter of Phoenix."Check out archive photos illustrating the fire's devastation.
MOHAI archives
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer ran a New Year's Day edition advertising the natural and agricultural features of its new state, less than two months after Washington became a state in November 1889.
MOHAI archives
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer ran a New Year's Day edition advertising the natural and agricultural features of its new state, less than two months after Washington became a state in November 1889.
MOHAI archives
"To mention in detail the features and interest of every portion of the state would be a task impossible in the limits of this number, and therefor reliable and impartial data of a general nature only are sought to be given." MOHAI archives
"Its politics are Republican by 10,000 majority."
MOHAI archives
The Weekly Post-Intelligencer in 1890 reported on Washington state's most recent census, which pegged Seattle's population at 43,914 - an increase of 40,381. According to HistoryLink.org, the population jumped from about 25,000 to 43,000 in the year after the Great Fire alone.
MOHAI archives
The article says Washington jumped in population from 75,116 as Washington Territory in 1880 to approximately 346,000 as Washington state in 1890.
MOHAI archives
The P-I warned readers of the general strike the day before it started on Feb. 5, 1919.
MOHAI archives
Yet another "souvenir" New Year's Day edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 1895 boasts of the Puget Sound area's "gifts of nature."
MOHAI archives
Yet another "souvenir" New Year's Day edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 1895 boasts of the Puget Sound area's "gifts of nature."
Did you ever think of Washington as a "parallelogram?" Something to consider.
MOHAI archives
Yet another "souvenir" New Year's Day edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 1895 boasts of the Puget Sound area's "gifts of nature."
Here's the feature photo of the downtown Seattle waterfront.
MOHAI archives
In 1963, the P-I printed commemorative issues from the 1897 Klondike Gold Rush, during which gold-seekers funneled through Seattle to Alaska to strike it rich. The P-I announced the discovery of gold July 17, 1897 when reporter Beriah Brown, Jr. chartered a tugboat to intercept a steamer that was bringing gold
back from the Klondike. He interviewed miners on deck for an hour and rushed back to Seattle in time to break the news, according to HistoryLink.org.
MOHAI archives
"Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold!"
MOHAI archives
In 1963, the P-I printed commemorative issues from the 1897 Klondike Gold Rush, during which gold-seekers funneled through Seattle to Alaska to strike it rich.
MOHAI archives
The P-I reported that William Stanley of Seattle will return from the Klondike with nearly $90,000 in gold. MOHAI archives
June 6, 1917: The P-I reports on the local response to the escalating World War I. On June 26, the first 14,000 U.S. troops landed in France to begin combat training.
MOHAI archives
June 6, 1917: The P-I reports on the local response to the escalating World War I. On June 26, the first 14,000 U.S. troops landed in France to begin combat training.
MOHAI archives
The P-I reports on local volunteers for World War I June 6, 1917.
MOHAI archives
The same day The P-I reported on World War I, they also alerted locals that Seattle would go 'bone-dry,' as a state prohibition law went into effect. Congress would approve the 18th Amendment banning alcohol later that year.
MOHAI archives
The Nov. 11, 1918 P-I reported the Armistice.
MOHAI archives
The P-I itself informed Gov. Ernest Lister of the Armistice.
Lister issued a telephonic statement from Olympia that said, in part: "The passing of the dark shadow of war from an anguished world fills every heart with a feeling of thankfulness. ... Historians, with the advantage of better perspective, may set down the part played by each nation, but for the present it is sufficient for us to contemplate that we have won together and that we must begin the work of reconstruction together. This is the greatest day the world has ever seen."
MOHAI archives
A January 1919 edition warning of the pending Seattle General Strike also covered the lasting effects of World War I veterans.
MOHAI archives
The P-I warned readers of the Seattle General Strike the day before it started on Feb. 5, 1919. It grew out of an organized shipyard strike that occurred in January and included 35,000 union shipyard workers. Additional unions voted in favor of a greater strike that led to 65,000 walking off the job in February and grinding the city to a halt for five days.
Says HistoryLink.org: "Initially, the strike demonstrated the power of union solidarity, but it
soon fizzled. For labor, the Seattle General Strike was a glorious
folly that led to government crackdowns and to the distrust of the
public and the press for a decade to come."
MOHAI archives
About 200 representatives and officers met shortly before the strike to define its goals and sentiments, the P-I reported. MOHAI archives
In other news that day, Dr. Henry Suzzallo - the namesake for that library at UW - arrived in Olympia to assist an ailing Gov. Lister and act as a special adviser. Lister died months later in office.
MOHAI archives
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer alerted readers to the strike on Feb. 6, 1919.
MOHAI archives
Some indication of the political climate in 1919. MOHAI archives
"(S)treet cars will head for their respective barns, jitneys will stop operating, barber shops and the majority of restaurants will close, and activities generally in the city, so far as organized labor is concerned, will be curtailed." MOHAI archives
The P-I issued some front-page commentary on the strike that didn't mince words:
"It is not a strike; it is a delirium-born rebellion."
Other choice terms: "hair-brained radicals," "crackbrains" and "Rubbish!" The editorial claimed favor with organized labor, but an opposition to the infiltration of "foreign revolutionists."
MOHAI archives
The P-I was consumed with strike coverage throughout its duration. Here's the Feb. 8, 1919 edition.
MOHAI archives
The strike was over Feb. 11, 1919. MOHAI archives
The P-I was consumed with strike coverage throughout its duration.
MOHAI archives
In the Sept. 3, 1939 edition, the front page shows Britain declaring war against Germany after its invasion of Poland, setting off World War II.
MOHAI archives
In the Sept. 3, 1939 edition, the front page shows Britain declaring
war against Germany after its invasion of Poland, setting off World War
II.
MOHAI archives
The P-I ran several war extras of the paper throughout Dec. 8 and 9, 1941, as reporters scrambled to make sense of the Pearl Harbor bombing.
It's important to note SeattlePI today does not condone, not would ever use, the anti-Japanese slur used in these headlines.
MOHAI archives
The P-I ran several war extras of the paper throughout Dec. 8 and 9, 1941, as reporters scrambled to make sense of the Pearl Harbor bombing.
MOHAI archives
The P-I ran several war extras of the paper throughout Dec. 8 and 9, 1941, as reporters scrambled to make sense of the Pearl Harbor bombing.
MOHAI archives
The P-I ran several war extras of the paper throughout Dec. 8 and 9, 1941, as reporters scrambled to make sense of the Pearl Harbor bombing.
MOHAI archives
The P-I ran several war extras of the paper throughout Dec. 8 and 9, 1941, as reporters scrambled to make sense of the Pearl Harbor bombing.
MOHAI archives
The P-I ran several war extras of the paper throughout Dec. 8 and 9, 1941, as reporters scrambled to make sense of the Pearl Harbor bombing.
MOHAI archives
Aug. 15, 1945: The P-I reports on Japan's surrender, effectively ending World War II.
MOHAI archives
The P-I celebrated the opening of the World's Fair April 21, 1962.
University of Washington archives
Here's the schedule for the first day of the World's Fair, April 21, 2062. Gates opened to the public at 11 a.m. and President John F. Kennedy was scheduled to deliver a telephonic opening message at 11:57 a.m.
Other events included two water-ski shows at Memorial Stadium and an opening night concert at the Opera House with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, with Igor Stravinsky - famous for "Rite of Spring," for starters - serving as guest conductor.
University of Washington archives
A family from West Yellowstone, Mont. traveled to Seattle to check out the World's Fair.
University of Washington archives
The P-I featured Seattle Center's International Fountain above the fold the day after the World's Fair debut, April 22, 1962.
University of Washington archives
The P-I ran this aerial shot of the World's Fair campus, looking to the northwest, April 22, 1962.
University of Washington archives
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer ran its commemorative 100th anniversary edition a little early - in April 1963. Pictured is the old P-I office at Sixth and Wall, now home to City University.
MOHAI archives
The Seattle-to-Everett portion of Interstate 5 was finished and opened to drivers Feb. 3, 1965. The Feb. 4 edition of the P-I hailed the latest achievement in the I-5 construction that persisted through 1969.
University of Washington archives
The $41 million six-lane project linked Northeast 145th Street to the freeway, stretching north to Everett.
University of Washington archives
This traffic at the Northeast 145th Street ramp shows a familiar sight today.
University of Washington archives
April 30, 1965: A 6.5 Richter Scale earthquake rocked the Northwest, causing millions of dollars in damage April 29. The next day's newspaper pegged the epicenter of the quake near Hood Canal's Dabob Bay near the Olympic Peninsula town of Quilcene.
MOHAI archives
April 30, 1965: earthquake
MOHAI archives
Aug. 9, 1974: The P-I splashes President Richard Nixon's resignation across the front page, reporting that he would step down at 9 a.m. Pacific Standard Time.
MOHAI archives
Aug. 9, 1974: The P-I splashes President Richard Nixon's resignation across the front page, reporting that he would step down at 9 a.m. Pacific Standard Time.
MOHAI archives
Feb. 3, 1979: Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping (or Teng Hsiao-ping) arrives in Seattle for a two-day visit. Fresh off being named "Man of the Year" by TIME , he underwent a 9-day goodwill tour of the United States which concluded in Seattle, according to HistoryLink.org.
His activities included touring a Boeing 747 plant at Paine Field in Everett and dining at Canlis in Seattle.
MOHAI archives
Jokes were discouraged.
"Mother-in-law jokes and other forms of American humor do not translate well into Chinese, and polite Seattle hosts may wish to avoid them during the Ten Hsiao-ping visit," the P-I reported.
MOHAI archives
Dec. 1, 1999: The P-I describes the first day of the WTO conference, which launched riotous demonstrations in Seattle's streets.
Read our recent reflection on the events from its 19th anniversary.
MOHAI archives
Authorities set up no-protest zones guarded by the National Guard, but demonstrators managed to reach the prohibited Westlake Center, drawing more tear gas and rubber bullets from cops. MOHAI archives
The Dec. 3 issue outlined the softer stance taken by police after protesters demonstrate to decry aggressive policing. MOHAI archives
Several thousand demonstrators marched in a closing anti-WTO protest
headed by the Teamsters union as trade negotiations broke down. Protesters danced at news of the conference's failure.
MOHAI archives
Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper resigned Dec. 7, 1999, days after riots disrupted the WTO summit and exposed abuses in the police response to demonstrators. In announcing that he would stay on for two months after his resignation notice, he actually stayed two months longer than he'd originally planned, aiming to retire the next month.
MOHAI archives
The March 1, 2001 edition of the P-I illustrated the 6.8 Nisqually Earthquake that shook Western Washington. Look only as far as the forthcoming tear-down of the Alaskan Way Viaduct to see its continued reverberations.
University of Washington archives
As reported in this front-page graphic, more than 200 people were injured and the quake caused damage to major roadways, the Starbucks headquarters and the state Capitol.
University of Washington archives
The P-I joined the rest of the world on Sept. 12, 2001 in attempting to make sense of the terrorist attacks in New York City, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. the day before.
Its lead: "In the most deadly terrorist onslaught ever waged in the United States, knife-wielding hijackers crashed two airliners into the World Trade Center yesterday, toppling its twin 110-story towers. The deadly calamity was witnessed on televisions across the world as another plane slammed into the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed outside Pittsburgh."
Daniel DeMay/SeattlePI
The Nov. 5, 2008 edition reported Barack Obama's election as the United States' first black president.
MOHAI archives
The P-I featured the election of the United States' first black president prominently on both its A1 and commemorative section.
MOHAI archives
Obama inauguration: Jan. 21, 2009
MOHAI archive
On Jan. 10, 2009, the P-I announced being put up for sale by Hearst. If not sold in 60 days, it would become an online-only publication with a significantly reduced staff or be closed outright.
MOHAI archive
Hearst indeed turned the P-I into the United States' first daily newspaper to become an online-only newsroom. Its last print edition ran St. Patrick's Day in 2009. MOHAI archives
The P-I ran a 20-page commemorative accompaniment. MOHAI archives
What do E. B. White, Andrew Schnieder and Tom Robbins have in common?
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With a legacy as long as SeattlePI 's, it's inevitable that thousands have been employed by the publication at some point or another.
And, inevitable still, some of those names will stand out.
For some, a job at the P-I was the pinnacle of their career. For others, it was a stepping stone. Still others saw just a blip.
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White, for example, worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for a short time after he was fired from another newspaper, before boarding a ship bound for Alaska.
Schneider won two Pulitzer Prizes for investigative reporting before coming to Seattle, and he continued to pursue hard-hitting stories even after he left.
Royal Brougham's legacy was built almost entirely out of his career covering sports at the P-I, and his name can still be seen around town -- including Royal Brougham Way that runs between the two SoDo stadiums.
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These famous folks and more have spent some time at the P-I.
Click through the gallery above to see how these household names and others once made their mark at SeattlePI -- and, in some cases, where else you can see their work.
*Note: Unless otherwise attributed, historical information was compiled from Historylink.org essays, MOHAI photo captions and SeattlePI archives.