Condemning the 'Boom Town' Relics
Building Inspector Sherman launches a crusade against the derelict shacks and half-finished houses left over from Tacoma’s abandoned real estate boom.
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.
Building Inspector Sherman has undertaken a crusade to improve and beautify the city. Already he has condemned a number of old buildings and shacks which have been a continual eyesore to the public and a disgrace to the city. The old half-burned dwelling at 1310 South D street, which has been standing in that condition for the past four years, has been condemned and will be removed by the agents, Sampson & Guyles. The building inspector has also ordered Phoenix Habcock, the agent, to remove a dwelling at 1529 North Prospect street. This is a dwelling that was started during the boom days and never finished on account of the hard times. The old house has been the home of the pigeons for the past six or seven years. A little shack at the rear of the Pioneer saloon, Old Town, has also been ordered torn down.
“The old house has been the home of the pigeons for the past six or seven years.”
Tacoma’s early growth was defined by wild, speculative booms that left behind unfinished structures when the money dried up. Today, we still wrestle with how to manage 'eyesores' and abandoned property during housing shortages, though the context has shifted from city-wide blight removal to the adaptive reuse of existing historic architecture.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.