Fire Sweeps Through Seattle's Second Street Waffle House
A kitchen explosion sends breakfast patrons fleeing as a tent-based eatery is reduced to rubble.
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 large tent on Second street near the corner of James, occupied by the Chicago Waffle house, was burned about 10 o'clock yesterday morning. The fire originated in the kitchen from the explosion of a gasoline heater and spread with such rapidity that a dozen or more customers who were eating a late breakfast had barely time to get out. The tent burned in less than five minutes and most of the crockery and furniture was rendered worthless by the intense heat. The loss is estimated by Messrs. Schram & Kennedy, the proprietors, at $900. The office of the Moore Land Company adjoining was badly scorched.
“The tent burned in less than five minutes and most of the crockery and furniture was rendered worthless by the intense heat.”
This incident highlights the precarious nature of early Seattle’s 'tent city' infrastructure, where rapid, often dangerous expansion for food and housing collided with fire risks. Today's Seattle struggles with similar anxieties, as fire safety and housing density in makeshift or temporary dwellings remain critical urban concerns.
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