Find of the Month

Each month we highlight interesting, important, and odd items from our collection, along with the stories they tell.

Most recent Find of the Month

August 2026 - Early garbage pickup

Regular complaints have been made over the years about the noise made by early morning garbage pickup. For example, in 1941, the manager of the Malloy Apartments in the University District relayed grumbles from his tenants that "the big trucks roar up the alley, the men talk loud and beat the cans on the edge of the truck body till everyone is thoroughly disturbed." The Health Commissioner wrote back saying that early pickup was necessary before traffic began, but that the workers “have been ordered to make no unnecessary noise.”

An inhabitant of the Fairmount Hotel downtown wrote in 1949 to complain about the "unbearable racket" of garbage pickup. He also claimed the workers had retaliated after he called the city to protest:

...subsequent noises have continued with more vehemence, done apparently as an act of reprisal. Not only do they throw the garbage cans around more violently, but one of the men will cross the street to pick up another can there and loudly holler to his companion on the opposite side nearest the hotel... To be awakened every morning at 4:30 o'clock by these, apparently, intentionally made noises caused by a couple of nincompoops is not only emotionally disturbing but is non-conducive to good health as well.

In 1967, a Capitol Hill resident wrote to city council about trucks arriving on Broadway between midnight and 3 am. "For anywhere from twenty to forty minutes they make an ungodly racket, grinding up the debris they pick up at these locations... Obviously sleep is impossible when these trucks are in the area… If you need a formal complaint in order to do something, you may consider this letter such a complaint."

In 1938, after receiving angry letters about 3:30 am trash pickups, the Health Commissioner wrote to George Nelson, the owner of the garbage contractor, to "insist on strict adherence" to the acceptable pickup hours noted in his contract. City Council also requested that he appear at a meeting to explain himself. Nelson wrote back saying that he had "personally investigated hundreds of these complaints in the last five years and have found the majority fictitious." He blamed the previous garbage company for promoting false claims in hopes of winning back the contract.

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