The Rent Crisis of 1891: Tacoma Merchants at a Breaking Point
As local business owners faced a contracting economy and 'money stringency,' the Chamber of Commerce debated whether high commercial rents and utility costs were driving them toward insolvency.
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.
At the monthly meeting of the Tacoma Chamber of Commerce, merchant Charles Reichenbach stated that business had been greatly decreased during the past year. He thought it to the credit of Tacoma that she stood the money stringency with so few failures, but he denounced the system of high rent, which he declared would eventually either compel merchants to get out of the business or assign. He advocated that the Chamber of Commerce hold a meeting and demand a reduction of the high light and water rates. George H. Boardman referred to the recent reduction of insurance rates in Seattle, and thought Tacoma should demand a slight reduction also. It is held that the present 10 percent rate is ruinous, when the city has such excellent protection against fire. Abe Grose argued that business had been most prosperous and that it was bad business policy for any one merchant to judge the volume of trade by his individual business. He admitted that money was tight, but insisted that the general volume of business had doubled in Tacoma in the past twelve months, while rents are comparatively low for a big town. No action was taken.
“The system of high rent... will eventually either compel merchants to get out of the business or assign.”
Over 130 years later, the friction between commercial tenants, landlords, and the cost of doing business remains a central theme in Seattle and Tacoma’s urban development. The debate over whether economic stagnation is the fault of 'ruinous' overhead or individual business failure echoes almost verbatim in today's local planning and small business advocacy circles.
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