Alliance Addition Abstract of Title

1 box
(.2 cubic feet)

Abstract of title for the "southwest quarter of northwest quarter and west half of southeast quarter of northwest quarter of section five in township twenty north of range three east of Willamette Meridian." The abstract documents the recorded legal history of this area beginning with the US to Thomas Hood (1869). Also included is documentation related to the Workingmen's Joint Stock Association (George Putnam Riley et al).

In 1869 George Putnam Riley, along with 14 other Portland, Oregon residents—11 African American men, two African American women, and one white man—formed the Workingmen’s Joint Stock Association (WJSA). The members pooled funds to purchase real estate that was divided proportionately. (1) The names of the original members of the company were: George Luviney, John Huntington, John Donaldson, Charles Howard, Annie Rooney, William Brown, George Thomas, George P. Riley, Edwards Simon, Mary H. Carry, Mary A. Given, James Given, Charles Gilbert, George Washington, and Philip Francis. (4)

In about 1872 the WSJSA bought a tract of land in what is now known as Tacoma’s Hilltop Neighborhood. (2) The Alliance Addition was described as all of the southwest quarter of section five, township twenty north, range three east WM. (3)

This land was platted into lots, blocks, and streets and named the Alliance Addition in 1903. Today the Alliance Addition is located roughly between Earnest S Brazill St. And 9th St. (to the North and South), South Sprague and Sheridan Avenue Ave (to the East and West).

1. GEORGE PUTNAM RILEY (1833-1905)
2. Tacoma Boasts rich, longstanding Black heritage, by Judith Kipp, TNT 1/16/1984 p.A6
3. Platting Document dated October 24th, 1903. Located in “Hilltop 1880s-” clippings file
4. Who We Are; An Informal History of Tacoma's Black Community Before World War I, by Gary Fuller Reese, 1992