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MAYOR-005

ca. 1880. Henry Drum was elected mayor of Tacoma May 1, 1888. He defeated A.C. Smith, the Republican candidate, by a 52-vote margin. Mayor Drum, a native of Girard, Illinois, was an industrious man who had been a teacher, brick manufacturer, stock raiser, and banker, all by the age of 24. He came to New Tacoma on Christmas Eve, 1883, and in conjunction with Walter J. Thompson, bought the bank of New Tacoma, which was renamed Merchants' National Bank. Mr. Drum was elected to the school board in 1887 and the following year became the mayor of Tacoma. This picture is from "History of Washington" edited by Julian Hawthorne, American Historical Publishing Co., 1893. p.61 ALBUM 16. (North Pacific History Co.: History of the Pacific Northwest, p. 307-308)


Drum, Henry; Mayors--Tacoma--1880-1890;

C116-1

ca. 1880. Copy of a photograph, circa 1880, of three men in a doorway to the Canadian Pacific Railway office. A fourth man, at far right, standing beside Grosworth Stocking window display. Copy of circa 1880s photograph for Mr. Short, Tacoma Times. (Argentum)


Canadian Pacific Railway (Tacoma); Railroad companies--1880-1890; Railroads; Railroad facilities;

MAYOR-001A

ca. 1880. Portrait of General John W. Sprague, elected December 10, 1883, as first mayor of the consolidated city of Tacoma. According to Herbert Hunt's Tacoma: Its History and Its Builders, Vol. 1, General Sprague had been petitioned by a large number of citizens to run for the mayor's office. He had stated that he did not desire election but would not refuse should he be selected. John W. Sprague was 66 in 1883 and had retired from the Northern Pacific Railroad that January. He had arrived in Tacoma in 1870 as general superintendent of the railroad and soon rose in prominence. Hunt described him as a "delightful man, a good speaker, fair and true." TPL-576 ALBUM 16. (Hunt: Its History and Its Builders, Vol. 1, p. 295-96) Also G2.1-023


Sprague, John W.; Mayors--Tacoma--1880-1890;

MAYOR-002

ca. 1880. Theodore Hosmer was elected mayor of New Tacoma May 3, 1882. Mr. Hosmer, a native of Ohio, came to Tacoma in 1873 as secretary of the committee appointed to select the western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Once Tacoma was chosen as the terminus, Mr. Hosmer was left in charge of clearing the area of cedar and fir trees, laying out the town and preparing the property for market. The Northern Pacific Railroad Co. organized the Tacoma Land Co. and put Mr. Hosmer in as general manager, a position that he held until his resignation and departure from the city in 1882 due to his wife Louise's ill health. He would return from Philadelphia after the death of his wife and become the president of Tacoma Light & Water Co. Mr. Hosmer was active in St. Luke's Church and the Annie Wright Seminary, Washington State Historical Society, and the Union Club. Hosmer Street in the city's south end is named after the former mayor. Theodore Hosmer would die in Tacoma on Sunday, January 28, 1900, and his remains transported to Sandusky, Ohio, accompanied by his only son Alexander. According to Edward N. Fuller's "Biographical sketch of Theodore Hosmer" in the October 1900 Washington Historian, Mr. Hosmer had been one of the founders of the first village and city government of Tacoma, president of the first board of trustees, and unanimously elected the first mayor of the city under its first charter in 1882. Picture from Herbert Hunt's "Tacoma, Its History and Its Builders, Volume 1" opp p.198 ALBUM 16. (Fuller: Washington Historian, October 1900, p. 5-11)


Hosmer, Theodore; Mayors--Tacoma--1880-1890;

MAYOR-003

ca. 1880. R. Jacob Weisbach was elected mayor of Tacoma May 5, 1884. Mr. Weisbach, a grocery store owner and active in the German Society, defeated E.S. (Skookum) Smith by a 39 vote margin. According to author Herbert Hunt, Mayor Weisbach openly sympathized with the anti-Chinese element and led in the forcible expulsion of the Chinese from Tacoma in 1885. The mayor and 26 other citizens, many of them prominent in business and society, were taken into federal custody but eventually all charges were quashed. Picture for Herbert Hunt's "Tacoma, Its History and Its Builders, Volume 1" opp p.360 ALBUM 16. (Hunt: Tacoma Its History and Its Builders, Vol. 1., p. 319-20; p. 355-)


Weisbach, R. Jacob; Mayors--Tacoma--1880-1890

C156427-1

ca. 1881. This photograph from 1881, taken from near what is now the 800 block of Fawcett Avenue, shows many of the homes of the founders of "New Tacoma". The two-story white house in the foreground, next to a fenced yard, was the home of businessman J.S. Howell; the dirt road in front of the house is now Saint Helens Avenue. The large, white house to its right was the stately Theodore Hosmer House. This home, built about 1879 and now called the Exley Apts., is reputedly the oldest existing house in Tacoma. It originally faced St. Helens; in 1904 it was turned to face So. 9th. The Northern Pacific Railroad land office is the large frame structure to the right of Hosmer House; the Broadway Theater was built on this site after the building was moved. The Villard Hotel was under construction at this time; it is the building close to the left edge on A St. overlooking the bay. The building, named after Northern Pacific's head, Henry Villard, was demolished about 1923 to make way for a service station. To its right is the home of Otis Sprague, son of Gen. John W. Sprague. His home was moved to So. 12th & A to make room for the Tacoma Hotel. Gen. John W. Sprague occupied the home to the right of his son's; this house was originally built for Frank Clark and was purchased by Gen. Sprague shortly after completion. Another well-known name in local history, Capt. Charles E. Clancy, was Gen. Sprague's neighbor to Sprague's right. Frank Clark was just two doors down from Gen. Sprague; his home was once deemed the "best in town." These buildings were identified by the Tacoma Daily Ledger when they published this photograph on April 12, 1927. (Copy ordered by Dan Hewitt.) TPL-8069


Houses--Tacoma--1880-1890; Neighborhoods--Tacoma--1880-1890;

C8580-3

ca. 1882. Copy negative of drawing. Caption on negative titled "Execution of three murderers in Seattle, January 18, 1882." On Wednesday, January 18, 1882, three men were hung from a timber that was suspended from the forks of two trees on Occidental Square. Two of the men, James Sullivan and William Howard had been convicted by a local judge moments before they were hung of a murder that had occurred the night before. The third man, Benjamin Payne, had been arrested for the murder of a police officer. The three facial drawings across the top are labelled, left to right, Howard, Payne and Sullivan. The complete story is published in the Washington Standard, Olympia, Jan.20, 1882 Copy made for the Tacoma Times.


Lynchings--Seattle--1880-1890; Sullivan, James; Howard, William; Payne, Benjamin;

View of the City of Tacoma, W.T., Puget Sound, County Seat of Pierce Cty., Pacific Terminus of the NPRR, 1884

Madison, Wis. : J. J. Stoner; Ithica, N.Y. : Historic Urban Plans
1 map; 31 x 83 cm. Bird's-eye view. Perspective map not drawn to scale. Oriented with North to lower right. Includes key to points of interest. "Reproduced ... from an engraving in the Library of Congress." Includes inset of "Mount Tacoma, 14,444 ft. high." "Beck & Pauli, Litho., Milwaukee, Wis."

TPL-2892

ca. 1884. The Tacoma Hotel, 913 A street, with its commanding view of the Tacoma tideflats, was one of the best hotels north of San Francisco. Designed by the famous architect Stanford White, it had its official opening in August of 1884. The scaffolding at the north end of the building suggests that it was still under construction when this photograph was taken. Note the Northern Pacific Railroad tracks crossing the almost completely barren tideflats; mills and manufacturing structures had yet to be fully built. The body of water at the left is the Puyallup River as it flows unfettered into Commencement Bay. The massive Tacoma Hotel was destroyed by fire on October 17, 1935, and was never rebuilt; its annex would be remodeled and called the "new" Tacoma Hotel in January, 1936.


Tacoma Hotel (Tacoma);

KERLEE-06

ca. 1884. "New Tacoma, Puget Sound, W. T." Early stereopticon slide by Watkins, San Francisco, CA Watkins' New Series # 5201, Pacific Coast Views (From the collection of Dan Kerlee, Seattle, Washington) see C52158 (far left) for possible location of buildings in this photo. The area in the center is part of the Tideflats before any dredging. Of the two large buildings in the background center-right, the dark building is the forge shop of the Northern Pacific Railroad shops between South 17th & South 19th, east of Pacific Ave. The light building is the car shop.


Cities & towns--Tacoma; Houses--Tacoma--1880-1890; Northern Pacific Railway Co. (Tacoma);

968-1

On November 3, 1885, fueled by racism and fear, this "Committee of 27" led a mob that forced the Chinese population of Tacoma onto trains for Portland, looted their homes and then burned them to the ground. Far from being an anonymous group, the Committee included Tacoma mayor Jacob Robert Weisbach (seated at center, full beard), as well as the sheriff, a city councilman and a judge. They had the support of the local newspaper and most of Tacoma's citizenry who blamed the Chinese for Tacoma's economic recession. The "Committee" was brought to trial for their actions, but the charges were dropped and the group declared heroes. Their actions became known throughout the country as the "Tacoma Method" for dealing with the "Chinese problem." In 1993, the Tacoma City Council formally apologized for the Committee's actions. (original photo by photographer "Jackson" copied for the Tacoma Times in 1935) (historylink.org) TPL-9638


Deportations--Tacoma--1880-1890; Exiles--Chinese--Tacoma;

Central School

This is the original Central School, built in 1883 for $18,000 and located at 1114 S Altheimer (then S G St), now the area of Bates Technical College. It was modeled after the Euclid Avenue School of Cleveland, Ohio, by architect Joseph Sherwin of Portland. It stood out along the Tacoma skyline with its 90-foot bell tower visible for miles. The school contained twelve rooms and was considered a showplace for the city. Rapid growth made the enrollment climb to 964 by 1886, taught by a staff of 18 teachers. Remodeling and additions to the school occurred before the school moved its 1000 elementary students to a new Central School located at So. 8th & Tacoma Ave. So. in 1913. The new Central School cost $165,000, almost ten times the cost of the original school. The old Central School was demolished in 1914 and served as a hobo shelter for a few months prior to its demolition. (Olsen: For the Record, p. 47-48-various photographs) King 009, TPL 1103.


Back of photo:
Central school, S.W. corner of S.W. and G. St now the Bates Vocational School Tacoma, Wash.

Northern Pacific Railroad track along Commencement Bay, Tacoma, Washington Territory

Northern Pacific Railroad track along Commencement Bay, Tacoma, Washington Territory, circa 1885. Mt. Tacoma (Rainier) and tideflats in background. The railroad tracks were built on fill dirt. The water-filled half-moon section would also be filled in to become the railroad yard, called appropriately the "half-moon yard." KING-008, G76.1-101 (Digital copy only. No print or negative available).

TDS-004

ca. 1885. Five men are standing in front of the Halstead House in this photograph by U. P. Hadley that dates between 1879 and 1885. Located at 707 Pacific Avenue, the Halstead House was one of the nicer hotels in Tacoma at that time; it even had a covered walkway leading to the "water closet" out back. Built in 1879 by Jacob Halstead, in 1885 the proprietors were Freeman S. Crosby and Hugh Kenealy. The building to the south of the hotel, with the large Standard Steilacoom Beer sign was the Steilacoom Beer Hall, 711 Pacific Avenue, owned by Fred Seger.


Hotels--Tacoma--1880-1890; Halstead House (Tacoma); Business districts--Tacoma--1880-1890; Commercial streets--Tacoma--1880-1890;

TPL-1044

ca. 1885. When this circa 1885 photograph was taken Annie Wright Seminary (now School) was so new that there were still tree stumps in the front yard at the photo's left. There was no staircase to the sidewalk built yet. Annie Wright opened on September 3, 1884, and was named in honor of the school's benefactor, railroad magnate Charles B. Wright. It was located near Wright Park at 611 Division Ave. The school's purpose was to educate the daughters of pioneers so that they could contribute to the "righteous upbringing of this great country." $350 a year was the school's first tuition and that included "board, furnished room, tuition in English branches and Latin, and laundry service." In 1924 the school moved to a new campus at 827 Tacoma Ave. No. which provided more space for growth. The old building, with foundation of Wilkeson stone, was razed. The only remaining building, the gymnasium, was leased to the Tacoma Drama League in 1925. (www.ag.org/about/history)


Annie Wright Seminary (Tacoma); Private schools--Tacoma--1880-1890;

Boats at Northern Pacific dock with Blackwell Hotel, Tacoma, Washington Territory, circa 1885

Boats at Northern Pacific dock, Tacoma, Washington Territory, circa 1885. The owners of the warehouse in the center of photograph were not identified. The large building to the far left is the Blackwell Hotel, considered New Tacoma's first hotel. Built by the Northern Pacific Railroad, it opened on January 1, 1874 and closed in 1884. It was razed during the summer of 1901. KING-002, TPL-1095

Members of Puyallup Tribe playing game on shores of Puget Sound

In this photograph believed to be from the mid 1880s, a group of Puyallup Indians gathers on the shore of the Puget Sound to gamble. The game they are playing appears to be the bone game, where two teams of 10-12 sit opposite each other. One team has four bones which they pass to the distracting accompaniment of the pounding of sticks and singing of chants. The other team must guess who has the bones. In the background are longboats and a bridge. The Puyallup village during this time period was believed to be at the foot of South 15th St. KING-003, TPL 2897.

Old Coal Bunkers at Tacoma, W.T.

Three-masted ship "Eldorado" at old coal bunkers, Tacoma, Washington Territory, circa 1885. These are believed to be the Northern Pacific coal bunkers projecting into Commencement bay that were completed in 1882 at a cost of $250,000 and considered at that time to be the most modern of their type on the North Pacific Coast. Ships like the "Eldorado" were a common sight waiting to take on loads of coal. (Hunt, "The Coal Bunkers," History of Tacoma) KING006, TPL 1076

Tacoma Alert Hose Company No. 2 volunteer firefighting company

Tacoma's Alert Hose Co. No. 2 volunteer firefighting company, in uniform, were photographed on August 8, 1885 as they prepared to join the funeral parade to be held that day for former President Ulysses S. Grant. President Grant's portrait is framed in black and placed aboard the company hose wagon. He had died on July 23, 1885, and the Territorial Governor of Washington had declared that the day of his funeral would be an official day of mourning. The firehouse was located at So. 13th & A Street, which was later the location of the Tacoma Railroad & Power substation. Alert Hose Co. No. 2 was probably one of four hose companies organized between March and August, 1885. The company's hose apparatus may have been built by the volunteers themselves. Adelbert Uriah Mills, center in black beard holding bouquet, was the captain and would later become the Commissioner of Public Safety. A partial list of firefighters' names appears in a Tacoma Daily Ledger article on March 9, 1913. (Talbot: 100 Years of Fire fighting in the City of Destiny Tacoma, Washington, p. 15, TDL 3-9-1913, p. 45) KING-013, TPL 2896.

View looking south of the Northern Pacific Railroad track along Commencement Bay, Tacoma, Washington Territory, circa 1885

View looking south of the Northern Pacific Railroad track along Commencement Bay, Tacoma, Washington Territory, circa 1885. Sidewheeler steamship North Pacific at dock. The Northern Pacific wharf lay below today's Stadium Way and would serve, according to historian Murray Morgan, as a "third world between Old Tacoma and New Tacoma." (Morgan: South on the Sound, p. 48-49) KING-001, TPL-018.

TPL-385

ca. 1885. St. Luke's Episcopal Church at original location of 602 Broadway. It was built in 1883 with gray sandstone obtained from the Wilkeson quarries. The church, designed by Portland architect Joseph Sherwin, was based on an old English country church. Railroad and real estate magnate Charles Wright had pledged $30,000 towards the construction in tribute to his daughter, Kate Elizabeth. In 1934 the church was dismantled and reconstructed at 3601 No. Gove St., a careful process that took over twelve years to complete. (copy of original) Bi-Centennial Project # 75346-54


St. Luke's Episcopal Church (Tacoma); Episcopal churches--Tacoma; Churches--Tacoma--1880-1890;

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