The Invisible Safety Net of 1880s Seattle

The Ladies' Relief Society of the City of Seattle was organized in the spring of 1884. It was a time of widespread discontent and the hard times that prevailed throughout the country were felt with unusual intensity in Seattle and the other cities on Puget Sound. The boom of 1884 had broken, and hundreds of men and their families had been brought to the West in the hope of improving their circumstances, only to find themselves without work and penniless. Many hundreds also had applied to the county authorities, but they had ignored their extremities. It was this condition of affairs which led a few kind-hearted women to organize the Ladies' Relief Society. The main object they occupied as their own was to reach out to cases of suffering and distress to those without food or shelter. In the course of a few months after the society had entered upon its work, it became apparent that the provisions made to care for the children were far too small. The children of needy families required attention and the ladies were at a loss how to care for them. There was apparently but one way of meeting the want, and it was finally determined to establish a children's home. The county had been supporting a number of destitute children by paying private parties to keep them at ten dollars per month. The Ladies' Relief Society took charge of the home and agreed to care for all of them for the uniform price of fifteen dollars per month. The work was carried on without public funds, relying instead on private donations and charitable entertainments. The society maintained that the care of such of the county's dependents should be a matter of pride with every citizen.