The Great Housing Squeeze: Seattle's Winter Crisis of 1876
As the territory prepares for winter, a correspondent reports that only two comfortable dwellings remain vacant in Walla Walla, highlighting the acute housing shortages gripping Washington communities.
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.
WALLA WALLA ITEMS.
It is reported that the large house of Hawley, Dodd & Co., of Portland, will establish a branch of their hardware business in connection with their agricultural trade in this city the coming spring. We hope the report may prove true, as the firm are abundantly able to spare a portion of their immense capital for the benefit of our valley, as well as to enlarge their business.
Our city has been crowded with strangers during the last week, seeking residences for the winter. We are informed only two comfortable dwellings remain vacant at the present time.
In 1876, just a few years before Seattle's Great Fire and subsequent boom, neighboring Walla Walla was already grappling with a severe housing shortage as settlers flooded in for the winter. This echoes modern Seattle's ongoing struggle with inventory shortages and high demand, proving that the tension between population growth and available housing is a historic, not new, problem in the Pacific Northwest.
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