Monthly Archives: May 2005

Just above the 705 Freeway overlooking Commencement Bay is The Frank Russell Building. Frank Russell is a large investment company and if you attempt to gain access to the building without an appointment you will be escorted out by an unfriendly security guard. I learned this during my ‘How many building roofs can I get onto in downtown Tacoma?’ project back in 2003. It turns out I was a ninety years too late for a warm welcome.

Back in 1893 I would have found the Tacoma Hotel (pictured above) to be an friendly and inviting place located close to the waterfront and crime kingpin Harry Morgan’s gambling saloon (more on him later). Built in 1884 by architect Stanford White, the Tacoma Hotel was once rated the best hotel on the west coast. Guests included Rudyard Kipling and Mark Twain. If you went to Tacoma anytime between 1884 and 1935, you stayed at the Tacoma Hotel.

In 1890s the Tacoma Hotel had a mascot named Jack. Jack was an 800-pound bear the staff had raised from a cub. And like many of the guests at hotel, Jack liked to drink beer. He would grab a mug in his front paws and down pint after pint. Papers across the country wrote of Jack the Beer Bear.

One night in March of 1893 Jack had apparently had one pint too many and refused to go back into his pen. The drunken bear left the hotel and started down 9th street towards Pacific Avenue, a busy thoroughfare even then. A police officer shot Jack twice. This did not kill Jack but quelled him enough that he returned to the hotel. But Jack was not the same. He wouldn’t let anyone near him and wasn’t going to play anymore games for the hotel guests. He wasn’t friendly and refused to eat. So they put him down.

The Tacoma Hotel continued to do great business and was a well-known landmark until October 17, 1935 when a fire started in the basement. The fire spread quickly and completely destroyed the hotel.

-Jack Cameron

I love jargon. And cop jargon is some of the best. Here’s a Tacoma Police Report from 1946.

07-13-46: Charge of ‘Investigation’: "This Jasper picked up a punk on the stem and took him topside of a flicker. After a bit he gave the boys pork a fumble. The boy didn’t think that was so hot so he took it on the lam and made a beef to the boss. I answered the call and the boy fingered him at 10th and Broadway….the manager has several beefs on this same bird and has the handle of the beefer."

You can find this and more at the Tacoma Police Department web page linked on the right.

-Jack

A Little History Puget Sound Indian tribes, such as the Puyallup and Nisqually, called the Pierce County area home for centuries before the first European explorers arrived. Primarily a hunting-gathering culture, these indigenous people called Mount Rainier "Tacobet," meaning "Mother of Waters." However, "Tacobet" was interpreted by the white man as "Tahoma," which later became the name of a pioneer city, Tacoma.

In 1833 the Hudson Bay’s Company arrived to build Fort Nisqually, a fur trading post, three miles north of the Nisqually River (a few miles south of present-day Tacoma).

The first settlers, mainly lumbermen, began arriving in the early 1850s. Nicholas Delin built the first cabin and sawmill in 1852 on the waterfront near what is now downtown Tacoma. In 1864 Job Carr claimed land along Commencement Bay, hoping it would become the western terminus for a transcontinental railroad. Carr didn’t realize that dream, but went on to become Tacoma’s first mayor, postmaster and election officer. "Old Tacoma" (the area now called "Old Town") was settled in 1865.

In September 1873, Tacoma was indeed selected, and building of the railroad began – but with the terminus at the end of Commence Bay, thereby creating "New Tacoma." Rapid development ensued when Tacoma was linked by rail to the rest of the nation in 1883, and "City of Destiny" became the town’s popular moniker. Lumber and coal from the nearby Cascade foothills were the major rail exports.

In the early 1900’s the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company became a major economic force in Tacoma. Commencement Bay was named one of the official U.S. Ports of Entry in 1918, and The Port of Tacoma developed to become the sixth largest container port in North America today and one of the top 25 container ports in the world.

Today Tacoma is one of the Northwest’s leading cities and a fast-growing "museum mecca:" the new Museum of Glass debuts near the Washington State History Museum in mid-2002, and the Tacoma Art Museum opens its new facility nearby in early 2003. Adjacent, the University of Washington Tacoma Branch campus continues to expand. Downtown is headquarters for the financial giant, Frank Russell Company, and landmarks such as the 1911 Union Station and the 1918 Pantages and Rialto theaters have been restored to their former grandeur. Now more than ever, Tacoma is becoming the "City of Destiny."

(This history is provided by Tacoma Regional Convention & Visitor Bureau.)