File:Rainier Hotel Company stock certificate, 1889 (MOHAI 11499).jpg

This stock certificate for the Rainier Hotel Company was issued on November 10, 1889, to Bailey Gatzert for 10 shares, valued at $500. The company owned the Rainier Hotel on Seattle's First Hill, located on Fifth Avenue between Marion Street and Columbia Street. The hotel was rushed to completion in 1889 following the Great Seattle Fire, which had destroyed much of the downtown hotel space. Enjoying a short period of success by serving the influx of people to the city after the fire, the hotel was too far from the central business district to ensure lasting success and the building was demolished in 1910. German immigrant and Rainier Hotel Company shareholder Bailey Gatzert (1829-1893) came to Seattle in 1869 to open the Schwabacher Brothers and Company's first hardware and general mercantile store in the city. He was involved in many business and civic ventures critical to the establishment of early Seattle commerce and infrastructure, and was an original member of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Gatzert was elected mayor of Seattle on August 2, 1875, and as of 2018 is the only Jewish mayor of Seattle.

Caption information source: "Gatzert, Bailey (1829-1893)" by Lee Micklin, HistoryLink.org Essay 86. Caption information source: http://pcad.lib.washington.edu/building/18212

• Subjects (LCTGM): Business people--Washington (State)--Seattle; Stock certificates
• People: Gatzert, Bailey, 1829-1893