The Northwest times. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1947-1955, 1947-07-29
Survey Reveals Some Changes in Our Community

This is not to say that a select
i've migration eastward did not &C.
cur or that the type of population
returning to West Coast areas
like Seattle was not affected by Sc
lection; but it is evident that any
such effect was not as pronounced
as was expected from earlier OBJ
servations of the eastward relo-
cation. One reason which may ae-
count for the unexpected propor-
ton of Nisei in the active age
classes is the fact that many Nm
sci from Seattle who entered the
armed forces returned to this city
rather than settle in the midwest
ern or eastern states. About 400
Nisei veterans, approximately nine
per cent of the community's popn-
lation, are known to be in Seattle.
Most of these men were discharged
late In the war or after the end
of the war, and lacking the oppor-
tunity to establish themselves eco
nomically elsewhere during the
height of the wartime expansion,
have tended to drift back to their
home town. In addition, many
Nisei who relocated eastward dur
ing the war period have, for rea-
son of family responsibility and
other considerations, been drawn
back to Seattle.
migration from other
Communities
The re-shuffling of population
occasioned by the evacuation pro-
duced certain other effects upon
the Seattle community. Approx
mately six hundred of the pre-
sent Seattle residents are people
who lived elsewhere prior to the
war The majority of the in-mi-
grants are farmers. sawmill work.
ers and railroad workers from other
parts of the State of Washington
but there are also additions from
California, Oregon, Alaska, Hawaii
and the r-mountain and mid
western states. One of the wealth.
lest apartment building operators
in the community today and an
active community leader was form
erly merchant in Alaska. Some
of the Immigration is the result OF
marriage between Seattle residents
and those from other parts of the
country. In the opposite direction
number of former Seattle resi-
dents have migrated elsewhere a
long the Pacific Coast, particular
ly into the Los Angeles area.
Geological Distribution and
Housing
In its geological distribution the
community is located roughly in
the same district as before the war,
but there have been considerable
minor shifts mainly due to the
housing shortage and the displace-
ment r o m former residences
caused by a considerable increase
of the Negro population. Business
locations on lower Jackson and
Main Streets which were taken
over mostly by the Negroes DUR
ing the war have gradually re-
turned to the hands of the Japa-
nese, and the center of the small
Japanese business district is again
at Sixth Avenue South and Main
Street. The residential area is
scattered widely in all directions
from this point.
Population concentration is. In
some respects, more marked today
than before. Due to the housing
shortage and high rentals, there
has been some tendency toward the
doubling up of families in the
smaller dwelling units, and of con-
gregating in a number of multiple
family units. One method by which
those with the financial means
have solved both their housing
and employment problems has
been to lease hotels, apartment
buildings, or rooming houses for
personal residential purposes, and
N turn to rent rooms Or apart
ments in the building to other ia
panese Americans. At the same
time, the home buyers have had