ca. 1888. St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 602 Broadway, Tacoma, W.T. This circa 1888 photograph shows a man barely visible who is hanging from the side of the spire. The English Gothic-styled church may have been in the process of some kind of repair as there are timbers sticking through the openings of the tower. It was built of gray sandstone in 1883 in tribute to Kate Elizabeth Wright, the daughter of Charles Barstow Wright. Photograph courtesy of the John Ogden Collection. TPL-10171
St. Luke's Episcopal Church (Tacoma); Episcopal churches--Tacoma;
ca. 1888. In this circa 1888 photograph, the ship "Republic" is discharging tea at the railroad wharves of Northern Pacific Railroad , Tacoma, W.T. The "Republic" was a three-masted clipper. Photograph is courtesy of the John Ogden Collection. TPL-10170
ca. 1888. Tacoma smelter. This smelter on Ruston's waterfront was established as the Ryan Smelter in 1887 by Dennis Ryan. It was sold to William R. Rust in 1889 who then changed its name to the Tacoma Smelting & Refining Co. This photograph was taken around 1888 when the smelter was still in its early stages. Pilings jut out into the water at the right, tree stumps are abundantly scattered on the grounds, and the chimney in the photo's center was the first of three succeedingly larger smokestacks. The smelter would be sold to the American Smelting & Refining Co. (ASARCO) in 1905. (Print owned by Thomas Martin. Copy on file)
American Smelting & Refining Co. (Tacoma); Industrial facilities--Tacoma; Smelters--Tacoma;
St Peter's Episcopal Church, 2910 North Starr Street in Old Tacoma (W.T.) Photograph courtesy of the John Ogden Collection. At the time of this August, 1888, photograph, St. Peter's was 15 years old. The small (21 x 45-foot) Carpenter Gothic church was built in only ten days in August of 1873 on land donated by Edward S. "Skookum" Smith and Captain Starr. It is Tacoma's oldest church. As the label on the photograph notes, St. Peter's had the oldest church tower in the United States. An aged fir, cut at 48-feet, served as the bell tower. The age of the tree trunk was used in the calculation of the tower's age. The original tree was replaced by a new tower in 1935 when it was damaged by a windstorm. St. Peter's Episcopal Church is on the City and National Register. TPL-10166
St. Peter's Episcopal Church (Tacoma); Episcopal churches--Tacoma;
ca. 1889. Northern Pacific Headquarters at 621 Pacific Avenue, circa 1889. The railroad had chosen Tacoma as its western terminus in 1873; from that point, the city would grow furiously from a small hamlet to a metropolis of about 30,000 by 1890. Construction of Northern Pacific's stone and brick headquarters with its distinctive tower, located on the bluff overlooking their half-moon railroad yards, began in the summer of 1887 and was completed the following year. Its 53 offices and storerooms and 19 vaults were utilized by the Tacoma Land Company, Weyerhaeuser Company and Northern Pacific. Northern Pacific would sell the building to the City of Tacoma in 1922 as the railroad planned to move its offices to Seattle. Photograph courtesy of the John Ogden Collection. (Tacoma Rediviva, p. 27+) TPL-10172
Northern Pacific Headquarters Building (Tacoma); Northern Pacific Railway Co. (Tacoma);
ca. 1889. This view of the Hawthorne area of southeast Tacoma was taken from a hillside circa 1889. Dirt roads have been carved out of the former timberlands and houses are beginning to appear. The Tideflats are in sight. Nearly 100 years later, the Tacoma Dome would appear in this general neighborhood. Rutter Collection
ca. 1889. West side of the 900 block of Pacific Avenue as pictured in 1889. Buildings include the Tacoma National Bank with its new addition located at 921-23 Pacific Avenue (right lower corner of photograph) , the Olds Building across the street at 926-28 Pacific and next door the Michael Murphy Block at 930 Pacific, later home to the California Oyster House. The avenue's surface still appeared rough at the time although sidewalks were in evidence.
Commercial streets--Tacoma--1880-1890; Tacoma National Bank (Tacoma); Banks--Tacoma;
ca. 1886. Several long boats (Indian canoes) rest on the beach at about Fifth and Pacific in Tacoma in this photograph from the mid 1880s. Long boats could transport a whole family with supplies for a season of fishing. This group of boats is probably preparing to head upstream on the Puyallup River where members of the Puyallup tribe worked in the hop fields of the Puyallup Valley. The Puyallups are part of the Puget Sound Salish original peoples. They were hunters, gatherers and fishermen, although they inhabited permanent houses along the riverbanks and along the Sound. Salmon was their main food and figured strongly in their culture. Under the Treaty of Medicine Creek, the tribe ceded much of their territories but retained fishing rights. Rutter Collection TPL-564
Longboats--Tacoma--1890-1900; Indians of North America--Tacoma--1890-1900;
ca. 1890. This is how Tacoma appeared circa 1890. This elevated view is taken looking across the "city waterway" and tideflats toward Tacoma. Tacoma in 1890 was a boom town, with its population burgeoning to some 30,000 people, due in part to the Northern Pacific Railroad. Photograph is courtesy of the John Ogden Collection. TPL-10168
ca. 1890. Photograph taken from the vicinity of South 30th and East B. Sts. circa 1890. Both South 29th and South 30th have bridges to cross the Tacoma and Eastern Gulch. The house in the bottom left corner (with the name Jaeger written on the roof) was the residence of L. G. Jaeger, 126 East 30th Street.
ca. 1890. Residence of W. B. Allen, 419 North " J" Street, Tacoma, circa 1890. Photograph courtesy of the John Ogden Collection. William B. Allen, wife Florence (Long) Allen and their children resided at this Northend address for many years. It was the couple's first home in Tacoma since their marriage in Chehalis in 1888. Mr. Allen was a prominent banker and later lumberman. By 1903, the home was occupied by A. Francis Tourville, secretary and manager of Todd, Tourville & Co. TPL-10167
Allen, William B.--Homes & haunts; Houses--Tacoma--1890-1900;
ca. 1891. Tacoma Eastern Railroad - near Tacoma This circa 1891 photograph shows the water in the reservoir behind Dam Number 3 on Tacoma & Eastern Gulch Creek. Dam Number 3 was located near what is now South 32nd and East B. The bridge in the background is probably the South 30th Steet high-tressel bridge. (Although the photo is on a card stamped French, it was probably taken by Thomas H. Rutter)
ca. 1892. East side of Broadway between South 9th and South 11th circa 1892. Stores include Taylor's Millinery at 913 South C (now Broadway) and the Lawrence Brothers Hardware Store at 915-917 South C. Upstairs in the hardware store building were offices for Shank & Murray, (John Shank, Frederick Murray) attorneys. The Tacoma Bazaar, decorated with dual awnings, was adjacent to the Lawrence Brothers store.
