Shanties Cleared at University Street
The City Council orders the destruction of precarious housing at the waterfront, forcing residents out to make way for development.
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.
Several weeks ago the Council ordered those people occupying shanties at the foot of University street to vacate. It seems that these parties did not regard in a favorable light the idea of being thus hurried from the homes they had long held. The limit of time in which they should have vacated having elapsed yesterday, the Chief of Police proceeded with a force of men to clear the street. The small buildings were torn down and thrown into the bay. All the furniture and household goods were saved but not a shanty was allowed to stand.
“The small buildings were torn down and thrown into the bay.”
The violent displacement of residents from shanties on the waterfront echoes the city’s recurring struggle with homelessness, property rights, and the clearance of informal settlements, a conflict that remains a flashpoint in contemporary Seattle.
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