Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
T142-2
Date(s)
- 1937-01-11 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
Charles H. Manley, 80, stands beside his cigar store Indian in front of his tobacco store at the corner of 9th and Pacific in January of 1937. Manley's cigar store had been in downtown Tacoma for 48 years. The statue was carved in 1883 from a solid piece of straight grained Southern pine by a Chicago firm that specialized in creating wooden Indian signs for cigar stores. He was painted with four coats of bright paint and then shipped by N.P.rail to Mr. Manley in Livingston, MT. Total cost was $350 plus $75 in shipping, a princely sum that soon paid off in increased business. Native Americans named the sculpture "Skookum" because he was so big and painted so brightly. He was on wheels so that he could be moved inside in inclement weather. Mr. Manley heard of the Tacoma boom and set out to make his fortune, transporting "Skookum" by freight car and setting up his business at Pacific & 9th St. where "Skookum" would remain for 58 years; he was sold in 1946 to a Seattle businessmen for $900. (T. Times 1-11-1937, pg. 14; TNT 1/7/1979)
Manley, Charles H.; Charles H. Manley Tobacconist/Cigar Store (Tacoma); Cigar store Indians--Tacoma;