The Street Grader’s Injunction
Prominent real estate developer H.L. Yesler halts work on Third Street with a temporary restraining order against local contractors.
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.
H.L. Yesler swore out an injunction against Chin 'Chon' & Charley, street-grade contractors, on Saturday, alleging that they were unlawfully engaged in cutting away the earth from in front of his property on Third Street, and unlawfully filling in and cribbing Mill Street in front of other of his property. On the strength of this sworn statement, Judge Greene issued a temporary restraining order and put a stop to the work in front of Mr. Yesler's property. The contractors will go on and finish their work elsewhere, leaving Mr. Yesler's frontage half-finished. Mr. Yesler previously succeeded in beating the city out of the expense of the Front-street grade, the cost of which fell to the taxpayers, and with these new injunctions, the Lord only knows when the work will be finished.
“The Chinese contractors are too smart to go to law with Mr. Yesler, and will go on and finish up their work elsewhere, and leave Mr. Yesler as he forces them to, other half finished.”
This dispute over who pays for local infrastructure—developers or taxpayers—was a staple of Seattle's early growth. Today, this friction persists in the form of Local Improvement Districts (LIDs) and the complex negotiations between developers and the city over transit and road improvements.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.