The Typhoid Traps of Third and Jackson
Public health investigators uncover a squalid, overcrowded lodging house where laborers were left to suffer in squalor, exposing the dark underside of Seattle's rapid expansion.
Several days ago, Chairman Osch of the board of county commissioners, along with Captain Joseph Green, chairman of the council committee on health and police, visited the 'Wash House' at the corner of Third and Jackson streets to investigate reports of men living in destitute, sickly conditions. They found three Scandinavians in a small room near the roof, suffering from typhoid fever, without any attention whatever and nearly dead from disease and lack of care. In the same rooms were eleven other Scandinavians who were convalescing from the same fever. The sick men were sent to the county poor farm. A subsequent examination revealed the building was filthy, lacking sewer connections, with filth accumulated under the floorboards to pollute the air. A second lodging house associated with a saloon on the southwest corner of Jackson and Third was also discovered to be a hotbed of disease, where two men were found with typhoid fever. Commissioner Osch ordered them moved to the county hospital, and Sanitary Officer Cummings was tasked with ensuring the premises were thoroughly cleaned.
“Three Scandinavians were found in a small room near the roof, suffering from typhoid fever, without any attention whatever and nearly dead from disease and want of proper care.”
Today's headlines about the health crisis in Seattle's low-income housing and SROs echo this 1889 investigation, where the city struggled to address the deadly consequences of overcrowding and lack of sanitation in the working-class boarding houses of the Pioneer Square area.
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