The Campaign to Purge Seattle’s Chinatown
In 1885, as anti-Chinese sentiment surged across the Pacific Northwest, a Seattle city official led a raid on the city's Chinatown, marking an early, aggressive move in the movement to drive the Chinese community out of the city.
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 petition was numerously signed today in this city in which the citizens pledged themselves by all lawful means to drive out the Chinese from this city. City Attorney Smith today visited Chinatown to inspect the mode of living of the Chinese, and found gambling tables and opium smoking in at least every house. He will draft an ordinance to prohibit them so much that they will be forced to remove outside the city limits. The Chinese quarter is in the heart of the city and is fevering ground. It is believed that the Chinese will not leave unless driven out by intimidation.
“It is believed that the Chinese will not leave unless driven out by intimidation.”
This 1885 report documents a dark chapter of state-sanctioned exclusion, mirroring a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment that would eventually lead to the forced expulsion of Chinese residents from Seattle later that year. It serves as a reminder of how civic power was once weaponized against marginalized neighborhoods to advance exclusionary agendas.
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