On January 19, 1938, Pierce County Sheriff John C. Bjorklund posed on the steps of the old Pierce County Courthouse at 1012 South G Street with his 16-member staff. Sheriff Bjorklund is in the front row, second from the left. His criminal deputies donned blue caps, coats and high laced boots for this photograph. Marian Hager, stenographer, was the only female staff member. The names of the sixteen aides are listed in the newspaper caption. (TNT 1/19/1938, pg. 7-alternate photograph)

Bjorklund, John; Uniforms; Sheriffs--Pierce County--1930-1940; Law enforcement officers; Pierce County Courthouse (Tacoma); Courthouses--Tacoma; Hager, Marian;

Pierce County Sheriff's officers, George W. Kupka on right, flank Sheriff John C. Bjorklund on the Court House steps in January of 1938. John C. Bjorklund was in his second term. When re-elected in 1938, he received the largest majority ever given a candidate for any office in the history of Pierce County up to that time. Bjorklund was for many years the secretary of the Tacoma Longshoremen's Union and he was a familiar figure on Tacoma's waterfront. (filed with Argentum)

Bjorklund, John; Uniforms; Sheriffs--Pierce County--1930-1940; Pierce County Sheriffs (Tacoma); Pierce County Courthouse (Tacoma); Courthouses--Tacoma; Kupka, George;

The Pierce County Sheriff's Department force including patrolmen, detectives, and Pierce County Sheriff H.W. "Lee " Croft posed on the steps of the Pierce County Courthouse in December of 1945. Sheriff Croft (center, first row) was first elected to his position in 1942. He was a former logger, gold miner, heavyweight boxer, checkers enthusiast and longtime operator of the Croft Hotel on Pacific Ave. Lee Croft served two terms as sheriff and passed away in December of 1951.

Sheriffs--Pierce County--1940-1950; Pierce County Sheriffs (Tacoma); Pierce County Courthouse (Tacoma); Courthouses--Tacoma; Croft, Lee

Tacoma-Pierce County Blood Bank was located on 726-28 Saint Helens Avenue in downtown Tacoma. The center opened in July 1946, in 1947 they were receiving blood donations for industrial plants throughout Tacoma. View of prisoner donating blood at Pierce County Jail, the jail was located on the first floor of the building; nurse from Tacoma-Pierce County Blood Bank is helping the patient with the donation.

Prisoners--Tacoma; Prisons--Tacoma; Blood donations--Tacoma; Medical equipment & supplies; Blood; Nurses--Tacoma; Pierce County Jail (Tacoma); Tacoma-Pierce County Blood Bank (Tacoma);

ca. 1949. Called both a "wonder of the age" and "an architectural monstrosity" the old Pierce County Court House stood at 1012 South G Street just northeast of the Armory. Modeled after the courthouse in Pittsburgh, PA, the brick walls were faced with stone quarried in Tenino and sandstone from Wilkeson. Included in the building plans were secret stairways, hideouts, a hanging room and dungeons that would have done credit to a 15th century castle. The four clock faces in the tower were each 8 feet in diameter and had concealed lights which enabled Tacomans to read the time by day or night. The county commissioner moved his offices in the as yet unfinished building on June 21, 1893. It was demolished in 1959. (TNT 4/7/1959 p. C-16) Bowen # 1062-1

Illegal stills at courthouse. Theodore Mohrbacher, Joe Desmond and Jack Bodaylea, left to right, of the county dry squad examine confiscated stills at the county courthouse on January 19, 1924. These are just a few of the dozens of huge liquor stills that will be converted into junk by jail trustees in the near future. The stills are now piled up in the lobby of the county jail. Stills can range in size from small tea kettle types to huge commercial boilers capable of holding hundreds of gallons of mash. The manufacture of alcohol was made illegal by the passage of the 18th amendment and the Volstead Act, which went into effect in January of 1920. Prohibition was abolished with the passage of the 21st Amendment to the Constitution in 1933. (TNT 1-19-24, p. 1) G24.1-074; TPL-9895

Stills (Distilleries); Mohrbacher, Theodore; Desmond, Joe; Bodaylea, Jack;

The Pierce County Sheriff's Department force including patrolmen, detectives and Pierce County Sheriff Lee Croft. The sheriffs force is standing on the steps of the Pierce County Courthouse. The courthouse, built in 1892 and designed by Proctor and Dennis architects, was patterned after the courthouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was finished with Tenino bluestone. The building was demolished in 1959.

Sheriffs--Pierce County--1940-1950; Pierce County Sheriffs (Tacoma); Pierce County Courthouse (Tacoma); Courthouses--Tacoma; Uniforms; Croft, Lee

View of Pierce County Sheriff's office new medicine kit, kit is shown both opened and closed. Medicine kit has analgesic balm, liniment, Olympic Trainer athletic liniment, Red Cross bandages, ammonia inhalant, tweezers, scissors, swabs, gauze and other first aid items. Richard's Studio has combined two images, photo ordered by Gordon Hill, Pierce County Deputy Sheriff's Officer.

Sheriffs--Tacoma; Law enforcement--Tacoma; Law enforcement training--Tacoma; First aid--Tacoma; Emergency medical services--Tacoma; Pierce County Sheriffs (Tacoma);

Pierce County Sheriff Tom Desmond stands next to the what is left of a $12,000 still at the County Courthouse on October 23, 1930. Somehow thieves managed to spirit away part of the still, a seven-foot contraption with twelve compartments and twelve faucets. The grain alcohol still, capable of producing 250 gallons of grain alcohol a day, was seized in a raid at Point Fosdick on October 18, 1930. It was put in a corridor of the courthouse near the entrance of the jail. The seven-foot part went missing on the night of the 20th. Consequently, two deputy sheriffs were fired for "gross carelessness." (TNT 10-23-30, p. 1)

Prohibition came to Washington State early, with its passage taking effect at 12:01a.m. on January 1, 1916. By 1920, local entrepreneurs were very savvy at brewing "moonshine" in homemade distilleries, or "stills." This pile was only the most recent installment of confiscated stills in Pierce County. (TDL 8/15/1920, pg B-5) G24.1-072

Prohibition--Tacoma; Stills (Distilleries);

A pile of slot machines awaits the sledgehammer of Chief Deputy Sheriff John Piper on October 9, 1929 at the county courthouse. These were a sample of the 39 slots ordered destroyed following seizure by county officers from various places of businesses in Pierce County. A total of $244.85 in nickels, dimes and quarters was taken from the machines. This amount, less $10 for trucking, was turned over to the county school fund. The machines, minus their cash, were taken to the waterfront and dumped into Commencement Bay. (TNT 10-10-29, p. 17) TPL-8466;