Charity in the Cold: A Yakima Christmas in 1891
While many in Yakima enjoyed a comfortable holiday, neighbors stepped in to ensure that local families facing financial ruin still found a reason to celebrate.
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.
While the 'yule logs' burned, all Yakima was enjoying itself. Christmas was observed among the rich and the poor, and few have cause to remember the day except with pleasure. In a number of homes, especially those of some of the recent comers, hard luck and misfortune made the inmates look forward to the day with anything but gladness, but wherever these were known, kind-hearted and generous citizens took the part of Santa Claus and provided bountifully of those things which were most needed. On the western limit of the city there is a very deserving family, who recently arrived here from Dakota, where fire, sickness and other misfortunes had reduced their circumstances very low. The mother in sorrow had told her half dozen children that Santa Claus would not come this year, but he was there just the same with a very generous pack. A well known real estate man provided a Christmas tree, his wife furnished candy, books and other fixings, a leading merchant loaded his phaeton down with dress goods and useful articles, and others contributed of their plenty.
“The mother in sorrow had told her half dozen children that Santa Claus would not come this year, but he was there just the same and with a very generous pack.”
This 1891 account of neighbors stepping in to fill the gaps for new arrivals in Yakima mirrors the perennial struggle of our community’s ongoing housing and affordability crisis. Even as the city grows and modernizes, the fundamental need for mutual aid during the winter months remains a local constant.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.