John Harte McGraw (1850-1910) moved to Seattle from Maine in 1876 and got a job as a clerk in the Occidental Hotel. According to his obituary, he became an owner of American House boarding house in 1877, though the hotel was destroyed in a fire in 1878. That year he joined Seattle's tiny police force and began a successful career in law enforcement, business, and politics. He was the second Governor of Washington, from 1893-1897, after which he joined the 1897 gold rush. Later he returned to Seattle and went into real estate.
This business card for American House lists the proprietors, W. D. Haley and John H. McGraw, and an address of "first house above Steamboat Landing, Seattle, W.T."
Caption information source: "McGraw, John H. (1850-1910)," by Junius Rochester and David B. Williams, HistoryLink.org Essay 3435. Caption information source: "John H. M'Graw Sinks Peacefully into Final Sleep," The Seattle Daily Times, June 24, 1910, p. 33.
Physical Description: 1 business card ; 3.5 x 2.25 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
