An Immigration House for New Arrivals
North Yakima citizens bankroll a temporary housing facility for newcomers searching for homesteads.
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.
North Yakima is preparing to care for her quota of newcomers from Colorado, California, and the east. Many of those who come here with their families in search of new homes find the expenses of hotel life a very material item while looking over the country for a location, and are often deterred on this account from devoting the needed time to the search. For the benefit of this class, an immigration house is to be built, compartments in which will be furnished to home seekers, for a limited time, free of charge. Our enterprising citizens readily subscribed the necessary money for this purpose, and the building contract was let to Robert Scott. The Northern Pacific, for a nominal figure, has leased a site for the building on the railroad right-of-way, and it is expected to have the structure completed in about two weeks. The building will be ninety-six feet long by twenty-four feet in width and will contain sixteen rooms or eight family sections.
“Many of those who come here with their families in search of new homes find the expenses of hotel life a very material item.”
This 1890 effort to provide temporary, low-barrier housing for arrivals mirrors the contemporary challenges Yakima faces regarding rapid population growth and the lack of affordable transitional housing for new residents.
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