The Sixth Avenue Baptist Church, 2520 Sixth Avenue, occupied two different buildings at this site from 1904 until 2010. The church was organized May 21,1901 in a meeting of fifteen people held at Sixth Avenue and Anderson Street. With funding from the First Baptist Church they began holding services and hired a pastor. The first church building was constructed of wood at Sixth and Pine and dedicated February 7, 1904. By 1906 the membership totaled 168 and a Ladies’ Missionary Society had been organized (1).

By the early 1920s the need for a larger building was evident and plans for a new church were drawn up by the architectural firm Heath, Gove, & Bell (2). The former building was moved to the back of the lot for use as a community center and the new building was constructed with a Wilkeson sandstone exterior. Robert Walker, church member and president of the Walker Cut Stone Company donated the cost of the labor. The new building was dedicated April 12, 1925, and in 1926, a pipe organ was purchased from Sherman Clay Co. and installed.

By 1941, church membership had grown to 478. An additional building intended for education and Sunday School was first proposed in 1948. Fundraising and design began at that time, although ground was not broken until 1963, by which time the original wooden building had been demolished. The new wing was dedicated January 12, 1964 (3).

In the late 1960s, a need for revitalization was recognized and a young pastor was engaged. The church shared its space with different agencies such as Associated Ministries, the Food Bank, and Habitat for Humanity. An effort was made to engage UPS students and a non-denominational group of teenagers was organized, the J.C. Generation. Space was provided for Lamaze Group, Writer’s Club, and Delong Preschool (4). Nonetheless, membership declined by 50% between 1975 and 1985 to 164, as indicated by a congregational profile commissioned in the mid-1980s (4,5).

By 2009 attendance at Sunday service had dwindled to 25. The church building was put up for sale and the last service was held there January 31, 2010 (6,7).

As of this writing in 2023, the building houses a wedding venue business, Events on 6th (8). It also serves as home for the congregation Soma Tacoma (9).

The Society of Professional Graphic Artists is a trade association for freelance graphic artists. The Seattle chapter was established in 1955 under the name Art Studio Association of Seattle. In 1972, the group renamed again to Professional Art Studio Association and become the Society of Professional Graphic Artists (SPGA) in 1974. SPGA members voted to join the Graphic Artists Guild in 1993, changing the final name to SPGA Seattle Chapter of the Graphic Artists Guild. The group hosted educational events and art showcases including ArtJam, an exhibit of local artists, and workshops on copyright law, royalty-free artwork, and how to attract more clients. The SPGA offered legal and health services to paying members and focused on fair business practices and ethics regarding treatment of independent artists.

The Stallcups moved from Denver, Colorado to Tacoma, Washington in 1889. In Tacoma, they lived at 317 South G St. The family included Judge John Calhoun Stallcup, Mary Pindell Shelby Stallcup, and their children: John C. Stallcup Jr., Evan Shelby Stallcup, and Margery Bruen Stallcup.

John Calhoun Stallcup (1841-10/21/1915) Practiced law in Denver Colo. and served as Justice of the Supreme Court of Colorado from 1887 until 1889. In 1889 he came to Tacoma with his family. He was elected to the Superior Court bench in 1892 on a non-partisan ticket and held the position for four years. From 1897-1900 he served on the State Board of Audit and Control, having received the appointment from Gov. Rogers. For his last five years, he had been a member of the Tacoma Public Library board. He also authored an essay titled "Refutation of the Darwinian Theory" which was published in Tacoma in 1905.(1)

Mary Shelby (Pindell) Stallcup (1846-10/21/1916), a native of Lexington, Kentucky, married Judge Stallcup on Nov. 2nd, 1880 in Kirkwood, Mo. She helped charter and held office in the Mary Ball chapter of the D.A.R. and was active in the parish, guild, and auxiliary of St. Luke's Episcopal Church. (1) (2)

Evan Shelby Stallcup (1888 -1938) A graduate of the old Tacoma High School and entered Stanford University on his 17th birthday. After two years at Stanford, he entered Columbia University where he completed his Law course then returned to Tacoma to work with his father in his law office. He served in the 91st Division in World War I. After the war, he moved to Phoenix where he became involved in city government. He held the position of City Manager and head of the Water Department. (3)

Margery Bruen (Stallcup) Smith (1883-1946) was admitted to the bar in 1909 (4). She was affiliated with the Women’s Club house board and the Tacoma Interracial Council and the Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Married Fredrick A. Smith in 1918 (6). She was a member of the 50 year club, on the board of the American Association of University Women and one of the founders of the Woman's Council for Democracy (7).

John C. Stallcup Jr (1886-1920)

Beatrice Mason Stanley

Born Beatrice Birmingham, daughter of Emma (Stone) and Earnest F. Birmingham, on May 23, 1887, in New York. Beatrice had two sisters, Eleanor and Pearl (Polly). After graduating from St. Agatha school, Beatrice spent two years at Smith College, then attended the Academy of Design and Art Student League in New York. She worked as a nurse in an Army hospital during World War I.

Beatrice Birmingham married Melvin Wood in 1923, but the marriage ended in annulment in 1924. The following year, in 1925, Beatrice Birmingham went to Fort Yukon, Alaska, to work at the hospital. She later married two pioneer Alaskans. In 1926, Beatrice married Willoughby Mason. She traveled 600 miles up the Porcupine River for winter fur, trapping with him and his brother Reuben. After Mr. Mason died in 1935, Beatrice remarried Lewis V. Stanley. Stanley was a prospector who arrived in Alaska in 1897. He was in Nome in 1901, Chisana in 1913, and worked for several large mining companies throughout Alaska.

The Masons retired to Seattle in 1941, and their home became a gathering place for former Alaskans, a service that became known as "Alaskan Friends." Beatrice's life in Alaska is described in the unpublished manuscript "Return to the Frontier." Beatrice Mason Stanley passed away in Seattle on February 12, 1972.

Willoughby Mason

Willoughby Mason was born in 1871 to Peter and Lyndia Mason of Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was one of twelve children born to the couple. Willoughby’s elder brother Reuben was in the Klondike for the gold rush of 1898, and he joined his brother in 1903 with the goal of mining. Willoughby Mason is credited as being the first man to navigate the entire length of the Mackenzie River to Herschel Island in a gasoline launch. Additionally, he is credited with being the first person to take horses to the mouth of Mackenzie. He fished and mined near the arctic coast and became lifelong friends with the explorer Vilhjamler Stefansson. Willoughby would join his brother Reuben in hunting and trapping up the Porcupine River during the winter and spending summers at Ft. Yukon and Circle Hot Springs.

Willoughby Mason met Beatrice at Ft. Yukon, and they married on July 5, 1925. From 1925-1934 they continued to live their pioneering life on the Porcupine River; however, Willoughby’s failing health forced the couple to give up their wilderness existence. Willoughby died on December 12, 1935, at Circle Hot Springs, Alaska.

Reuben continued the old way of life until 1947, when several strokes led Beatrice to move him into her home in Seattle. She later placed him in a board and care in Seattle, where Reuben lived until his death on October 2, 1954.

Lewis V. Stanley

Stanley was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, on April 25, 1876. When Lewis was six months old, the Stanley family moved to Davenport, Iowa. After his father deserted the family, Lewis helped run the family farm for his mother. Lewis Stanley moved to Alaska to prospect, and he was in Nome in 1901 and Chrisana in 1913 following the gold rushes. A brother and sister did follow him to Alaska, but they both passed away. Lewis married and had two boys, but the youngest died at age four. His wife passed away when his eldest son Dean was twelve years old.

Stanley worked for a large mining company that took him all over Alaska. He met Beatrice Mason in 1936 and married on January 16, 1937, in Fairbanks the following year. After his retirement in 1941, the couple moved to Seattle, WA, where they remained active in Alaskan affairs and clubs. Lewis Stanley died September 12, 1956, in Seattle.

Stephen Cysewski was an American photographer known for his self-described "wandering" style of street photography. Born in Berkeley, California he primarily grew up in the Tacoma area and graduated from Western Washington University with a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy in 1967. After college, he moved to Alaska as a VISTA volunteer where he lived for a year in the village of Shaktoolik. There he worked many jobs including as a high school counselor for Indian Education at West Anchorage High School. He earned his master’s of Liberal Arts degree from Alaska Pacific University and then was employed as an assistant professor in Information Technology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks from 1991-2009. He retired as a professor in 2007 and was granted emeritus status. Throughout his life, he traveled the world to such places as Korea, Thailand, Europe, Alaska, and Washington State to take photographs. In 1979 Cysewski traveled to Tacoma where he took hundreds of photographs of the downtown and residential areas in the city. Cysewski passed away at home in Alaska on July 20th, 2020 after battling pancreatic cancer.

Sulja Warnick is a Tacoma resident who was a public school teacher in the Tacoma Public School dstrict. Early in her teaching career, she was called upon to help translate for Korean women married to service men on the military bases. This started her work with the Korean Women’s Association (KWA). KWA started as a small social club for Korean women and has expanded to a non-profit organization that provides education, affordable housing, in-home care for seniors, and social services, including domestic violence counseling for all groups of people. KWA now has offices in 14 Western Washington counties, serving up to 150,000 people of 40 nationalities and 35 language groups. The organization is now 51 years old.

The architectural firm of Albert Sutton and Harrison Allen Whitney operated in Portland, Oregon, from 1912-1950. After 1934 the firm name included Fred Aandahl, who had been a chief draftsman (1919-1923) and Associate (1923-1934). (1) The firm of Sutton, Whitney, and Dugan's projects included “the National Bank of Tacoma Building (1921), the W.R. Rust Building (1920), Scottish Rite Cathedral (1921), Annie Wright Seminary (1924), the campus of the College of Puget Sound (1923-1924; renamed the University of Puget Sound in 1960), and numerous residences.” (1) In 1927, a committee of Washington State architects for the state chapter of the American Institute of Architects conducted an architectural survey of all buildings in Tacoma. The committee presented awards to exceptional projects, and Sutton & Whitney received more than other Tacoma firms.(1) The highest Honor Award was given to the National Bank of Tacoma, and the College of Puget Sound and Annie Wright Seminary also received Honor Awards. “Sutton and Whitney received eleven awards from the committee for work ranging from commercial buildings to residences and schools.” (1)

Albert Sutton (1867-1923)
Albert Sutton was born on June 6, 1867, in Victoria, British Columbia; however, Sutton grew up in Portland, Oregon. (1) After attending the University of California Berkeley, he worked as a draftsman for the Southern Pacific Railroad. In 1888 Sutton moved to Tacoma and formed a partnership with James Pickles. (1) Sutton and Pickles designed commercial buildings in Tacoma, including the “Sprague Block (1888); the Sprague Building (1980); the U.S. Post Office (1889); the Abbot Building (1889); the Uhlman Block (1889); the Baker Building (1889); the Wolf Building (1889); the Joy Block (1882); the Berlin Building (1892); the Dougan Block (1890); and the Holmes & Ball Furniture Co. (1890).” (1) The pair also designed the Wilson Hotel (1890) in Anacortes, but their partnership ended in 1893. (1)

Afterward, Sutton began a partnership with Ambrose J. Russell between 1893 and 1895. (1) After his partnership with Russell ended, Sutton moved to San Francisco and worked primarily with Charles Peter Weeks. The firm Sutton & Weeks was established around 1901 and lasted until 1910. (1) Sutton then returned to the Northwest and opened a practice in Hood River, Oregon. (1) He partnered with Harrison A. Whitney of Portland in 1912 and returned to Portland in 1916. Sutton returned to Tacoma in 1918 to establish a Tacoma branch of Sutton & Whitney with Earl A. Dugan as an associate. (1) Sutton was an American Institute of Architects (AIA) member and a Mason. On November 18, 1923 Albert Sutton passed away in Tacoma due to a heart attack. He was 56. (1)

Harrison Allen Whitney (1877-1962)
Harrison A. Whitney was originally from Iowa and was educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Whitney worked in Boston and Chicago then moved to Portland, Oregon, in 1904 where he was head draftsman for Whidden & Lewis. While working for Whidden and Lewis, Whitney contributed designs for the Lewis and Clark Exposition and the Multnomah County Courthouse.(2) Whitney began partnering with Sutton in 1912.(2) When the firm of Sutton, Whitney, and Aandahl was dissolved in 1951, Whitney became the senior member of Whitney, Hinson, and Jacobsen.(3)

Earl Nathaniel Dugan (1877-1956)
Earl N. Dugan was born in Perry, Iowa and in 1906 he graduated from the University of Illinois. (4) Dugan worked in Chicago and San Francisco before moving to Tacoma to work as a draftsman in 1910. “Dugan exhibited a sketch of German city hall at the Seattle Architectural Club's 1910 Exhibition.” (5) Dugan partnered with Sutton and Whitney’s firm in 1922 and he also worked with Mock and Morrison. (4) Dugan was the founding member of the Tacoma Society of Architects and a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Washington State Chapter. (4)(5) He died at age 79 on 12/22/1956 in Seattle, WA. (5).

John H. Sutton
John H. Sutton was the son of Albert and Mary Sutton. He was born in Hood Canal, Oregon, and moved to Tacoma in 1920. (6) He graduated from Stadium High School and attended the University of Washington. Like his father, John H. Sutton worked as an architect, and in 1957 he designed the first addition to the Annie Wright Seminary since his father designed the building in 1924. (6) John H. Sutton was a member of the Tacoma Golf and Country Club, the Little Church on the Prairie, the American Institute of Architects, and the Tyee member of the University of Washington Alumni Association. He passed away on August 1, 1973. (6)

The Tacoma Actors Guild was founded in 1978 by college professors Bill Becvar and Rick Tutor as a professional theater company. Their first production was "Guys and Dolls." Over their years of operation, the Guild produced musicals, plays, and educational programs. The executive committee made the decision to suspend Tacoma Actors Guild operations in December 2004 due to ongoing financial troubles. The organization had been experiencing losses in the previous few years before the shutdown was announced, and additionally they owed a considerable amount to creditors. However, the Bellevue Civic Theater decided to stage and produce shows for two and a half years in hopes to give TAG time to regroup and continue their work. While that, alongside the leadership of a new executive director provided some improvements, the financial situation failed to change enough, causing the Actors Guild to officially shut its doors in March 2007, following the final production of “Proof.” TAG’s playwright at the time commented, “It's not an easy decision to pull the plug, but the professional midsize theater model is hard to maintain these days."

The Tacoma Art Museum was developed out of the Tacoma Art League, which was founded in 1891. It was incorporated as the Tacoma Art Society in the 1930s and took its present name in 1964. Since 1934 the museum has built a permanent collection that includes works by Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, Edward Hopper, Jacob Lawrence, Robert Rauschenberg, Pierre Auguste Renoir, John Singer Sargent, and Andrew Wyeth.

The museum has been exhibiting works by the Pacific Northwest glass artist Dale Chihuly since 1968. Chihuly grew up in Tacoma. Other Pacific Northwest artists represented include painters Rick Bartow, Fay Jones, and Jacob Lawrence, and printmaker Anne Siems, among many others. The museum also showcases traveling exhibitions such as “Picasso: Ceramics from the Marina Picasso Collection” and “Landscape in America 1850-1890.”

In May 2003, the Tacoma Art Museum moved into a new building located at 1701 Pacific Avenue. Designed by Antoine Predock, the 50,000-foot building has a stainless steel and glass exterior. The Museum appointed a new chief curator, Patricia McDonnell, in May 2002. McDonnell was chief curator and adjunct art history professor at the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

In 1968 the Tourist and Convention Bureau of Tacoma chairman Din Fuhrmeister appointed a Centennial Planning Committee led by Don St. Thomas as the chairman, John. H. Anderson as general chairman, Norman D. Rowley as executive director as well as the formation of a non-profit corporation to plan and conduct the Centennial observance which took place the week of June 28 – July 5th, 1969. The celebration included Tacoma’s schools, businesses, industries, military, and various members of the community. Major events during the celebration included an opening ceremony, centennial parade, USAF Thunderbirds airshow, dance performances, concerts, US Naval Ship arrivals, and fireworks display.

In November of 1883, the territorial legislature passed a law that resulted in the merging of Tacoma City (Old Tacoma) and New Tacoma. The law stated: "That on and after the first Monday of January, 1884, the city of Tacoma, incorporated on November 12, 1875, and New Tacoma, incorporated on November 5, 1881, shall be consolidated under one city government, to be known as Tacoma."

The law also stipulated that an election was to take place in December 1883 to elect a "mayor, city marshal, and three councilmen for each ward." The city was divided into three wards leading to the election of a ten member council. The merger of the two cities occurred on January 7, 1884 with John Wilson Sprague serving as Mayor. Sprague and the nine council members were to serve for an interim term until another election could be held in May 1884.

In 1910, a commission style government was put in place with elected officials managing utilities, public works, and public safety. In 1952, Tacoma voters approved the Mayor/City Manager System that remains in place today. Under this model, the elected Mayor and City Council determine policy that is implemented by the City Manager. The Council is made up of eight Council Members, representing five districts and three at-large positions, and the Mayor. They are responsible for "enacting and amending City laws, adopting the Biennial Budget, appointing citizen board, committees, and commissions, and providing guidance and direction for actions which affect the quality of life in the City."

Soon after it selected Tacoma as the terminus for its western line in 1873, the Northern Pacific Railroad formed a subsidiary, the Tacoma Land Company, to develop the city and sell the town lots. It was first incorporated as the Southern Improvement Company and immediately renamed the Tacoma Land Company. The first president of the company was Charles Barstow Wright, an officer in the Northern Pacific Railroad who had been a member of the committee that selected Tacoma as the western terminus location. Fellow Northern Pacific officer Frederick Billings was vice-president, and John C. Ainsworth, owner of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, was third director. Wright, Billings, and Ainsworth invested personally in Tacoma and were involved with the early development of the city. Tacoma Land Company was reorganized in 1899 and renamed the Tacoma Land & Improvement Co. The Tacoma Land & Improvement Co. was dissolved in 1923. These records are from the estate of former Tacoma Land Company vice-president Frederick Billings, who also served as president of the Northern Pacific Railroad from 1879 to 1881.

What is now the Tacoma Ministerial Alliance was first organized as the Tacoma Ministerial Union on June 11, 1883 at the First Presbyterian Church on Railroad Ave. The initial goal of this group was for evangelical clergy in Tacoma to come together for ‘fellowship, mutual encouragement, etc..’ (1) In the 1904-1905 Constitution and Roll of Members of the Ministerial Alliance of Tacoma, the object of the Alliance is “to promote Christian fellowship among the brethren and to advance the religious and moral interests of our City and State.” (2)

The Tacoma News Tribune’s history dates to 1883 and was the consolidation of three Tacoma newspapers, The Tacoma Daily Tribune, The Tacoma News, and The Daily Tacoma Ledger.

In 1881, the Weekly Ledger was started by F. Radebaugh and H.C. Patrick, under the firm name Radebaugh & Company. Previously, Radebaugh had served on the reportorial staff of the San Franscico Chronical. He had first visited Tacoma in June 1879. Radebaugh became familiar with Patrick, who owned and operated a weekly newspaper in Santa Cruz. The two came to an agreement to move the business to Tacoma with Radebaugh as the paper’s editor and Patrick as the business manager. The paper quickly became a success and Radebaugh bought out Patrick’s share. Until 1837, The Ledger served as a morning paper. Its name remained on the nameplate of The News Tribune and Sunday Ledger until 1979.

H.C. Patrick purchased the Pierce County News from George W. Mattice and changed the paper’s name to the Tacoma Weekly News. The News was then converted into a daily on September 25, 1883; however, he later sold The Daily News in 1885. R. F. Radebaugh started The Tacoma Daily Tribune in 1908 and sold the publication in 1912 to Frank S. Baker. Baker would go on to purchase the News and Ledger in 1918. Baker was the president of the Tribune Publishing Company and was a highly regarded newspaper man of the western United States. The News and Tribune were combined into an afternoon daily and the first issue was printed on June 17, 1918.

In 1937, The Daily Tacoma Ledger stopped publication. The News Tribune is merged with the Ledger to form The News Tribune and Sunday Ledger. Then in 1979 The Tacoma News Tribune became the official name of both daily and Sunday newspapers. During 1986, Tribune Publishing Company sold the majority of its holdings to Viacom, Inc., and McClatchy Newspapers. That year, the Tacoma News Tribune became a subsidiary of McClatchy Newspapers. McClatchy Newspapers is the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States, and it originally started as Sacramento newspaper in 1857. The Tacoma News Tribune became The Morning News Tribune on April 6, 1987, until October 4, 1993, when name changes to The News Tribune.

Tacoma School District No. 10, known as Tacoma Public Schools, is headquartered in Tacoma, Washington, United States. It comprises 35 elementary schools, 11 middle schools, 10 high schools, and 4 early learning centers. It is the third-largest school district in Washington State, with more than 30,000 students and 5,000 employees. Tacoma Public Schools is one of the largest employers in the greater Tacoma area.

Tacoma School District #10 was established on September 18, 1869, on the future site of Tacoma. (1) The first classes occurred in a resident's log cabin, with 13 students from the Baker, Fleetwood, and A. W. Stewart families. The first school building was a log cabin constructed in 1870, located on the southwest corner of North 28th and Starr Streets. It cost around $300. (1) A.W. Stewart served as a director, J.P. Stewart as a teacher, and R. H. Landsale as a board clerk. (1)

Like the rest of the United States, Tacoma Public Schools was influenced by the influx of European immigrants in the years before World War I. Government and religious agencies worked to address ethnic integration. (2) The National Conference on Immigration and Americanization in 1913 created a list of three critical aspects of immigrant assimilation: literacy, health and hygiene, and learning democracy. (2) In response, U.S. schools began introducing new policies and programs to promote and teach the importance of these three values.

The Tacoma School District began incorporating nurses, health clinics, showers, and home economics departments. The purpose was to improve health and hygiene within the school property. The school district also expanded social services, such as after-school programs, summer school, and the availability of on-site lunches. (2) The focus on the civic responsibilities of schools led to the improvement of libraries, lunchrooms, and administrative offices. (2)

During the early twentieth century, Tacoma and its school system experienced population growth due to the United States' involvement in World War I, including establishing Fort Lewis in 1917 and the 1914 opening of the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal expanded the business and industry associated with the Port of Tacoma; Fort Lewis also became the largest fort in the United States, housing 37,000 soldiers. (2)

From 1915 to 1920, enrollment in Tacoma Public Schools rose from 14,211 to 18,023. (2) In order to address the growing student population, the district school board debated between three educational models. The educational models would affect the construction of schools. The models were the 8-4 system, the 6-6 system, and the 6-3-3 system. (2) The 8-4 system was the typical school model before World War I. It had grades one through eight in elementary schools and nine through 12 in high schools. The 6-6 system recommended grades one through six in elementary school, with grades seven through 12 in high school. (2) The board adopted the 6-3-3 system, which advocated for grades one through six in elementary school, seven through nine in middle school, and 10 through 12 in high school. (2)

Tacoma voters authorized a $2.4 million plan in 1923 to transition to the new elementary, intermediate, and high school model. (2) The funding allowed for the construction of six new intermediate schools and additions to existing elementary schools. As a result, Jason Lee, James P. Stewart, Morton M. McCarver, Franklin B. Gault, Allan C. Mason, and Robert Gray's middle schools were built. (2)

Another significant population increase occurred in Tacoma and its schools during World War II because the Port of Tacoma and Fort Lewis brought economic growth. From 1950 to 1956, public school enrollment rose 26% from 22,157 to 29,778. (2) The increase in student population led to the overcrowding of aging elementary schools. Furthermore, the need for construction in suburban areas caused the school board to draft a new building campaign emphasizing quick, cheap, and flexible school construction. (2)

Following the Brown v. Board of Education decision and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Tacoma School District sought to desegregate schools with high non-white enrollment. (3) Dr. Angelo Giaudrone, the district superintendent, addressed the de facto segregation and focused on two elementary schools. The two schools were Stanley Elementary, with a Black population of 64 percent, and McCarver Elementary, with a Black population of 84 percent. Tacoma Public Schools formed a subcommittee in 1963 to study de facto segregation and provide solutions. (3) On July 8, 1966, the school board announced a plan for an optional enrollment program. The program’s goal was to close McCarver Junior High and provide limited open enrollment to students affected by the closing. (3)

After a decade of teaching in the Tacoma School District, Willie Stewart became the first Black principal in 1970. Stewart often liaised between the Black community and the school district. (3) Reflecting on the success of the voluntary desegregation plan, Stewart discussed the wish to have more African American counselors and a two-year education process instead of one year. (3) "Stewart thought the district could also have improved its plan by having high school regional meetings with schools and the community and separate meetings for the Black community to help with the transition with the loss of school lineage." (3) By 1972, the school district stated that de facto segregation had ended in fifty-eight school buildings. All buildings were at or below the forty-percent threshold for black student enrollment. (3)

The Tacoma Railway and Power Company operated the Tacoma Railway and Company Streetcar. It was the first transit system in Tacoma, and on May 30, 1888, it started service as a passenger trolley line.(1) Tacoma's first two streetcar lines were established along Pacific Avenue and Tacoma Avenue.(1) On July 4, 1900, Trolley car No. 116, owned by the Tacoma Railway and Power Company, lost traction on the Delin Street grade and jumped the tracks on the "C" Street trestle. The streetcar crashed 100 feet into a ravine, killing 43 people and injuring 65.(2) The Tacoma Railway and Power Company were later found liable for the accident, which resulted in lawsuits almost bankrupting the company. To prevent bankruptcy Tacoma Railway and Power put over $100,000 into a trust fund and "informed the lawyers either to accept the money and distribute it among the claimants, or the railway would go into receivership." (2) The settlement was accepted.(2) The final day the streetcars ran on June 11, 1938, was celebrated as a city holiday. In 1938, Tacoma replaced the 76-mile streetcar system with buses. (1)

The Tacoma Society of Architects was formed in January 1920 and lasted under that name until circa 1953. The organization hosted events for professional architects in the Tacoma area.

The Tacoma Writers Club was a creative writing organization that operated in Tacoma between 1919 and 2015. The club aimed to provide exposure to local writers and opportunities for members to workshop their writing, generally short form fiction. Notable members include Maggie Kelly, a columnist at Senior Scene Newspaper, Freda Matlock, a spoken word poet, and Amelia Haller, a local poet whose poem is etched in glass at the trolley stop in front of the Washington History Museum in Tacoma.

Tacoma-Pierce County Opportunity and Development, Inc. was formed "to employ the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, Public Law 88-452, 88th Congress, as a means of providing stimulation and incentive for the mobilizing of the resources of the Tacoma-Pierce County community to combat poverty."

The Woman's Club was launched on October 27th, 1904 in the home of Mrs. J.Q. Mason and led by president Reverend Abbie E. Danforth. Danforth, appointed in 1889, was one of the first female reverends in North America. Danforth had been a pastor at the Park Universalist Church since 1902 after moving west from the Unitarian Church of Kent, OH.

Among the club's contributions to Tacoma were the creation of a female owned and operated "rest room," designed to be a "place offering almost retirement of home during unemployment hours" which would "prove a boon to hundreds of women and girls in Tacoma." The "rest room" appears to have been organized by Danforth in order to do for "women what the Y.M.C.A. is doing for men." This association with temperance groups continued in August 1913 when Danforth was elected president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. The "rest room" was located in the Chamber of Commerce building on December 3, 1904 and led directly to The Woman's Club Hotel, which would open a year later. This institution, also open only to female patrons, was located nearby at 714 Pacific Avenue.

The Woman's Club also opened a physical clubhouse on 426 Broadway St. in 1915, intended to create a physical meeting space for all of the federated study clubs in the city, which remained extant until 1960. That said, Mrs. Abbie E. Danforth is still recorded hosting the final meeting of the Woman's Study Club in May 1965 from her home at 1322 N. Yakima St. The motto of The Woman's Club was "there is no higher duty than to work for the good of the whole world."

Theo Kissick and his wife Delilah were active members of the Hix n’ Chix square dance club of Tacoma, Washington. The Hix n’ Chix were affiliated with the Rainier Council of the Square and Folk Dance Federation of Washington. Theo and Delilah were part of the organizing committee of the 30th Annual National Square Dance Convention held in Seattle June 25-27, 1981. More than 20,000 dancers from across the US and from Australia, England, New Zealand, Sweden, Holland and Japan registered for the event.

Thomas H. Rutter was born in Truro, Cornwall, England on January 1, 1837. Before immigrating to the United States, he worked as a veterinarian. He moved to the Montana Territory in 1864 after hearing reports of the Gold Rush. By 1867, Rutter had developed an interest in photography and started a photography studio with R. J. Nesbitt in Glendale, Montana. In 1870, he opened his own studio in Butte, Montana. Rutter and his wife moved to Tacoma, Washington in 1888, where he opened a photography studio on 1346 Pacific Avenue. He worked there until 1900 and then moved to North Yakima where he continued to work as a photographer. The subject of his photographs was primarily the city and surrounding areas. He also took photos of the Yakima Native American tribe. In 1915, Rutter and his wife moved to Orting, Washington. Rutter died there on August 21, 1925, at the age of 88.