The Discriminatory Zoning of the 1880s
A local paper decries Chinese residents purchasing property, advocating for forced segregation to maintain white property values.
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.
Some Chinamen have purchased and are now at work grading and improving two lots on the northwest corner of Washington and Sixth Streets. We suggest that property owners are not doing themselves and the city any benefit by selling property to these people. The presence of Chinese in any block is certain to lower the value of other property. We have seen the result in other places: Whites object to living near a Chinese colony, property depreciates, Chinese purchase more, until in a little while they have acquired title to the most eligible locations for business at a rate far below their value. This will be the case unless steps are taken to establish a separate quarter for that race.
“The presence of Chinese in any block is certain to lower the value of other property.”
This editorial is a stark example of the institutionalized racism and exclusionary housing practices prevalent in 19th-century Seattle. It serves as a reminder of the historical climate that eventually fueled the forced expulsion of Chinese residents from the city in 1886.
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