Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
C156427-1
Date(s)
- 1881 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
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Scope and content
ca. 1881. This photograph from 1881, taken from near what is now the 800 block of Fawcett Avenue, shows many of the homes of the founders of "New Tacoma". The two-story white house in the foreground, next to a fenced yard, was the home of businessman J.S. Howell; the dirt road in front of the house is now Saint Helens Avenue. The large, white house to its right was the stately Theodore Hosmer House. This home, built about 1879 and now called the Exley Apts., is reputedly the oldest existing house in Tacoma. It originally faced St. Helens; in 1904 it was turned to face So. 9th. The Northern Pacific Railroad land office is the large frame structure to the right of Hosmer House; the Broadway Theater was built on this site after the building was moved. The Villard Hotel was under construction at this time; it is the building close to the left edge on A St. overlooking the bay. The building, named after Northern Pacific's head, Henry Villard, was demolished about 1923 to make way for a service station. To its right is the home of Otis Sprague, son of Gen. John W. Sprague. His home was moved to So. 12th & A to make room for the Tacoma Hotel. Gen. John W. Sprague occupied the home to the right of his son's; this house was originally built for Frank Clark and was purchased by Gen. Sprague shortly after completion. Another well-known name in local history, Capt. Charles E. Clancy, was Gen. Sprague's neighbor to Sprague's right. Frank Clark was just two doors down from Gen. Sprague; his home was once deemed the "best in town." These buildings were identified by the Tacoma Daily Ledger when they published this photograph on April 12, 1927. (Copy ordered by Dan Hewitt.) TPL-8069
Houses--Tacoma--1880-1890; Neighborhoods--Tacoma--1880-1890;