Exterior Washington Co-op Farmers Association buildings. Located close to the modern feed mill appears to be the Washington Cooperative Farmers Association garage. The Co-op owned several delivery trucks that would transport bulk feeds and petroleum to its customers. They could be stored and maintained at this facility, which included three gas pumps. Photograph ordered by Washington Cooperative Farmers Association.

Washington Cooperative Farmers Association (Tacoma); Garages--Tacoma--1950-1960; Automobile service stations--Tacoma--1950-1960;

Ordered by the Douglas Fir Plywood Association; plywood being used in the construction of a commercial "chicken house." Plywood is being attached to the exterior of the beams to form the curved roof of the chicken house. The laminated beam construction eliminated the need for posts for support. This is possibly the West Side Dairy Road poultry farm of the Guy Conine family in Fife. They operated one conventional chicken house and two of the quonset hut design. (TNT 10/28/1956, pg. B-6)

Plywood; Construction; Poultry houses; Poultry industry;

ca. 1955. J.M. Martinac Shipbuilding. The photograph is labelled 9-1-1955, but has a series number that belongs in 1956. Nestled between the 15th Street bridge and the Northern Pacific Railroad bridge on the City Waterway is Martinac shipbuilding. Four large vessels are docked at the company for work. To the right of 15th Street is the Union Pacific Freight Station; to the right of Union Pacific is West Coast Grocery. To the left of the railroad bridge is the J.D. English Steel Co. and behind them is the A.J. Johnson Co.

Boat & ship industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; J.M. Martinac Shipbuilding Corp. (Tacoma);

ca. 1956. Aerial view of Washington Steel Products Inc. at 1940 E. 11th St. 11th Street is shown intersecting with Thorne Road. The larger building on Thorne is Blake, Moffitt and Towne at 1157 Thorne Rd. The body of water at the bottom of the picture is the Sitcum Waterway. The railroad tracks run between the waterway and 11th Street. At the left hand side of the intersection of Thorne and 11th Streets is the Tideflats Texaco gasoline station, beside the station is B & M Distributing Co. Washington Steel Products was the only Northwest manufacturer of builder's hardware, including rolling door hardware and Kitch'n-Handy cabinet attachments. The company began operation in Seattle in 1945 and moved to Tacoma in 1948. The company was sold to Ekco Products Company of Chicago in October of 1959. At the time of the sale, the company had 475 workers, with 200 in manufacturing, and a payroll of 1 1/2 million. (TNT 09-03-1956)

Washington Steel Products, Inc. (Tacoma); Blake, Moffitt & Towne, Inc. (Tacoma); Paper industry--Tacoma--1950-1960

ca. 1956. Kaiser Aluminum plant. The Tacoma plant was located on the Tideflats, about 5 miles north of downtown Tacoma. Its proximity to the Bonneville Power Administration made it the perfect location for producing aluminum from ore by electrolysis. Dissolved in solution in long lines of reductions cells ("pots"), alumina is subjected to electrical current. Chemicals recombine, aluminum separates from its oxygen and settles as pure metal. Tacoma was part of a "mill to mill" operation, the alumina was shipped by rail in from Baton Rouge, La., and the finished aluminum was railed out to Kaiser's Trentwood rolling mill 300 miles to the East. (Kaiser Aluminum News, August 1956)

Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp. (Tacoma); Aluminum industry--Tacoma--1950-1960;

ca. 1956. Kaiser Aluminum plant. The Tacoma plant was a reduction plant, where treated ore (alumina) was subjected to an electrical current, dividing the oxygen from the pure metal (aluminum.) The plant employed approximately 500 workers, who worked on a 24 hour, around the clock basis. Its payroll was over $2,000,000 a year, and it purchased more than $1,300,000 of Northwest materials, supplies and services in a year. It was part of the Kaiser Industries conglomerate founded by Henry J. Kaiser, a diverse group of businesses that included paving, dam construction, ship building, the production of aluminum, steel, cement and other building materials, automobile production and Kaiser foundation heath care. (Kaiser Aluminum News, August 1956 and "The Kaiser Story")

Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp. (Tacoma); Aluminum industry--Tacoma--1950-1960;

Nalley's Inc. Marcus Nalley, on the right, and officials from the Milwaukee railroad company inspect "insulated compartmentizer" freight cars on the rails outside of the Nalley plant. On the left is Robert Montgomery, city freight agent, and in the center is Ray Powels, Milwaukee agent. Marcus Nalley was a Milwaukee chef 40 years previously and is at the time of this picture the Chairman of the board for Nalley's, Inc. The railroad car is a new type being built in Renton and the Nalley shipment is its first cargo. (TNT 7/1/1956, pg. A-7)

Nalley's, Inc. (Tacoma); Food--Tacoma--1950-1960; Food industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Nalley, Marcus; Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Co. (Tacoma); Railroad freight cars;

Pulp manufacturing machinery at R.W. Paper Co. in Longview, Wa. Photograph ordered by Malcolm McGhie. Workers handle large rolls of finished pulp. Once dried in the drying machine, the sheet of pulp passes between immense rolls of heated steel called calenders. These cylinders compress and smooth the surface of the sheet. As the product is rolled, it is inspected for water content, smoothness, weight, color, resistance and opacity.

R. W. Paper Co. (Longview); Paper industry--Longview--1950-1960;

Paper quality control testing at R.W. Paper Co. in Longview, Wa. A laboratory for testing paper and pulp can be viewed through a large observation window. The man on the right adjusts a microscope for viewing. The technician on the left tests ink absorbency. The room has several pieces of testing equipment that are not being used at this time. Photographs ordered by Malcolm McGhie.

R. W. Paper Co. (Longview); Paper industry--Longview--1950-1960; Product inspection--Longview; Testing--Longview;

Northern Pacific locomotive 5405A, for Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborne.

Railroad locomotives; Northern Pacific Railway Co. (Tacoma);

Birchfield Boiler Inc.; interior shots of the largest boilers built on the coast. These two were a pair of modern school house boilers designed and built by Birchfield for Reynolds High School in Troutdale, Oregon. They were fully automatic and rated at over 300 horsepower each. Each boiler weighed over 15 tons. (TNT 9-3-1956)

Boiler industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Machinery; Birchfield Boiler, Inc. (Tacoma);

Pulp manufacturing machinery at R.W. Paper Co. in Longview, Wa. Photograph ordered by Malcolm McGhie. The paper machinery extracts the water from the pulp, forming a sheet. The sheet is then dried, smoothed and rolled.

R. W. Paper Co. (Longview); Paper industry--Longview--1950-1960;

Retail lumber dealers meeting; photographs ordered by the Douglas Fir Plywood Association. The group of men, in coats and ties, are looking at a model of a new home. One man is removing the roof on the model. The men are surrounded by artists' renderings of new homes and press and customer information regarding "Signature Homes." The covering on the table and walls has the logo for the Fir Plywood Golden Jubilee 1905-1955.

Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma);

This aerial view of Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Company shows their building complex, 2901 Taylor Way, as it appeared in July 1956. Storage tanks dot the area around the plant and one of the Pennwalt barges can be seen being maneuvered to the dock by two tugs. In 1928, the eastern firm was invited to build a caustic soda and liquid chlorine plant on 14 acres of filled ground adjacent to the Hylebos Waterway. The plant opened the following year as Tacoma ElectroChemical Company. As the parent firm diversified the plants' chemical production, it became known as Pennsalt, and then Pennwalt. Pennwalt Corp. was taken over by Elf-Atochem in 1990. ("South on the Sound" by Murray Morgan)

Chemical industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Co. of Washington (Tacoma);

Interiors of new DFPA office in Fuller building. Originally the home of W.P. Fuller & Co., the Douglas Fir Plywood Association leased and remodeled this office building in 1953. They remained here until the 80's. From this location, the DFPA directed their national program of promotion, research and quality control. Around 1983, the building was remodeled by Bantz Trace Associates and renamed the Commencement Bay building. It houses office space and the Cliff Street Lofts. TPL-8394

Plywood; Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Offices--Tacoma--1950-1960;

Interiors of new DFPA office in Fuller building. Switchboard operator & a man waiting with a briefcase for an appointment. The Douglas Fir Plywood Association was originated and financially supported by member and subscriber mills. Its purpose was threefold; to aggressively promote plywood as a building material, to fund research on improving and diversifying the product and for quality control of the product. This self regulation sparked the biggest industry growth in the Northwest of all times. TPL-8395

Plywood; Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Offices--Tacoma--1950-1960;

Meat being loaded aboard a ship, the "Pacificus", from Carstens. Ordered by Carstens Meat Packing Co. Carstens was the largest independent meat packing company on the west coast, with plants in Tacoma, Spokane and Seattle. TPL-8355

Carstens Packing Co. (Tacoma); Meat;

Launching of the A.M.S. (motor minesweeper) #97 in 1953. The last Naval minesweeper would be sliding off the ways at Tacoma Boatbuilding as the fifth one was launched. Mrs. Henry F. Agnew, wife of the Commandant of the Tacoma Naval Station, was sponsor (holding bouquet of roses), Nicola Tollefson, daughter of the Mayor Harold Tollefson, was flower girl and Capt. J.R. Topper was the speaker. Arne Strom, in suit, owner of the company, was the master of ceremonies. (TNT 9/27/1953, pg. C-12)

Launchings--Tacoma--1950-1960; Boat & ship industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Government vessels--Tacoma--1950-1960; Tacoma Boat Building Co., Inc. (Tacoma); Strom, Arne; Agnew, Henry F.--Family;

Pennsalt; 8 people at a desk. The man in the lab coat holds a glass bottle with a grainy substance inside.

Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Co. of Washington (Tacoma)--Employees; Chemical industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Factories--Tacoma--1950-1960;

Plywood used for diecutting base at Ridgeway Lithographing Co., ordered by the DFPA (Douglas Fir Plywood Association.) Lithography is a process of printing from a plane surface, such as a smooth stone or metal plate, where the image to be printed is ink-receptive and the blank areas are ink-repellant.

Plywood; Lithography;

Consolidated Beverage trucks bearing the smiling student prince logo of Heidelberg Brewery. Drivers pose beside their gleaming white delivery trucks in what appears to be a largely residential area. Richards Studio appointment records indicate that this photograph was taken in Seattle.

Brewing industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Heidelberg Brewing Co. (Tacoma)--1950-1960; Trucks--Tacoma--1950-1960;

Opened in April of 1954, the new $150,000 passenger depot at the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Company's tideflats location was a long, sleek, Roman brick structure. Passengers could wait in comfort on "lounge-type" aluminum furniture, a far cry from hard wooden benches, and remain dry behind wall-to-wall tinted plate glass windows until their trains arrived. The new depot replaced the old gray wood building at South 25th & A Streets. Many passengers may have been waiting for Milwaukee Road's popular Hiawatha service that ran from Tacoma to Chicago. This diesel-electric locomotive cut the time spent in traveling by several hours and passengers were able to enjoy a very scenic route. Unfortunately, after fifty years of service, the Hiawatha made its final run in May, 1961; it was the first of our country's long-haul passenger trains to quit. (History of Pierce County, Vol. 3, p. 22; TNT 4-18-54, p. 1+)

Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Co. (Tacoma); Railroad stations--Tacoma--1950-1960; Railroad locomotives--Tacoma--1950-1960;

Five men stand in front of the Milwaukee Road's Engine #E-4, two with stop watches, on April 21, 1954. Also known as the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad, the Milwaukee was noted for its efficient, fast electric locomotives. During World War II, these electrics were due to be eliminated due to obsolescence, however the fact that they were so easily maintained and ran so effortlessly, delayed such action. Diesels finally overpowered the electrics; the last electric train ran in Washington State in November, 1972. The Milwaukee Road provided an economic boost to the Puget Sound area for decades; in 1954, their payroll was 4.5 million dollars and the railroad employed over 1000 people. (History of Pierce County, p. 22, TNT 4-24-54, p. 36))

Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Co. (Tacoma); Railroads--Tacoma--1950-1960; Railroad locomotives--Tacoma--1950-1960;

An employee of the Douglas Fir Plywood Association appears to be monitoring gauges while doing product testing at the association's laboratory in March, 1954. Douglas Fir plywood was undergoing constant testing for durability and to maintain quality control. Photograph ordered by Douglas Fir Plywood Association.

Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Plywood; Product inspection--Tacoma; Testing--Tacoma; Lumber industry--Tacoma--1950-1960;

Boxes of Ebia, Cardinal, Nosalitos and Wilson brand tomatoes are shown in this March, 1954, photograph. Most of the brands are from Mexico. A Flavorseal machine helps in the sorting process. It is unclear whether the tomatoes are being packaged for sale or used for sauces.

Food industry--Tacoma; Industrial facilities--Tacoma; Machinery; Tomatoes--Tacoma;

Construction process for a life size lawn Santa Claus Christmas decoration, ordered by the Douglas Fir Plywood Association. The Santa pattern has been glued to the plywood and the design cut out so that it has a plywood back. Now the craftsman is applying lacquer so that the image will stand up to all weather conditions. Santa's head and arm are still unattached and will be glued on where the dotted lines indicate. (see also image #6 & 9 and C101278-1 for the finished product)

Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma)--Products; Woodworking--Tacoma; Christmas decorations; Handicraft--Tacoma;

The fifties were the height of the "do it yourself" age. In this photograph ordered by the Douglas Fir Plywood Association, a man demonstrates how to construct your own life size lawn Christmas decorations. Here he glues the Santa Claus cut out to a sheet of plywood. The purpose of the DFPA was to introduce the public to new uses for their product. As such, patterns and demonstrations were always available at the hardware stores for the home handyman. (see also image #9 & 10 and C101278-1 for the finished product)

Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma)--Products; Woodworking--Tacoma; Christmas decorations; Handicraft--Tacoma;

Construction process for a life size lawn Santa Claus Christmas decoration, ordered by the Douglas Fir Plywood Association. After gluing the pattern to the plywood, the handyman cuts the Santa out with a hand held saw. The dotted lines on the pattern indicated where another piece will be glued on top. (see also image #6 & 10 and C101278-1 for the finished product)

Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma)--Products; Woodworking--Tacoma; Christmas decorations; Handicraft--Tacoma;

ca. 1956. Alaska Pine, Rayflo plant at Marpole. Alaska Pine & Cellulose Limited was a subsidiary of Rayonier and one of the largest lumber operations on the west coast of North America. Rayflo was a new chemical developed from hemlock residuals from the cellulose making process and used in the oil industry. In 1956, a new plant was being built in the Marpole Sawmill Division in Vancouver, B.C. for the production of this chemical. It had previously been produced in Grays Harbor, whose facilities would now be used for experimentation with other new chemicals. (Rayonier's annual report for 1956)

Lumber industry--British Columbia--1950-1960; Trees; Logs; Chemical industry--British Columbia--1950-1960; Alaska Pine & Cellulose Limited (Vancouver B.C.);

ca. 1956. Timber industry scenes from Grays Harbor and the Olympic Peninsula, ordered by Malcolm McGhie. A log train chugs along on the Rayonier owned main line railroad in Washington. The locomotive is one of two new diesel-electric locomotives put in service in 1956, replacing steam. While the two main lines were being improved, spur railroad tracks were being replaced by company owned truck roads. By May of 1957, the conversion to truck logging would be complete. (Rayonier annual report for 1956)

Lumber industry--Grays Harbor--1950-1960; Trees; Railroad locomotives--Grays Harbor; Logs; Rayonier, Inc. (Grays Harbor);