A New Refuge for Working Women
The YWCA opens its doors in Seattle, offering a haven for women workers with a lunchroom, reading room, and employment bureau.
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.
On Friday morning, the Young Woman's Christian Association rooms on Third and Cherry streets were formally opened. The rooms were beautifully decorated with potted plants and cut flowers donated by members for the occasion. There is a reading room, furnished with daily papers, periodicals, books, and an organ, and a lunch room, where women who work in the city can bring their lunches to eat and get a cup of coffee. The rooms are in charge of Mrs. D. D. Barger, secretary of the local organization. It is the intention to open classes in physical culture, language, penmanship, dressmaking and cooking on certain evenings during the week, and an employment bureau will be run free in connection with the work.
“A lunch room, where women who work in the city can bring their lunches to eat and get a cup of coffee.”
This 1894 report captures the origins of a long-standing Seattle institution. While the location and the scale of the YWCA’s work have changed drastically, the core mission of providing a bridge for women entering the workforce remains a direct precursor to today's debates about institutional support for working women and affordable city services.
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