On January 1, 1901, the Seattle Barber's Union No. 195 holds its first annual ball at the Armory Hall. Most of the city's unions are represented at the dance.
The Barber's Union, founded the year before (on February 15, 1900), had at this time about 165 members. The Armory Hall was located in downtown Seattle on the south side of Union Street between 3rd and 4th avenues, at the former site of the University of Washington campus.
Most of the day was spent decorating the “rough old hall” (The Seattle Times). Banners and insignia of nearly every union in the city were intertwined with evergreens and patriotic bunting making a “brilliant effect” (Seattle Star). The snow on the ground when people started arriving seemed to add to the attractiveness of the hall.
They Danced the Night Away
When the program started everyone in attendance took part in the grand march. The Wagner orchestra provided “excellent music” for 18 dances plus at least two encores, and the dance floor was at all times “comfortably filled” (Seattle Star). The recently established weekly Union Record described the conclusion of the ball: “The crowd seemed loath to forsake good music and a polished floor and did not extricate itself from the maze of motions until the cock gave notice of approaching morn” (Union Record, January 5, 1901).
Almost every trade union in the city hung a banner at the ball. Following is a list of all the unions and union associations that existed in Seattle at the time of the Barber’s ball.
Seattle Labor Unions, January 1901
- Bakers
- Barbers
- Bookbinders
- Boiler Makers
- Boiler Makers & Blacksmiths’ Helpers
- Brewers
- Bricklayers
- Butchers
- Building Laborers
- Building Trades Council
- Carpenters’ Union
- Cigar Makers’ Union
- Clerks’ Union
- Caulkers’ Union
- Electrical Workers Union
- Foundry Helpers’ Union
- Horseshoers’ Union
- Iron Moulders’ Union
- Icemen’s Union
- Lathers’ Union
- Laundry Workers’ Union
- Longshoremen’s Union
- Marine Engineers’ Union
- Musicians’ Union
- Machinists’ Union
- Newsboys’ Union
- Painters’ Union
- Plasterers’ Union
- Pressmen
- Plumbers’ Union
- Sailors’ Union
- Ship Carpenters’ Union
- State Employees’ Union
- Stone Cutters’ Union
- Street Railwaymen
- Tailors’ Union
- Tinners
- Trainmen’s Union
- Typographical Union
- Western Central Union
- Cooks and Waiters’ Union
- Upholsterers
- Waitresses’ Union
