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Old newspapers, pinned to the places they wrote about — the streets you can still walk today.
In February 1886, a citizen-led campaign of forced expulsion against Seattle’s Chinese residents spiraled into a violent confrontation, triggering a week of martial law and armed conflict in the streets.
“The mob, who imagined they were engaged in removing the Chinese by force, were in control of the streets.”
An armed confrontation between I.W.W. protesters and a citizens' posse leaves six dead and scores wounded after a failed landing in Everett.
“The fight must be won.”
The entire business district of Seattle was reduced to ashes in a massive conflagration, leaving the city without a single standing business house.
“Not a business house left in the city.”
In November 1916, a boatload of union men arrived at the city dock and were met by two hundred armed deputies. Everett has never fully agreed on what happened next.
“We are all leaders.”
When a mob drove Aberdeen’s Chinese community out of town and stole $550, the county’s prosecuting attorney charged the victims with libel instead of the perpetrators—sparking a furious editorial defense of civil rights in 1890.
A bitter dispute over a 'breast' of coal at the Newcastle mines escalated into a violent confrontation between the Miners’ Union and the Knights of Labor, leaving one man dead and many injured.
“No more work in Newcastle mine until this trouble is settled.”
Following the devastating fire of 1889, Seattle's business leaders, bankers, and citizens mobilize to enforce strict brick-and-stone building codes while navigating the logistics of temporary survival.
“We will have brick buildings within the fire limits or we will have none.”
Colonel Haines recounts the chaos, the failed efforts to contain the 1889 fire with explosives, and the deployment of the National Guard to maintain order amidst the ashes.
“The air was full of smoke and the shouts of people carrying their goods to places of safety, and the streets were full of trunks and boxes and goods thrown from the burning buildings.”
A devastating structural collapse and fire at a downtown factory leaves dozens of workers dead or critically injured in a haunting industrial disaster.
“The scene was one of utter chaos; onlookers and police rushed to the site to find workers attempting to pull their colleagues from the ruins.”
Facing mounting pressure and threats of violence, the Mayor of Seattle summons citizens to address the growing anti-Chinese agitation.
“I have conceived it prudent to call a meeting... for the purpose of taking counsel and devising ways and means to prevent further bloodshed.”
Delegates from across the Puget Sound gather in Seattle to organize for the mass expulsion of Chinese laborers.
“I won't go in for shooting Chinamen or burning their property, but should any peaceable means be devised I'll put my shoulder to the wheel.”
As anti-Chinese sentiment boiled over in Seattle, local laborers and activists held a packed rally to formalize plans for the forced expulsion of the city's Chinese population.
“There is an irresistible, irrepressible conflict here, the result of which will be that the Chinese must leave this country, and before very long.”
Tensions boil over between labor organizers and the property-owning elite over the presence of Chinese workers, as the city teeters on the edge of mob rule.
“The hands cannot say to the feet, because they tread in the dust, I am more honorable than you.”
In 1885, citizens of Bellingham signed a pledge to systematically boycott and remove their Chinese neighbors, marking a dark chapter in Washington's labor and social history.
“The undersigned do solemnly pledge and promise, upon our honor as citizens, that we will not... patronize Chinese laundries or give employment to Chinese in any capacity.”
As anti-Chinese sentiment reaches a fever pitch in Seattle, the local press advocates for a 'peaceful' campaign of economic exclusion to force the Chinese community out of the city.
“The process has been principally one of freezing out. Arguments have been presented to employers of labor which induced them to dispense with the help of Chinamen, and unable to find work, the next thing for the foreigners to do was to leave.”
In 1885, Seattle laborers and anti-Chinese activists gathered for a massive, torch-lit demonstration to demand the removal of the city's Chinese population, marking a dark chapter of exclusionary labor violence in the Pacific Northwest.
“I am here to lift my voice for white men, white labor and a white country, now and forever.”
A brutal night of terror in the hop fields as an armed mob targets immigrant laborers.
“I heard Ferry Bayne say: Hold up the tent, and all shoot when we get ready.”
While Seattleites marched through the rain to condemn Chinese residents, the city of Tacoma mobilized into an organized, exclusionary force that would soon see the forced removal of hundreds.
“The sentiment manifested plainly showed that a period had been reached when united action would have to be taken against further Chinese intrusion.”
In a pre-planned act of collective expulsion, hundreds of residents marched through the rain to force the city's Chinese population to flee to Lakeview, marking a dark chapter in Pacific Northwest history.
“Everything was orderly, no violence occurring. At 4:30 p.m., a long string of Chinese commenced to move, drays carrying their luggage.”
While city leaders in Seattle urged calm, residents in Tacoma forcibly expelled the Chinese community, marking a dark escalation in the regional movement to purge Asian workers.
“The committee of ten appointed by the first anti-Chinese Congress hereby calls a second anti-Chinese congress to be held at Olympia... to adopt a thorough system for further action towards excluding the Chinese from the Territory.”
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