A Quiet Fourth in Yakima
City authorities ban fireworks, sending residents elsewhere to celebrate while census enumerators scramble to count the town.
The 4th of July in Yakima was about as quiet a day as the most nervous of old ladies could desire. The authorities had placed an embargo on the firing of crackers and Chinese bombs within the city limits, and every patriotic small boy that could steal away made tracks at an early hour to leave the city limits behind. A large party visited Sunnyside, the Christian Sunday school picnic was largely attended, and the balance of the people patronized the races. The town looked deserted and was deserted, and it is The Herald's honest opinion, based upon the returns, that Enumerator Liggett took that occasion to make up the census.
“The town looked deserted and was deserted, and it is The Herald's honest opinion... that Enumerator Liggett took that occasion to make up the census.”
Census undercounting has long been a sore point for Yakima. Just as this 1890 article laments an 'absurd' enumeration process that left the city looking smaller on paper than it felt in reality, modern residents still grapple with how official data shapes the perception and funding of their growing community.
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