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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 5 |
| 1877 | 3 |
| 1882 | 1 |
| 1883 | 1 |
| 1884 | 3 |
| 1885 | 1 |
| 1887 | 1 |
| 1888 | 3 |
| 1889 | 4 |
| 1891 | 1 |
| 1892 | 3 |
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| 1910 | 1 |
41 stories matching overcrowd
- The Struggle for Space: Seattle’s Overcrowded Schools in 1887
An 1887 inspection of Seattle's public schools reveals a city straining against its rapid growth, featuring dilapidated buildings, overcrowding, and a desperate search for adequate space for its pupils.
- The Price of Education: Seattle Schools in Crisis
When the School Board looked to rent space from the University of Washington to ease overcrowding, they were met with a rental demand that signaled the end of public space as a bargain.
- Inside the Western Washington Asylum
A biennial report reveals the harsh realities and overcrowding at the state facility for the insane in Steilacoom.
- The Fight for Breathable Air in Seattle's Tenements
City health officials launch an inspection campaign to enforce density limits in overcrowded boarding houses.
- The Snohomish Hotel Boom: When the Exchange Was Too Small for Seattle's Ambitions
As the local exchange building becomes overcrowded with investors and merchants, the community is looking to build a new hotel near the site of the former Riverside House to accommodate the growing influx of capital.
- The Struggle for Space at Seattle High School
As the class of 1893 graduates, the school’s principal warns that overcrowding and a lack of facilities are stalling the city’s educational ambitions.
- Seattle’s 'Black Hole of Calcutta' Condemned
A scathing health department report labels the city jail a public danger, citing extreme overcrowding and poor ventilation.
- The City’s Campaign Against ‘Swill Milk’
A new Seattle ordinance cracks down on impure milk production and the use of 'distillery waste' as feed.
- Building a Solidarity Stronghold
Everett’s labor unions propose a new, worker-owned headquarters to accommodate the city’s rapid industrial expansion.
- A High School for the Tourist Hotel
Tacoma school officials and activists weigh a bold plan to convert a prominent local hotel into a much-needed, fireproof high school.
- The Working People of Seattle Protest Wage Cuts
Thousands pack the Armory to demand relief and protest corporate wage suppression across the city.
- The Man Who Wanted to Redesign the Flag
While Congress struggled with the logistics of adding new stars to the American flag, a Tacoma resident claimed to have a permanent solution.
- The Looming Birth of a State
As Washington prepares for statehood, the race is on to secure housing and logistics in Olympia for a surge of arriving politicians and militia.
- Seattle's Jail Was Overcrowded and Waiting on Steel Cells from St. Louis
Sheriff Winger held eleven prisoners in the county jail, including four sailors and two Puyallup men sentenced for assault, while unfit close cells had to be used until new steel cells arrived.
- Prison Population Explodes
Walla Walla's state penitentiary faces record overcrowding as prisoner count surges to 673.
- The Isolation of a Refractory Patient
A county hospital patient is placed in solitary confinement in an outbuilding after her behavior renders her unfit for the general ward.
- The Tinderbox of the Waterfront: Fire Chief Warns of Seattle’s Oil-Fueled Doom
Chief Collins warns that Standard Oil’s wooden warehouses along the waterfront are a 'match away' from destroying the city, while overcrowded lodging houses threaten the poor with similar fates.
- The Steamboat That Carried Too Many
A legal dispute over overcrowding on the Seattle-Tacoma run exposes the strict—and often ignored—limits placed on Puget Sound steam travel in 1888.
- Seattle Schools Bursting at the Seams
Superintendent Barnard struggles to accommodate a massive influx of new students while the Board of Education refuses to hire additional teachers.
- The Looming Crisis at the State Penitentiary
Washington's state prison faces overcrowding and inadequate facilities as the inmate population outpaces projections, forcing guards to rent rooms in town.
- The Great Escape Attempt at the King County Jail
A desperate dig through the ceiling of a Seattle jail cell ends with the sheriff turning fire hoses on the inmates to quell the chaos.
- The Human Machine: An 1876 Warning on Burnout
A century-and-a-half-old editorial from Snohomish reminds us that the pressure to keep working is not a modern invention.
- The Inhumanity of the City Jail
A plea for the humane treatment of women in Seattle's overcrowded, mixed-gender prison system.
- The Typhoid Traps of Third and Jackson
Public health investigators uncover a squalid, overcrowded lodging house where laborers were left to suffer in squalor, exposing the dark underside of Seattle's rapid expansion.
- Grand Jury Reports Overcrowded Jail and Neglect
A critical look inside King County’s criminal justice facilities and care for the vulnerable.