Seattle Boarding House Ad Barred Chinese Workers in 1876
In 1876, a Seattle boarding house advertised that it would not employ Chinese cooks, a public exclusion that reflected rising anti-Asian sentiment and helped shape the city’s labor history.
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.
"NO CHINAMAN NEED APPLY! AT THE NEW BOARDING-HOUSE Opposite Hammond's Shipyard. TRAVELERS AND REGULAR Boarders Will be accommodated with GOOD BEDS and FIRST-CLASS MEALS. We employ no Chinese Cooks! All Cooking and waiting done by Females. MEALS.................. 25 cents. BEDS.................... 25 cents. my23m JOHN TROMBLY, Prop'r."
This advertisement from 1876 is a stark artifact of the racial exclusion that defined Seattle's early economic development. Just two years later, in 1877, Seattle would host one of the first major anti-Chinese riots in the Pacific Northwest, leading to the expulsion of Chinese residents and the destruction of Chinatown. This ad illustrates how housing and labor markets were weaponized to enforce racial hierarchies, a struggle for equity that resonates deeply with modern debates over immigration, housing affordability, and systemic discrimination.
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