The Great Seattle Carting Crisis
When the city moved to clear the streets of horse-drawn carriages, teamsters organized, setting a precedent for Seattle’s long-standing tug-of-war over public space.
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 50 of the teamsters of this city met at Odd Fellows hall on Tuesday evening to consider the recent ordinance which prohibits them from standing on the following parts of streets: all that part of Front street between the north side of Marion street and Yesler avenue; all that part of Cherry street between the east side of Second street and Front street; all that part of James street between the east side of Second street and Yesler avenue; all that part of Yesler avenue west of the east side of Second street; all that part of Commercial street north of the south side of Main street. Robert H. Calligan was selected chairman and William L. Lindsley secretary, and a general discussion of the provisions of the ordinance followed. It was held to be an injustice to the expressmen and teamsters to crowd them off the business streets when they paid licenses and aided as much as any other class in supporting the city government. It was claimed that the other locations left open to them were inconvenient and unsuited to their needs. After a long discussion, a committee, consisting of Messrs. Miller, McComber, and Lindsley, was appointed to wait on the mayor and Common Council to see if a modification of the ordinance could not be secured. The committee called on Mayor Moran yesterday, but he was not in. A meeting was afterwards arranged for this afternoon at 4 o'clock when the mayor and several members of the Common Council will be in attendance. Mayor Moran said in relation to the matter yesterday: 'We will see this committee and hear the proposition which they will submit. We simply wish to do what is right in the premises. We do not desire to work a hardship on the draymen if it can be avoided; at the same time we wish to do what is just and proper with the general public.'
“It was held to be an injustice to the expressmen and teamsters to crowd them off the business streets when they paid licenses and aided as much as any other class in supporting the city government.”
This 1889 struggle over the 'curbside' reflects the same tension present in modern Seattle, where debates over parking, loading zones, and bike lanes constantly pit traditional business access against modern city planning. Just as 1889 teamsters relied on central streets for their livelihood, modern delivery workers and ride-shares face a city that is increasingly squeezing out their operational space.
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