Seattle: 1900-1920 -From Boomtown, Through Urban Turbulence ...

32 Part Onewas forced to resign, though Humes stood fast by his police chief despite the evidenceimplicating him. So flagrant had civic corruption become that a backlash brought theattorney Richard Ballinger to the mayor’s office in 1904. Ballinger promised to close theblind pigs in the parks. Even Chadwick endorsed Ballinger, despite his close links with“certain railroad interests.”Social Fabric of the CityAt the turn of the century, Seattle was a bustling, thoroughly disorganized city ofalmost one hundred thousand, if people merely passing through to Alaska were counted.Reputedly, there were more saloons than retail stores downtown. There was not sufficienthousing or hotel space for the newcomers. The transient population included not only thoseheaded for Alaska but also those who migrated seasonally to Seattle from the loggingcamps and mill towns, from the fisheries and canneries elsewhere on Puget Sound and inAlaska, and from eastern Washington after the end of the wheat harvest. Before 1916 thenumber of seasonally unemployed workers ranged between 10,000 and 15,000. Many ofthese seasonal residents fitted nicely into the city’s politics, often being paid by downtownward bosses to register and vote according to their instructions.Seattle grew from a town with a population of 80,671 in 1900 into a major citywith a population of 237,000 in 1910 and 315,312 in 1920. The populations of other PugetSound ports also increased markedly. Thirty miles to the south, Tacoma’s populationspurted from 37,714 in 1900 to 83,743 in 1910 and 96,965 in 1920. Thirty miles to thenorth, Everett’s population expanded from a mere 7,838 in 1900 to 24,814 in 1910 andcrept to 27,644 by 1920. The Northwest’s other coastal metropolis, Portland, experiencedcomparable population growth: it went from 46,385 people in 1890 to 90,426 in 1900,to 207,214 in 1910, and to 258,280 in 1920. When its downtown—on the west bank ofthe Willamette River—filled up, the neighborhoods to the east of the river absorbed theoverflow. Along the Pacific Coast, the three cities with the highest growth rates between1900 and 1910 were Los Angeles, at 212 percent; Seattle, at 194 percent; and Portland, atThe pavilion at Madison Park was oversizedwith room for 1,400 to enjoy all sorts oftheatre, including minstrel shows, farce,and musicals as well as other concerts,dancing, and the annual gathering ofPioneers to reminisce and pose togetheron its wide front steps. The “trolley park”was developed in 1890 at the end of theMadison Street cable railway as a lure forcitizens to ride the rails and also, perhaps,to purchase a home lot along the way. Whenpolitics allowed, the crowds that swarmedthese alluring destinations at Madison Park,Madrona Park, and Leschi Park could alsopurchase liquor and play games of chance.The pavilion stood for a quarter century untildestroyed by fire on 25 March, 1914.