Why Seattle Is Quiet While Tacoma Booms
A comparison of economic philosophies reveals Seattle’s conservative approach to business and growth in 1886.
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.
A Walla Walla paper says: 'Drummers inform us that Seattle is the dullest and Tacoma the liveliest place on the Sound.' This is easily explained. Seattle people here realize that this is a dull season and that little can be done, no matter how much effort is made. With that view, they have for months past been conducting a quiet, steady, safe business. They have bought only what they could pay for, have built and improved no more than there was actual need for, have been paying old debts instead of contracting new ones, and have been getting ready for a bigger and better business in the future. In consequence, there have been few or no failures. In Tacoma, on the contrary, they have bought, borrowed and boomed all in their power. Rents and expenses have gone up beyond the ability of the people to pay. Money has become as scarce there as here and elsewhere. Taxes remain unpaid. Failures have been numerous, and flights to Victoria many; stores have been closed by creditors, and sold out by the sheriff or assignees. Seattle hopes to be excused from such 'life' as has been painfully illustrated in Tacoma since the opening of the new year.
“In Tacoma, on the contrary, they have bought, borrowed and boomed all in their power. Rents and expenses have gone up beyond the ability of the people to pay.”
This 1886 editorial captures the classic Pacific Northwest cycle of 'boom and bust' urban growth. Seattle's self-described 'conservative' strategy of paying off debt and avoiding reckless expansion provides a stark contrast to the modern-day volatility of the local real estate market, where rapid growth is often fueled by massive investment rather than incremental stability.
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