Résumé

The 1880 US Census indicated that Rea worked as an architect. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1880; Census Place: Seattle, King, Washington; Roll: 1396; Page: 235A; Enumeration District: 007, accessed 03/21/2018.)

Principal, E.W. Rea, Building Contractor, Seattle, WA, c. 1882. Rea worked with architect William E. Boone on the construction of the City of Seattle's City Hall #1.

Relocation

Born in Canada, E.W. Rea was listed in the US Census of 1880 as living in a boarding house on Second Street in Seattle, WA. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1880; Census Place: Seattle, King, Washington; Roll: 1396; Page: 235A; Enumeration District: 007, accessed 03/21/2018.) Two years later, the Seattle City Directory of 1882 noted that he resided on 7th Avenue between Spring and Seneca Streets. (See Seattle, Washington, City Directory, 1882, p. 53.)

Rea may have either lived in Tacoma, WA, c. 1881 or was a frequent visitor there. His name was listed with a group of men associated with the formation of the "Tacoma Rifles" a military organization founded in 1881. (See Herbert Hunt, Tacoma: Its History and Its Builders; a Half Century of Activity, Vol. 1, [Chicago, Ill., S.J. Clarke Pub. Company, 1916], p. 259.)