Tacoma’s last pandemic closed schools, turned a church into a hospital and killed hundreds

When a viral outbreak was reported in a distant land in 1918, Tacomans didn’t pay much attention. That quickly changed when the disease starting killing people in Seattle.

Soon, Tacoma schools closed, hospitals were pushed to their limits, and the Army was put under quarantine.

By the time it was over, the so-called Spanish flu would kill 50 million people around the globe, including hundreds in Pierce County. It was the deadliest pandemic of the 20th century, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

The new coronavirus that had killed 37 Washington state residents as of Friday is from a different virus family than the flu. But COVID-19, the disease it causes, shares similar symptoms with the flu, including fever and respiratory distress.

While medical knowledge and practices have increased steadily over the last century, the preventive measures being put into place today haven’t changed much from 1918: isolation, quarantine, good hygiene habits, disinfectants and limitations on public gatherings.

Some of the same behaviors and events that occurred 1918 are happening again in 2020: A search for a vaccine, price gouging, government denials. Then, like now, public health officials were scrambling to understand how the disease affects people and worked overtime to slow its spread.

In 2018, The News Tribune used archived newspaper stories and funeral records to reconstruct the community’s response to the 1918 pandemic. This is an edited version of that story.

The flu strikes

At the bottom of The News Tribune’s front page on Oct. 5, 1918, a one-column story told of a “Flu Scare in Seattle” that forced churches and theaters to close.

Inside that same edition another headline read, “ ‘Fluenza Rumors Officially Denied,” on a story about Camp Lewis, the predecessor of today’s Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

“There is no Spanish influenza in Camp Lewis,” the story stated, quoting Maj. Irvy McGlasson.

Three days later, the flu seemed to be circling Tacoma. Reports of victims came from Seattle, Chehalis and other surrounding areas.

As a precaution, Tacoma Mayor C.M. Riddell closed theaters in the city.

“Do not get in a crowd,” the mayor warned citizens Oct. 8. “Keep away from anyone who sneezes. Keep the feet dry.”

First official reports of flu deaths

The flu arrived in Tacoma the next day.

“12 Pneumonia Cases Under Suspicion,” the paper wrote Oct. 9.

On Oct. 10, Tacoma’s first two official flu deaths were reported to the health department: Joe Miller and Van Vageitch, who both resided on South G Street.

That same day, the Point Defiance natatorium, a large covered swimming pool, was closed. Public drinking fountains were turned off.

Camp Lewis was now admitting the Spanish flu had struck, hitting 15 men. The cases of “ordinary” flu at the base jumped from 35 to 103 in one day.

On Oct. 11, Tacoma General Hospital and the Northern Pacific Hospital at South 36th Street and Pacific Avenue reported 13 cases total. Police asked for help when prisoners began showing symptoms.

Meanwhile, “The mayor says he is busy day and night denying citizens the right to hold meetings.”

County schools were closed. Street cars were allowed to run but only with their windows open.

Scattered reports of illness and deaths came in from Winlock, Toledo, South Bend, Portland and Seattle.

The Army took a determined approach to keep the flu at bay. Moving picture machines were placed outdoors, canteens were set up in the open air.

“Cleanliness, sunshine and fresh air is the order of the day,” the base newspaper, Trench and Camp, reported.

On Oct. 14, The News Tribune reported carpenters were gathering at the mayor’s office, ready to build a temporary hospital in a city park.

Cases grow by the hour

A week, it seemed, was about as long as citizens were willing to put up with the citywide shutdown of public spaces. They were already clamoring for theaters, dance halls and schools to reopen.

With 50 new cases Oct. 15, the health department shot down that idea.

The next day, the First Methodist Church at Fifth and K Streets was turned into a hospital.

The increasing number of deaths led to an increasing number of funerals. The mayor banned the ceremonies, stating they were “just as menacing as theater or general meeting crowds.”

The dead would have to be buried without ceremony.

That day, 116 new cases were reported.

Some of those were at the Cushman Indian Trades School. The institution was put on quarantine, and guards were placed at entrances.

On Oct. 18, the improvised Methodist hospital was opened with 200 beds.

Also on that day, officials considered quarantining Tacoma from Seattle. But it was soon determined that most outside cases were coming from small towns.

Frustrated by isolation, people began socializing again, against the law.

A raid on the Blue Front coffee house, an apparent pool hall, was conducted “at the initiation of the health department,” according to The News Tribune.

Quarantine cards were placed outside homes with influenza cases.

A doctor, on his way to see an ill patient, mistakenly knocked on the wrong door. According to The News Tribune, he found “a woman who had just died of pneumonia after three days’ illness, three cases of influenza in the house and probably a half dozen people exposed. This had not been reported by the attending physician.”

Oct. 19 dawned with Camp Lewis under an armed quarantine.

The Army estimated the 21,460 personnel who left the camp the previous weekend had come into contact with five people each. That was too many human contacts, the brass figured.

On Oct. 22, Dr. Robert Wilson, the city’s chief health officer, reported that some doctors were engaging in profiteering. They were charging $2 — twice the agreed upon rate — for vaccination.

In reality, the “vaccine” offered no protection against the influenza.

Thousands were sick, including Wilson and several other health officials.

“Hospital facilities were taxed to the limit,” The News Tribune reported Oct. 23.

“Epidemic Here is Near Its Crest” read a headline in The News Tribune that day.

The paper, like so many others, was engaging in wishful thinking.

The worst was yet to come.

The graveyards can barely keep up

The region’s graveyards showed a spike in burials in October. The vast majority listed influenza and pneumonia as cause of death.

At Cushman School, three students died. One was Frank Tom, a recent arrival from Alaska. His parents were too poor to ship his body back home. He was buried in the school’s cemetery.

Oct. 28: “No letup Here in ‘Fluenza Epidemic,” The News Tribune wrote. “Deaths and New Cases Increase.”

Mayor Riddell closed a hotel, and “Judge Hackett in police court was asked to eliminate the usual following of hangers-on who loiter about the court to hear the trials,” the newspaper said.

Diverted by World War I, nurses were in short supply in Tacoma. Health officer Wilson ordered shipyards to have their female employees report to work at hospitals.

The mayor ordered barbers, waiters, elevator operators, cooks and City Hall employees to wear masks, The Tacoma Daily Ledger reported Oct. 28.

In South Tacoma’s industrial shops, doors and windows were being kept open “to safeguard men.”

Newsboys wore masks as they sold papers at South 54th Street and Union Avenue.

On Oct. 30, police officers fanned out in Tacoma to make sure all store clerks wore gauze masks. They were given one hour to comply.

“Any still refusing at the end of that time will be closed by special edict from the mayor’s office,” the News Tribune reported.

November brings hope

“Influenza Cases Cut Down Daily,” read The News Tribune on Nov. 1. “Epidemic Diminishing in Tacoma and in County Districts.”

On Nov. 7, the mayor of Puyallup refused to reopen the city’s schools.

The same day in Centralia, E. F. Zeigler, 33, “a popular local railroad employee” died after a week with the flu.

“He was apparently improved and got up to eat his dinner Tuesday but collapsed at the table,” The News Tribune stated.

Nov. 11 was notable for two reasons.

A story headlined “May Lift ‘Flu’ Ban Wednesday” ran right above another story headlined, “Greatest War in History Ends.”

The emergency hospital at the Methodist church was closed.

“The church got the most thorough fumigation ever given any place in Tacoma,” The News Tribune reported.

Schools, theaters and businesses reopened Nov. 14.

“Mayor Riddell declared some businessmen have told him that the ban would break them up in business unless it was soon removed,” The News Tribune said. Money was also a motivator in reopening the schools.

“The schools have now been closed a month and every day they are closed the city school system loses about $2,500 from the state,” according to The News Tribune.

On Nov. 18, the quarantine at Camp Lewis was lifted.

The health department estimated 2,000 people had contracted the flu during October in Tacoma with 100 deaths. One official estimated only half of those stricken called a doctor.

The Tacoma Daily Ledger put the city’s death toll at 326 — though more would die in the coming months before the Spanish flu would finally disappear.

Former News Tribune reporter Kate Martin contributed to this report.

This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 5:00 AM.