View of alley entrance to Sears, Roebuck's multi-tiered parking lot. As the large sign above the parking lot's entrance indicted, Sears offered their customers one hour of free parking from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. This was a new concept to attract more customers to Sears; even in the summer of 1951, downtown parking was at a premium and parking congestion becoming prevalent. New keys could also be made at the garage's entrance with only a minute's delay.
Senior captain Gordon Smith prepares to lead his Bellarmine Lions football team into battle in the 9th annual Tacoma Athletic Commission sponsored Grid-Go-Round on September 14, 1951. Four Tacoma area teams-- Bellarmine, Clover Park, Lincoln and Stadium are scheduled to compete at Lincoln Bowl. Smith, at 180 pounds, plays at both the fullback and end positions. Photograph ordered by Hugh Fotheringill, Tacoma Athletic Commission. (TNT 9-9-51, p. C-12)
Smith, Gordon; Football players--Tacoma--1950-1960; Grid-Go-Round (Tacoma); Tacoma Athletic Commission (Tacoma); Bellarmine High School (Tacoma);
A St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company employee checks his inventory sheet of wooden gutters which are being prepared for shipment in August, 1951. The gutters will be hoisted on board a vessel at the St. Paul & Tacoma dock. St. Paul not only shipped finished gutters but squared off lumber and plywood as well.
St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Gutters (Roofs)--Tacoma;
Stadium High School juniors Jim Thompson and John Wallerich display new fall fashions for a News Tribune layout in September, 1951. Jim, standing, is wearing gray slacks and a navy blue jersey shirt with white trim. He has on saddle shoes and a white cap. John, seated in a 1905 Heapmobile, also is casually dressed in a white cap and a Hawaiian shirt. The classic automobile has a plate mounted on the driver's side with City Motor Co. and South Tacoma Motor Co.'s names listed. South Tacoma Motor Co. was a Chevrolet dealership at 5602-12 So. Tacoma Way. City Motor Co. was an Oldsmobile dealership at 5622-32 So. Tacoma Way. Peter Wallerich was the president of both dealerships. (TNT 9-12-51, C-17- alt. photograph)
Tacoma's sixth major fire of 1951 occurred in the early morning hours of August 24th when Tacoma Boat Building Company at 2142 East D st. was nearly destroyed. The construction yard of five connecting buildings was engulfed in flames; only the outfitting dock was saved. Damages were estimated in the one million dollar range. The company's office building suffered minor damage and valuable company records were safe. Twelve land companies and the city fireboat fought the blaze throughout the night and smoke was still rising from the boatworks' ruins several hours later. Only one boat was lost in the fire; the partially completed hull of a tuna fishing boat can be seen in the center of the photograph. A General Motors truck is parked close to the blackened structures; perhaps it will be used to haul away some of the rubble. (TNT 8-24-51, p.1)
Tacoma Boat Building Co., Inc. (Tacoma); Boat & ship industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Fires--Tacoma--1950-1960; Fire fighting--Tacoma--1950-1960;
This tuna fishing boat, being bult at the Tacoma Boat Building Company facility at 2142 East D St. was over 60% complete when a fire on August 24, 1951 reduced it to a charred hulk. Several hours after the massive one million dollar blaze, smoke still billows from the ruined boat. The company's boatworks area was completely demolished; this fishing boat, however, was the only vessel damaged. Photograph ordered by Board of Marine Underwriters of San Francisco. TPL-9053
Tacoma Boat Building Co., Inc. (Tacoma); Boat & ship industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Fires--Tacoma--1950-1960; Fire fighting--Tacoma--1950-1960;
Property at 19th and Market Streets. For Harry Blangy. Graded lot on Market Street, future site of Love Electric Company, showing cuts, fill, and sitting water. OSSCO, welders' supplies, in background.
Property at 19th and Market Streets. For Harry Blangy. Looking south on Market Street with Capital Coil and Equipment Company on right, Jefferson Hotel, on left.
Aerial photographs of Mountlake Terrace were taken on August 16, 1951. Developers of this neighborhood near Seattle left many of the trees in the heavily forested area for homeowners to enjoy. Cul-de-sacs were starting to emerge as part of suburban lifestyles, to lessen amount of traffic on roads next to homes and provide safer play areas for children. Photograph commissioned by Budget Homes, Inc.
Ardens specialized in women's clothing at their store on Broadway in 1951. They were close to the Knights of Pythias Temple and Weisfield's, Inc. Ardens' display windows are full of mannequins dressed in the latest ladies' fashions with suits, dresses, blouses and skirts. Huge letters spelling out the business' name are prominently mounted on the building's exterior as well as on windows and even the sidewalk. Customers could park directly in front of the store as evidenced by the two parking meters.
Sears Roebuck and Company Department Store, Sporting Goods Department. Luggage on left, bicycles on right, table of hats, balls and bats. Back wall has rifles, tennis racquets, and fishing poles.
Business Enterprises - Department Stores - Tacoma - Sears Roebuck and Company Equipment - Sporting Goods
Mueller- Harkins Buick Agency. Advertising on tower, 35th Anniversary signs in windows, two automobile visible in showroom. Ordered by Bethelhem Steel Pacific Coast Steel Corporation.
Business Enterprises - Tacoma - Automobile Dealers - New Automobile Dealers - Buick Dealers - Mueller-Harkins Motor Company
Angled view from across the street of Hooker Electrochemical's industrial facilities taken on August 24, 1951. Located in the Tideflats on Alexander Avenue, the Hooker plant underwent several large expansions throughout the years before its sale to Pioneer Companies, Inc., in the late 1990's. Hooker opened its plant in Tacoma in 1929, about the same time as the Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Company, and both provided the Pacific Northwest paper and pulp industry with the chlorine and caustic soda necessary for the industry's operations. Relatively cheap and abundant raw materials along with a ready labor supply, plenty of power, and convenient transportation facilities served to attract Hooker, as well as other chemical companies, to the Tacoma area. Tank cars and circular holding tanks can be seen amidst the buildings on the sprawling Hooker grounds.
Chemical industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Hooker Electrochemical Co. (Tacoma); Industrial facilities--Tacoma--1950-1960;
Shell Station #L814 was newly opened in the summer of 1951; it was located on South 38th Street near Thompson. Owned by Lyle Edwards, Edwards Shell Station had two gasoline pumps in a large parking lot. A banner advertising that Shell provided the "most powerful gasoline you can use" hung over the office entrance. The familiar "shell" shaped sign alerted customers to the new service station.
Edwards Shell Station (Tacoma); Automobile service stations--Tacoma--1950-1960; Gasoline pumps--Tacoma--1950-1960; Vehicle maintenance & repair--Tacoma--1950-1960; Signs (Notices);
The driver of a Holroyd Company truck halfway emerges from his vehicle to look back at the shovel scooping up gravel. The gravel will then be loaded onto the truck's bed. The photograph was taken on September 5, 1951, in the gravel bunker at the Lakeview pit. The Holroyd Company manufactured concrete blocks, bricks and other types of building materials. The Holroyd Company was founded by Arthur Holroyd who came to Tacoma before 1890, and began dealing in gravel and other building materials in 1906.
This one-story ranch style home was advertised at $7999.00 in August, 1951. The house had long, horizontal lines and a shallow-pitched composition roof. The yard appeared to be nicely landscaped with plants and bushes behind a small rock border along the house. This home could possibly have been in the Mountlake Terrace neighborhood. Photograph commissioned by Budget Homes, Inc., Al La Pierre.
Interior view of Link Belt Company showing use of link belt products. Long flexible belt on rollers behind metal railings. Photograph taken in August of 1951.
Link Belt Co. (Seattle); Conveying systems--Seattle;
Five Chevrolet trucks at the Maxwell Petroleum Company's corporate office are ready to deliver Mobil oil to local customers during the summer of 1951. Large cylinder objects are probably containers for petroleum products. Maxwell Petroleum was located at 520 East "D" Street and owned by H.D. Maxwell and Osie Thomas. The company dealt in gasoline, motor, burner and fuel oil, on a wholesale basis. Maxwell Petroleum had merged several years prior with the General Petroleum Corporation of California; however, both maintained separate listings in the 1951 City Directory. Photograph ordered by South Tacoma Chevrolet. TPL-8463
Maxwell Petroleum Co. (Tacoma); Petroleum industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; General Petroleum Corp. (Tacoma); Chevrolet trucks;
Pile driving along Alaskan Way viaduct in Seattle. A pile driver in front of Black Ball Pier was photographed on September 5, 1951, with four men standing on left side. Ordered by Bethleham Pacific Coast Steel Corp. W.S. Briscoe.
Three piledrivers in center with autos and train on left of them and buildings on the right. Ordered by Bethleham Pacific Coast Steel Corp. W.S. Briscoe. Appears to be Seattle's Alaskan Way viaduct under construction in September of 1951.
Lincoln Branch, Puget Sound National Bank, view from northwest. International style brick building with large plate glass windows, neon sign over entrance. The building was designed by the architectural firm of Charles and Clarence Rueger and constructed by Industrial Engineers and Contractors, Inc. The exterior of the building is faced with Roman brick with large areas of glass. There are public entrances on both G and 37th streets. In the rear of the building is a large asphalt paved free parking area and on the south end of the building is a drive-through banking window. The building was constructed so that a second story could be added, if needed. (TNT 10/14/1951, pg. C-15)
Puget Sound National Bank (Tacoma); Banks--Tacoma;
South 38th Street looking east from Fawcett. Houses, automobile equipment and supplies store, Ducolon Furnace, Glassy Electric Company, several automobiles parked on street. Ordered by Portland Cement Association.
Aerial view of sewage disposal plant. Progress photograph of the new sewage disposal plant on Cleveland Way was taken by air on October 3, 1951. Construction continues on the new plant near the Puyallup River under the direction of Hoagland-Findlay Engineering Company who had the low bid of nearly $1,400,000. The two large circular structures are digesting tanks where raw sewage would be digested and eventually turned into fertilizer. Rectangular building appears to be a 14,000,000 gallon sedimentation tank. Photograph commissioned by Hoagland-Findlay. TPL-8824
Mrs. Olga Cronquist for J. Walter Thompson Company. Mrs. Cronquist and an unidentified man at dining room table looking at award winning ribbons in late October of 1951.
Chemist lab at Columbia Breweries. Two employees of Columbia Breweries shown at work in the chemist's laboratory in an October, 1951, photograph. According to a large ad placed in the News Tribune on November 13th, the four staff chemists carefully monitored every step in the brewing process from the selection of choice ingredients to the total sterilization of final kegs. All brews were scientifically checked and technically controlled in the company's modern and well-equipped laboratory. Columbia Breweries were well known for their production of Columbia Ale and Heidelberg beer. (TNT, 11-13-51, p. 11)
Brewing industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1950-1960; Chemistry--Tacoma; Laboratories--Tacoma--1950-1960;
In 1948 Columbia Breweries appointed four new officers and announced that they would be going through an extensive expansion program. The expansion project will include a 20,000 square feet two story building which will house a new bottle shop, and a can beer line. View of man working with metal tank attached to numerous controls, perhaps the control board or fermenting tank area of the plant.
Brewing industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Laborers--Tacoma; Columbia Breweries, Inc. (Tacoma)--1950-1960;
Sepia portrait of young boy. Bobby, the five year old son of Mrs. O. Harry Schrader, Jr., had his photograph taken in his North 45th Street home in November, 1951. Clasping his hands together, he looks directly into the camera's eye. The boy wears his light colored hair short and brushed back off his forehead. He is dressed in dark corduroy pants with suspenders and a tee shirt with a cowboy motif. Bobby's father, Dr. O. Harry Schrader, was the managing director of the Douglas Fir Plywood Association.
Children--Tacoma--1950-1960; Schrader, O. Harry--Family; Children--Clothing & dress--Tacoma--1950-1960; Schrader, Bobby;
Groups in costumes for Tacoma Yacht Club Halloween Party held on October 27, 1951. Pictured above in front of a ship model are: pirate William Ostruske with Mrs. Ostruske as a hula dancer and Mr. and Mrs. Frank Heffernan as a courtly Spanish couple. (TNT 11-4-1951, D-1)
Costumes; Tacoma Yacht Club (Tacoma); Model ships; Ostruske, William; Ostruske, William--Family; Heffernan, Frank; Heffernan, Frank--Family;
