The City Council vs. The Slaughterhouses
In an early effort to clean up the city's streets, the Seattle City Council orders the immediate abatement of butcher-shop nuisances.
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.
Ordered that the Health Officer be and is hereby instructed to proceed according to law to abate the slaughterhouse nuisances maintained by L. W. Fano, or his successors, and by W. W. Etuell. Ordered that the obstructions in Second Street be removed, and that the Chairman of the Street Committee be so notified.
“Ordered that the Health Officer be and is hereby instructed to proceed according to law to abate the slaughterhouse nuisances.”
This 1885 council order captures Seattle’s transition from a loose frontier settlement to a city concerned with public health and urban planning. Just as current residents debate the 'nuisances' of growth and zoning, 19th-century Seattleites were beginning the long, contentious process of defining what was permissible within their city limits.
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