Instant Housing in the Northwest
When a family arrived in Dayton, Washington, and found no homes available for rent, they didn't wait—they built their own in a single afternoon.
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.
A family direct from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, arrived in Dayton this week, and not being able to rent a house of any kind, they purchased some rough lumber last Wednesday morning, went to work, and by 5 o'clock in the afternoon, a house was built and the family had moved in and were cooking supper. Such people have true grit, and are just what the northwest so much needs.
“Such people have true grit, and are just what the northwest so much needs.”
Housing scarcity is a recurring theme in the Pacific Northwest; while the family in this 1878 report utilized 'true grit' and rough timber to solve their housing crisis in a day, modern residents face significantly higher barriers to self-built housing and land access.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.