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C138140-6

ca. 1880. Nathaniel Orr's Wagon Shop. Nathaniel Orr was a pioneer wagon maker who had journeyed from Virginia in 1850 to eventually make his home and business in Steilacoom. The photograph of the Wagon Shop at 1811 Rainier St. is undated but perhaps taken in the 1880's. The man standing in the doorway is possibly Nathaniel Orr. The building appears to be a bit lopsided as blocks seem to be placed underneath to make it level. Information received from a reader indicates that Orr had built the house with chimney visible on the right of this photograph as a wagon shop in 1853-4 and built/repaired wagons on its bottom floor (accessible from what is now Rainier St.) When Orr wed in 1868, his wife convinced him to build his wagons somewhere other than in her home and thus this large Wagon Shop was constructed. Besides building wagons, he turned his hand to making necessities such as beds, tables, chairs, spinning wheels and even coffins. He also started a commercial orchard in town. Nathaniel Orr died in 1896 at the age of 69; his home and orchard would later be sold to the Steilacoom Historical Museum Assn. and be placed on the State and National Registry. The Wagon Shop operates as a living museum and has kept its original appearance. Photograph ordered by the Town of Steilacoom. (Town on the Sound, p. 32-36)


Houses--Steilacoom; Orr, Nathaniel--Homes & haunts;

TPL-9840

ca. 1880. Alexander Smith (A.S.) Abernethy, elected Mayor of Tacoma September 6, 1882. Mr. Abernethy served as Mayor in 1882 & 1883. He was born in New York in 1813. In 1850, he was asked by his older brother George to come to the Northwest to manage the Oak Point (saw) Mill. George Abernethy (1807-1877) went on to become Oregon's first Governor. Alexander Abernethy was Oak Point's most prominent citizen from 1850-1880, campaigning for Washington Territory and later serving as a Republican in local political positions. He had a land claim west of Longview in Cowlitz County. Already an elderly man when he served as Mayor, he died five years later in February of 1888 and was buried in the family cemetary on his land claim. (History of Stella, Oak Point, Eufaula, Coal Creek and Surrounding Areas; US GenWeb Archives)


Abernethy, Alexander Smith; Mayors--Tacoma--1880-1890;

MAYOR-001

ca. 1880. John W. Sprague, elected mayor of Tacoma December 10, 1883. First mayor of the consolidated city. General Sprague received the Medal of Honor for service during the Civil War. He was the first president of the Tacoma Chamber of Commerce and was instrumental in starting many of the first businesses in early Tacoma. Photo from Herbert Hunt's "Tacoma, Its History and Its Builders, Volume 1" opp p.190 (Olsen: Tacoma Beginnings, p. 56) ALBUM 16. (Additional information received from a reader)


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

MAYOR-010

ca. 1880. David S. Lister, Sr. was elected mayor of New Tacoma May 9, 1881. Under a special act of the Legislature, passed November 5, 1881, entitled "An act to confer a City Government upon New Tacoma," the Board of Trustees was merged into the "Common Council," and the President of the Board became the Acting Mayor. Mr. Lister was the owner of an iron foundry located at 17th & Pacific Avenue. This picture is from "History of the Pacific Northwest: Oregon and Washington" compiled and published by the North Pacific History Company, Portland, Oregon, 1889. opp p.600 ALBUM 16


Lister, David S.; Mayors--Tacoma--1880-1890;

SJO-044

ca. 1880s. View of coal bunkers on Commencement Bay, Tacoma, W. T. Sjostrum Collection


Commencement Bay (Wash.); Ore industry--Tacoma;

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).

Tacoma Daily News

  • 5.2.1
  • 1883 - 1885

Early Tacoma newspaper with local and regional news, editorials, and advertisements.

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;

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