1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,633
[instrumental music]

2
00:00:08,633 --> 00:00:13,633
Researching Hoovervilles many years ago, I came across
an object that continues to be one of my favorites.

3
00:00:13,700 --> 00:00:18,100
It is a map of the number and distribution
of shacks dated March 5, 1941.

4
00:00:18,133 --> 00:00:21,733
It helps illustrate in a visual way,
for me, the issue of homelessness

5
00:00:21,733 --> 00:00:23,600
and underscores
the number of years Seattle

6
00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:26,000
has been struggling
with how to address this issue.

7
00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:30,666
The map was part of Comptroller
File 169237 from the Housing Authority.

8
00:00:30,733 --> 00:00:34,366
The file included a letter to City Council
on the “shack problem,” a report

9
00:00:34,366 --> 00:00:38,633
summarizing location and issues,
the number of shacks by census number,

10
00:00:38,700 --> 00:00:40,766
a report
on the physical condition of shacks,

11
00:00:40,766 --> 00:00:45,666
including cooking, lighting and plumbing
facilities, as well as race of occupants,

12
00:00:45,733 --> 00:00:49,500
and rental value. As well as this map,
which caught my attention immediately.

13
00:00:49,566 --> 00:00:50,800
The letter from the Housing Authority

14
00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:52,966
to City Council emphasized
that none of the present

15
00:00:52,966 --> 00:00:55,100
occupants of shacks
should be forced to vacate,

16
00:00:55,100 --> 00:00:57,633
but that all vacant shacks
should be demolished.

17
00:00:57,633 --> 00:01:02,766
They also suggested that notice be given
that no additional shacks could be built.

18
00:01:02,833 --> 00:01:06,100
They defined a shack as, quote, “a
dwelling of more or less temporary

19
00:01:06,100 --> 00:01:09,333
character constructed
without benefit of formal design or plan

20
00:01:09,433 --> 00:01:13,766
of second hand nondescript building
materials and located indiscriminately.”

21
00:01:13,833 --> 00:01:18,300
The Housing Authority counted
a total of 1687 shacks in the City.

22
00:01:18,366 --> 00:01:22,666
The Shack Elimination Committee was named
by the City Council Public Safety

23
00:01:22,666 --> 00:01:25,666
Committee after the Housing Authority’s
report was submitted.

24
00:01:25,900 --> 00:01:28,266
Committee members
included the Commissioner of Health,

25
00:01:28,266 --> 00:01:30,900
the Superintendent of Buildings,
the Chief of Police,

26
00:01:30,900 --> 00:01:32,466
and the Chief of the Fire Department.

27
00:01:32,466 --> 00:01:37,366
The Committee reported back to Council
in April 1941 that they had inspected five areas.

28
00:01:37,366 --> 00:01:40,866
The west side of Beacon Hill,
Louisville, which was between Airport Way, 

29
00:01:40,866 --> 00:01:44,100
Sixth Avenue South, 
Massachusetts Street, and Holgate.

30
00:01:44,100 --> 00:01:48,366
Areas along both sides of Six Avenue South
between Holgate and Dakota.

31
00:01:48,366 --> 00:01:51,800
Hooverville on Alaskan Way, and Interbay
near the garbage fill.

32
00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:55,566
Other groups of shacks such as along
the Duwamish and near Smith Cove

33
00:01:55,633 --> 00:01:58,500
were not included in the study
because buildings in those areas

34
00:01:58,500 --> 00:02:02,733
had existed for many years and were owned
and occupied by fishermen and other part

35
00:02:02,733 --> 00:02:05,733
time workmen
who had a small annual income.

36
00:02:05,833 --> 00:02:10,566
Some of these areas, including Hooverville,
had existed since the early 1930s.

37
00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:15,000
On April 1941, a Seattle Times
article reported on the burning of shacks

38
00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:16,800
at Seattle's
Hooverville on the waterfront,

39
00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:18,233
describing the Port tractor,

40
00:02:18,233 --> 00:02:21,200
destroying structures
and pushing them into a big bonfire.

41
00:02:21,200 --> 00:02:23,500
The property was needed
for the defense program.

42
00:02:23,500 --> 00:02:27,600
A Black member of Hooverville, Two-Name
Dave Green, owned a nickelodeon

43
00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:29,233
or juke box, the reporter wrote.

44
00:02:29,233 --> 00:02:32,066
And as the bulldozer continued
smashing the shacks,

45
00:02:32,066 --> 00:02:36,533
tinny strains of “St
Louis Blues” rang out defiantly.

46
00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:40,466
The Housing Authority wrote to
City Council again on May 9th, 1941, 

47
00:02:40,466 --> 00:02:42,733
expressing concern
that the vacating of shacks

48
00:02:42,733 --> 00:02:44,866
was going to be accelerated
and that services

49
00:02:44,866 --> 00:02:48,933
would not be available to shack dwellers
who wanted relocation assistance.

50
00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:53,966
A Seattle Times article dated June
27th, 1941, stated, quote, “even as smoke

51
00:02:53,966 --> 00:02:57,166
was clearing away after the burning of 26
shacks near Sixth Avenue

52
00:02:57,166 --> 00:02:58,833
South and Spokane Street yesterday,

53
00:02:58,833 --> 00:03:02,600
city health authorities were planning mass
destruction of 40 more dwellings Monday.

54
00:03:02,700 --> 00:03:05,566
That burning would take place
at Sixth Avenue South and Lander.

55
00:03:05,566 --> 00:03:08,533
The Chief Sanitary Engineer of the Health
Department was quoted as saying

56
00:03:08,533 --> 00:03:11,666
it would be the last wholesale destruction
of shacks in the city in the effort

57
00:03:11,666 --> 00:03:13,900
to solve the shack sanitation problem.

58
00:03:13,900 --> 00:03:19,066
Citizens continued to write to the Mayor and City
Council in 1941 for the removal of individual shacks.

59
00:03:19,300 --> 00:03:22,433
By 1942, in October,
according to the Commissioner

60
00:03:22,433 --> 00:03:26,100
of Health, 1543
shacks have been destroyed in Seattle,

61
00:03:26,100 --> 00:03:29,933
with the assistance of the Navy,
Coast Guard and Port of Seattle personnel.

62
00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:33,200
For more information,
please see SMA’ Digital Document Library

63
00:03:33,233 --> 00:03:34,433
“Hoovervilles in Seattle.”

64
00:03:34,566 --> 00:03:38,066
[instrumental music]