Racist Exclusion and the Main Street Real Estate Panic
Local property owners react with outrage as landlords lease buildings to Chinese residents, illustrating the exclusionary climate of 1880s Seattle.
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 elegant three-story building that Messrs. George and Bigelow intended placing on the corner of Main and Second streets has vanished, replaced by an actual, hideous nightmare. The old stable vacated by F. Clancy has been leased to Chinese tenants. This act, in conjunction with the previous leasing of a nearby lot to Chinese residents, is a measure full of detriment to every property owner on Main street. Main street has just been improved at great expense, yet property values are falling solely on account of these leases. It is safe to say that every citizen having the good of the town at heart feels outraged by their acts, while property owners in that quarter feel that they have been no better than robbed. The City Council has another result here of their refusal to establish fire limits, which would have practically excluded the Chinese from occupying such structures.
“This act... is a measure full of detriment to every property owner on the street and in all that part of town.”
This article captures the virulent anti-Chinese sentiment that permeated Seattle in the mid-1880s, eventually leading to the 1886 expulsion. It is a stark reminder of how property concerns were weaponized to justify xenophobic exclusion and segregation.
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