The Rapid Rise of Yakima's Skyline
Four years ago, Yakima was a desert of sagebrush; today, the city moves toward a multi-story, modern future.
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.
As in other cities of Washington, the real estate market in Yakima is not over active, but prices have held their own and advanced during the summer. The dull season is being improved by builders, and no city on the coast of equal population will be able to point at the close of the year to as many signs of enterprise as Yakima. In 1886, a one-story brick building was put up and looked upon as a bit of enterprise. Then came buildings of handsome architectural design and two stories high, but this year Yakima is no longer a two-story town. She has increased too rapidly, and four of the brick blocks now under construction will measure three stories in height. Four years ago where Yakima now stands was a desert of sagebrush and rocks. Today it is a city of upwards of three thousand people, with public buildings, business blocks, and wide, well-graded streets.
“Four years ago where Yakima now stands was a desert of sagebrush and rocks. To-day it is a city with a population numbering upwards of three thousand.”
Yakima's 1889 transition from a 'two-story town' to a multi-story center mirrors the modern civic tension between maintaining small-town character and managing the pressures of rapid urban densification. The pride taken in brick construction a century ago echoes today's debates about high-density housing and downtown revitalization.
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