The End of the City Cow
Tacoma moves to ban the 'lowing herd' from city limits, declaring that more than two cows makes a dairy, not a home.
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.
The sleepy-eyed old bovine that peacefully chews her cud must depart from Tacoma. At least she must, if there are more than two of her in a bunch. The cow has been excluded from polite society down in the center of town for some time, but on request of Dairy Inspector Rhoads, the city attorneys are now working on a new ordinance to eliminate the 'lowing herd' entirely from town. Citizens will be allowed to have two cows, but more than two cows constitutes a 'dairy' and all dairies must get out of town. The dairy inspector has passed the tip along the line and the dairymen are getting ready to depart or sell their cows. There have been several in the city who had from three to a dozen cows. All must go as soon as the new ordinance is passed.
“The sleepy-eyed old bovine that peacefully chews her cud must depart from Tacoma.”
Tacoma’s early 20th-century transition from a rural frontier town to a dense urban center included strict debates over zoning and agricultural use. Today's debates over urban chickens, goats, and accessory dwelling units mirror this century-old tension between property rights and the aesthetic standards of a growing city.
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