The Great Seattle Brick Shortage of 1889
As Seattle rebuilt from the ashes of the Great Fire, a local brick supplier defended himself against accusations of price gouging, pinning the city's housing crunch on a simple lack of supply.
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.
In view of the sensational reports about a brick trust and a corner on brick started by an evening paper, and a personal reference therein to me, I would like to make the following statement as to the output of the Puget Sound Brick, Tile and Terra Cotta Works, owned by me, of which Mr. W. L. Meredith is manager. We have made this year written contracts for several million brick at prices ranging from $10 to $11.50 per thousand. These sales average me $10.16 per thousand, and I do not think that I can be charged with having taken any advantage of the situation, especially when you consider the additional cost of labor both in making the brick and in preparing the yards in new and difficult ground. As a matter of fact, the ones who are forcing up the price of brick, as a rule, are the users who, not being able to buy the brick they need on account of the makers having contracted all they can make in the brief season we have, offer these large prices in hopes they can secure them that way. The whole trouble is in the shortness of the supply. I, for one, am doing all I can to remedy that. While I was East in July and August, I purchased additional machinery, which will make the capacity next season 210,000 per day.
“The ones who are forcing up the price of brick, as a rule, are the users, who not being able to buy the brick they need... offer these large prices in hopes they can secure them that way.”
This 1889 account of a 'brick trust' and housing supply shortages during Seattle's post-fire reconstruction mirrors the city's ongoing battles with construction costs and housing inventory. Even 135 years later, the tension between developers, market prices, and the desperate need for building materials remains a defining feature of the Seattle experience.
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