The Great Tacoma Brick Boom: A City Building Itself Into the Future
As ten new brick structures rise on Water Street and real estate auctions fetch record prices, Tacoma’s leaders are betting big on a booming future—despite labor shortages and material scarcity.
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 building fever is spreading in every indication that it will continue. Messrs. J. A. Knecht and Frank have combined and will build a Mason block upon their property on the north side of Water Street. It will be a four-story brick, with stone trimmings extending 10 feet into the street. The intention of the owners is to have the street floor divided into large shops and two of the floors show rooms and offices. The top floor will be made into a five-class hotel, with the necessary dining rooms, etc.—doing business, etc.
It is their intention to have a first-class building in every particular, and money will be spared to that end. This makes the tenth large brick block that will be erected upon Water Street this year, and if the supply of brick is plentiful it is safe to assert that twice as many will be built before 1900.
There are but two reasons why this year will not be the greatest building year ever seen in this city, and they are: First, the scarcity of mechanics and laborers, and also, the inability of the sawmills and brick yards to supply the demand. At present there are a number of persons held up for lack of material, and the only way to remedy that is to encourage more to go into the manufacture of building material in addition to those already in it.
At the executor's sale of real estate belonging to the estate of the late F. V. Pettygrove, held in the court house this morning, the following parcels were for the amounts set them:
Block 14, Lot 1: $1,300 - Wm. Payne Block 14, Lot 12: $3,500 - Wm. Payne Fraction A of .500 - Geo. Harett Lot 14-1/2: $1,750 - Wm. Payne Lot 14-1/2: $1,750 - Wm. Payne Lot 14-1/2: $1,750 - Capt. Grant Lot 14-1/2: $1,470 - Wm. Payne Lot 14-1/2: $1,750 - Wm. Payne Lot 14-1/2: $850 - E. Klinger & Co. Lot 14-1/2: $1,330 - Capt. Conner Lot 14-1/2: $1,450 - Capt. Conner
For lots was realized an average of about $650 per lot. This, considering that it was at auction, is a very high average and shows the confidence felt in the future of this city by its own residents, the purchasers being all residents.
Two hacks returning from a funeral yesterday engaged in a speed contest. The occupants were thrown out in turning the corner at Jefferson and Tyler streets, but with slight bruises. The carriages were wrecked.
This 1899 report on Tacoma’s construction boom mirrors modern debates over housing density and infrastructure strain. Just as Tacoma faced a 'scarcity of mechanics' and material shortages during its late-19th-century expansion, today’s cities grapple with labor gaps and supply chain issues that drive up housing costs. The text highlights how rapid urbanization creates both economic opportunity and immediate logistical bottlenecks.
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