The High Price of Lawmaking in Olympia
Members of the Territorial Council scramble for housing as local hotels burn down.
We found the metropolis full of bustle and activity, as usual, and the hotels crowded... but we were not quite so fortunate en route to Tacoma. Passing on to Olympia, which is one of the most staid and conservative towns of the Territory, we found that most of the members of both Houses had arrived, and were rustling around looking for rooms, the recent burning of one or two of the principal hotels having made accommodations very scarce. Most of the members had to engage quarters in private houses, moderately fair rooms costing as high as $50 per month; so it takes nearly half the $4 per diem of members to pay their board and lodging expenses.
“Most of the members had to engage quarters in private houses, moderately fair rooms costing as high as $50 per month.”
Housing affordability for public officials remains a perennial civic struggle. This 1883 account mirrors contemporary Seattle, where the skyrocketing cost of living consistently outpaces the wages of those who serve the public.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.