The Struggle for North Second Street
Business owners in 1886 Seattle argued that expanding streets into 'Chinese quarters' was the only way to modernize the city and attract capital.
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.
The extension of North Second street and widening ten feet on each side from Pike to where the Great street plank road intersects the broad gage railroad track in Plummer's Addition, and thence south to the head of the bay, would make a splendid business thoroughfare, and rapidly settle the Chinese question, as their late quarters would soon be required for new blocks and the better classes. We have frequent complaints from new arrivals that well-located business property is not obtainable in Seattle, except at extortionate prices, and that many Commercial and Front street owners refuse to sell at any price when an immense amount of well-located property can be made available for business purposes by the expenditure of a few thousand dollars. There is every indication of a large increase in population early next season. Let the street be immediately extended to North Second street, according to the original design, that we may secure them and Capital.
“We have frequent complaints from new arrivals, that well located business property is not obtainable in Seattle, except at extortionate prices.”
This piece illustrates how 19th-century Seattle developers used infrastructure projects as a pretext for displacement. The call to 'settle the Chinese question' by paving over neighborhoods mirrors how urban renewal and infrastructure expansion were weaponized against marginalized communities in Seattle throughout the 20th century.
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