Seven-Cent Meals: Seattle's City Mission Fed Thousands in 1893
In November 1893, the Seattle City Mission served 3,049 free meals, provided 1,071 lodgings, and begged the city for underclothing as the depression deepened.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Following is the report of B. M. Byther, secretary of the Seattle City Mission, on the work done during November:
'During the past month we have become more settled in our new quarters at old Commercial street, and have lively work to gather in the necessary funds to carry on our work of helping the poor and destitute.
'Three thousand and forty-nine free meals and 1,071 free lodgings have been given, while at the home an average of twelve women and children have been kept. Also several families have been supplied with food from the kitchen. Upwards of 900 men have been on our register during the month and have received on an average one meal per day for six days, at an average cost to the contributors (if we include 2,000 meals given at the home) of about 7 cents per meal, including the running expenses of the mission and lodging house.
'The receipts for the month have been as follows: ... Total receipts $934.14.' A long list of contributors followed, from Governor J. H. McGraw and Thomas Mercer to churches, markets, and individual donors.
'The demand for underclothing is very great, and the supply lamentably small. A great many men are without a change, and some without any to change. Can the people help us out? Look over your wardrobes and see what you have that you will never wear, and give it out.
'Special Thanksgiving offerings—First M. E. church, one turkey; J. D. McIntyre, one turkey; Haley Grocery Company, box of apples; L. Schank, West Seattle, four gallons tomatoes; ladies of Cedar Mountain, eight chickens; Mrs. J. A. Morrill, box grapes, etc.; Mrs. G. Haller, cake; Mrs. E. Sackman, cake; Mrs. J. H. Payne, cake, bread and fruit; Mrs. W. H. Hughes, cake, bread and fruit; Mrs. H. C. Riggs, cake, bread and fruit; L. H. Kefauver, cake; and many others.
'The Thanksgiving dinner at the Mission hall was a grand success, and will be a bright spot through life in the memory of many of the sailors and laboring men who find themselves stranded in this our city, and bound down by that skeleton monster, want, and with so few who are both able and willing to give an encouraging word and helping hand.
'Yet it must be admitted, as we glance down the long list of contributors to our work, that the Queen City stands to the front for generous hearts and hands at the cry of the poor and needy, when at the same time the financial pressure is so severely felt by us all. Yet we remember that "he that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord," and we are never losers thereby in the end, for "the Lord loveth a cheerful giver."'
B. M. Byther, Secretary.
“Three thousand and forty-nine free meals and 1,071 free lodgings have been given, while at the home an average of twelve women and children have been kept.”
In 1893, Seattle's 'Queen City' boosterism masked a deep depression; the City Mission's seven-cent meals and free lodgings were the safety net. Today, as Seattle again confronts visible homelessness and food insecurity, the report's plea for underwear and its ledger of small donations read like a precursor to modern mutual aid.
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