Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
D12876-1A
Date(s)
- 1942-05-20 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
Beginning on May 20, 1942, the Tacoma Fire Department under the direction of the Coast Guard proceeded to systematically burn all the shacks in a six block area of "Hollywood on the Tideflats." The fifty shacks had been constructed during the Great Depression by people who had lost their homes. They were built of spare wood, sheet metal, fiberboard; any building material that could be scavenged. They were being destroyed as a safeguard for industries located on the shores of the Middle Waterway. According to welfare records, most of the residents had been there for over eight years and averaged about 60 years of age. The controlled burn was expected to take several days. (T. Times 5/20/1942, pg. 1) (formerly entered as D12975-2)
Huts--Tacoma; Slums--Tacoma; World War, 1939-1945--Civil defense--Tacoma; Fires--Tacoma--1940-1950;