Armstrong, Calvin

Pre-World War I migrant to Seattle.

Calvin Armstrong left Platt City, Missouri at the age of 17 and arrived in Seattle on April 2, 1909, at the age of 22. Before arriving in Seattle, he had lived and worked in Kansas City and St. Joseph, Missouri. He moved to the Northwest at the invitation of his sister who was living in Seattle. He worked at a variety of jobs in western Washington including street-paver, hauler and transfer agent, construcion worker on the city reservoir system, railroad porter and dockworker. From 1920-1935, Armstrong hauled garbage for the City of Seattle. Later, he purchased and farmed land in eastern King County until the early 1950s.