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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1876 | 1 |
| 1877 | 3 |
| 1883 | 2 |
| 1885 | 3 |
| 1886 | 2 |
| 1889 | 1 |
| 1892 | 2 |
| 1893 | 2 |
| 1894 | 3 |
| 1904 | 1 |
20 stories matching shoddi
- The Shoddy Scandal: How the Tariff Made Our Clothes Garbage
Aberdeen readers are warned that under the McKinley Tariff, the American clothing industry has swapped quality wool for 'shoddy' rags, hair, and cotton.
- Beacon Hill Residents Revolt Over Grade Taxes
Property owners on South Twelfth and Fourteenth streets refuse to pay for grading they claim was never completed.
- The Inn-Wide Hotel: A Foreclosure in Disguise
W. Tirtlot offers the town's oldest hotel for sale on terms that guarantee his income for four years—revealing the precarious financial state of local commerce in 1876.
- A New Haven for Working Women
The newly organized Young Women's Christian Association opens its doors to provide meals, employment, and safety to Seattle's laboring class.
- Whistleblower Exposes Shoddy Work on County Almshouse
A veteran bricklayer alleges that the new county building was built with inferior materials and covered up with paint to deceive inspectors.
- The Professionalization of Seattle Architecture
A call for ethical standards in an era of rapid, often shoddy construction, as Seattle architects move to join the American Institute of Architects.
- The River Merchant’s Gamble
A bold entrepreneur stakes his future on a new steam-powered shop boat, promising Seattle-level prices to the remote logging camps of the Snohomish River.
- The Price of a Shoddy Crossing
A railroad conductor is killed in a derailment caused by an improperly filled track crossing.
- The Rotting Schoolhouse
A local mechanic alerts the city to a school building construction so shoddy it was doomed to collapse.
- The City's Endless Bridge Troubles
Tacoma's public works are stalled as city officials argue over shoddy materials and unfinished infrastructure.
- The Crumbling Walls of Steilacoom
A group of builders and taxpayers exposes shoddy construction at the new Territorial Asylum.
- Defective Sewer Construction in the Third Ward
Accusations of corruption and shoddy craftsmanship arise as city officials are caught using undersized rods and poor brickwork on public projects.
- The Scandal of the Crumbling Hospital
An architect blows the whistle on shoddy bricks and corner-cutting builders at the new Territorial Hospital.
- The 'Scrawniest Things' on Second Street: A 1889 Fight Over Slum Housing
When the city's building inspector sought clarification on code, he triggered a blistering critique of the shoddy, dangerous 'rookeries' being erected in the shadow of the Great Seattle Fire.
- Highwayman Attacks Laborer on the Waterfront
A beachcomber is robbed of his money and watch by two masked men at the foot of Virginia Street.
- The Deadly Cost of Lax Oversight on Puget Sound Steamers
A concerned correspondent challenges local authorities to address the criminal negligence allowing faulty boilers to threaten lives on our waters.
- The Struggle for Self-Culture in Snohomish
An 1877 literary society meeting sparks a fierce editorial debate on the necessity of intellectual labor and the dangers of the 'critic' class.
- The Boomtown Blueprint: Seattle's 1877 Real Estate Pitch
As lumber prices cratered and labor became cheap, local papers urged investors to stop building shoddy shacks and start constructing 'neat, commodious cottages' for high-interest returns.
- Death on the Seattle Waterfront: A Call for Boiler Safety
An 1886 letter to the editor demands accountability for the 'shoveling engineers' and shoddy steamship maintenance risking lives in Puget Sound.
- The Radical Doctor of Seattle
An 1876 lecture at the local Opera House challenges the city's elites, railing against the morality of wealth, the indignity of labor, and the hypocrisy of the church.