ca. 1908. Railroad tracks and buildings in South Tacoma including some of the Northern Pacific Shop buildings. The decision of Northern Pacific Railroad to move its car shops to the South Tacoma area (then called Edison) in 1891 resulted in the development and growth of this community, then considered far outside the downtown business district. The shops were located west of Union Ave. (now called South Tacoma Way) between South 46th and South 58th Sts. At first employees would commute to work by streetcar and trains but later houses were built and primarily purchased by railroad workers. The car shops, largest in the West and responsible for the repair and erection of railroad needs west of Montana, provided steady employment and a regular payroll for hundreds. By 1909, boilermakers, now unionized, made 39 cents an hour with helpers earning 24 cents an hour. The Northern Pacific was willing to pay for its skilled labor force. ("Boilermakers Lodge 568, To Live in Dignity;" Bergman: "South Tacoma")