Stadium High School 1906 ?
Tacoma, Washington
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1891, 1892 - 1893, 1898 Main page

TACOMA

 

[i]New Hotel Built

The building was originally intended by its financiers, the Northern Pacific Railroad Company and Tacoma Land Company, to be one of the finest luxury hotels on the Pacific Coast. In 1890 they purchased a nine-acre tract of land on a high bluff overlooking Commencement Bay, and solicited architectural designs and bids for the building. The winning architects, Hewitt and Hewitt of Philadelphia, submitted with their bid a painting of their planned edifice in French Renaissance architectural style. (That painting hangs today in Stadium's main office.) Some sources have claimed that the building is modeled after an actual chateau near Tours (southwest of Paris) or Chaumont (southeast of Paris), but neither claim has been verified.

Construction of the hotel--known both as the Olympic and the Tourist--began in 1891, but came to a screeching halt in 1893 in the wake of a nationwide financial panic and depression.

 

[ii]In 1891, the first "Call Box" system was installed and it stayed in operation, with many modifications, until about 1970. The first call boxes were located inside small booths, about 4 feet in diameter and painted blue, where officers could get out of the weather and store their rain gear. These were later replaced by call boxes that were mounted on power poles. Each metal box contained a phone connected to the Desk Sergeant and every beat officer was expected to "Rap In" to the station once each hour. To reach an officer on a particular beat, the Desk Sergeant would flash a "Call Light" located at each major intersection, signaling the officer to call in.

[iii]The City Council wanted to build a new station at South 9th and A Street, but the owners of the Tacoma Hotel protested that the noise of the fire apparatus would disturb their guests. The City Council won, and a beautiful two-story brick station was built on the northeast corner in 1891. The three doors opened onto A Street, but a few years later they were bricked up and four doors that opened onto South 9th Street were completed. This station became headquarters and the fire alarm office. The site is currently home of Fireman's Park.

The second Annual Report of the department mentioned the need for a fireboat because of the expanding waterfront businesses. This would be repeated in every Annual Report until the city finally had one built in 1929. The citizens and the press also lambasted the department after every major fire on the waterfront for the need of a fireboat.

[iv]A cable car is a public transit vehicle which runs on rails and which moves primarily by gripping and ungripping an endless cable which runs in a conduit under the street. Cable car systems are also known as cable tramways. A cable car is not a funicular, like the Angel's Flight in Los Angeles, California. A funicular usually uses two counterbalanced cars, which are permanently attached to a finite cable.

The first well documented attempt at building an endless cable cable car line was Charles T Harvey's West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, an elevated line on Greenwich Street in New York, New York, which operated from 1868 to 1870. Its overhead structure was later replaced by the Ninth Ave Elevated.

The first commercially successful cable car line was the Clay Street Hill Railroad in San Francisco, California, which opened in 1873. The line was promoted by Andrew Smith Hallidie, a wire cable manufacturer, and largely designed by William E Eppelsheimer. The first cable car line outside of San Francisco opened in 1881 in Dunedin, New Zealand. The first US cable car line outside of San Francisco opened in Chicago, Illinois in 1882.

Cable cars flourished during a brief period, roughly from 1880 to 1890. Before 1880, the most common method of operating street railways was by horse. Horse power had several disadvantages: 

Cable traction systems required a large capital investment -- The Third Avenue Railroad in New York, New York cost $250,000 per mile -- but they still offered a better return on investment than horse-powered lines in large cities.

Other forms of motive power were less successful than cable cars for public transit. Steam power scared horses and spread soot all around. Cars powered by storage batteries, ammonia, baking soda and vinegar, and compressed air all had disadvantages. Early electric trolley cars were no better than cable cars, until Frank J Sprague successfully electrified a street railway in Richmond, Virginia in 1888.

After Sprague perfected the trolley car, the only reasons to build or retain cable car lines were stubbornness, steep hills, or nostalgia. Cable cars survived on Market Street in San Francisco, California and in Chicago, Illinois until 1906 because of opposition to overhead trolley wires. Cable cars survived in Seattle, Washington until 1941 and in Dunedin, New Zealand until 1957 because of steep terrain. Now the only surviving cable cars operate in San Francisco, California because of a combination of stubbornness, steep hills, and nostalgia.

During the cable car era, powerhouses were generally steam-driven, so they required lots of room for boilers and coal storage. The surviving San Francisco cable lines have been driven by electricity since the 1920's.

Methods of driving the cable varied, but had to address certain problems. The cable had to be set in motion without slipping. This was commonly done by wrapping the cable one or more times around a large powered wheel called a driver, and usually one or more times around a small, un-powered wheel called an idler. The cable had to have a constant level of tension. This was dealt with in various ways. The most common method was the one still used in San Francisco, the tension run. After the cable leaves the driver, it runs down a long corridor to a smaller sheave, which is on a movable platform over a long pit. The platform can be moved along the corridor to keep the cable tight when it stretches. To deal with short-term changes in tension caused by cars gripping and ungripping the cable, the sheave can move on the platform, pulled tight by a weight that hangs in the pit.

 

  •  line: Loop. A Street from 13th to 11th. Up 11th to K. K to 13th. Down 13th to A.

  • opened: 04-Aug-1891

  • powerhouse: 13th and A Streets

  •  grip: Root single jaw side

  •  gauge: 3'6"

  • cars: Grip and trailer trains.

     

    [v]Saturday, August 1, 1891

     

    "Two young ladies of Old Town had a very exciting experience on Second street a few evenings since. They had walked down in the vicinity of the smelter and were ascending the hill which is thickly studded with stumps and overgrown with blackberries. A small Scotch terrier with them was slightly in advance and part way up the hill it commenced barking violently. When the young ladies came up, they found a small black bear retreating before the plucky little terrier. Seeing the ladies, who were almost paralyzed with terror, it turned and ran clumsily away."

     

    [vi]Sunday, August 2 1891

    (Saturday )Residence of the north side of Center street presented a communication stating that the car track was not in the center of the street and caused all the business to be done on the south side of the street, much to the depreciation of value on the north side. Berryhill said no one knew where the center of the street was anyway and moved to lay on the table. Motion passed.

     

    [vii]Tuesday, August 4 1891

    RAILROAD RUMBLES

    Tacoma's Cable Road Is At Last Running Order

    "The cable road is now open," was the announcement President Paul Schulze made to the crowd last night at the corner of Pacific Avenue and Eleventh street, as he stood on the front of the first grip car to be run in Tacoma.

    The work of filing down grip-hole covers and other minor matters has been quickly done. And yesterday afternoon it was announced that all was in readiness for the first car to run. It was placed on the track and the officials of the road boarded it. The cable was started and the first round trip of the cable itself was made in twelve minutes. Then the grip took hold and up the hill the car went. The trip around was made without any impediment, and the progress of the car was loudly cheered.

    The road will not be opened for actual service until tomorrow.

    President Schulze, on the completion of the trip, presented the gripman with $20.

    "Mrs. J. E. Doran was struck by a buggy on Center street Sunday evening and severely injured. The occupants of the buggy were a drunken man and woman."

    "An application for building permit was filed yesterday by Theresa Gyer for a one story frame barn on Oakes Avenue near Sixth, to cost $100."

    [viii]Wednesday August 5 1891

    CABLE CARS RUNNING

    Invited Guests Ride Round the Road

    THEN LUNCH AT THE TACOMA

    The Line Pronounced in Perfect Condition and Ready for Service

    Yesterday when the well-appointed cable cars were pulled out of the car house of the Tacoma Electric Railway and Motor company and set on their track, in an unnoticed corner of the house stood a little shabby, old-style, bob-tail, yellow colored mule car, once quit popular on the streets of Tacoma, t but now relegated to the menial duty of bearing a ladder to reach the trolley wire and sheltering tools. The contrast between the two styles of vehicles was striking. It will illustrate the progress that has been made in the past few years for the street-car service of the city.

    All Tacoma was rejoiced yesterday over the opening of the new cable road, but of the whole population there were three men who were probably the happiest. They were Nelson Bennett, Paul Schultze, and General Manager J. H. Cummings of the Tacoma Electric Railway and Motor Company.

    At 2 o'clock the first car to be run over the entire line left the motor house. It was an open dummy and contained the grip. It was drawing what is technically called a trail car, like itself crowded with invited guests. They overflowed the first train and filled another two cars. The invitations had been sent out at short notice but were productive of great results.

    The First round trip was made in exactly fifteen minutes, although the line is about two miles long. All along the streets traversed by the cars wee crowds waiting too see them go by. To a great many citizens from eastern cities containing no such systems the story of the manner in which the cars were propelled was interesting. They congregated all along the line and peered down through the crevices in the track to see the big wire rope flying along at a tremendous rate. Small boys, too, were interested and dropped strings through to see them wound around the cable and jerked away.

    On the return of the cars to the motor house, the journey having been made without a hitch, the small crowd that had been left there was found to have grown to great proportions. Three cheers for the company were then given with a will.

    Then everybody stepped to the ground, feeling in good humor, and accepted President Schultze's invitation to partake of a buffet lunch in the small dining room of the Tacoma. When the lunch was well advanced it seemed incumbent on some one to make a speech. President Schultze was the first to do so, and he was applauded as he arose.

    The machinery in the new power house deserves especial mention. It is in the north wing of the power house and immediately adjoins the dynamo for the electric road. The huge wheels and massive piston-rod work as easily and noiselessly as if they weighed but a few pounds. A large corps of engineers and assistants are in charge and keep the complex machinery in perfect condition. Everything has now been tested and found to be ready for service and the management announces that cars will be run regularly from now on. With all five grip cars running it is expected to make a four-minute service.

    Several old gripman who understand the business thoroughly are instructing the new men into the uses of the grip and as soon as the pupils are proficient all the cars will be running.

     

    [ix]On May 6, 1891, U. S. President Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901) visits Tacoma. Virtually the entire population of 36,006 turns out in the morning rain to greet him. President Harrison is the 23rd President of the United States (1889-1893), and the first to visit Tacoma. On November 11, 1889, he had signed the enabling Act for Washington to become a state.

    Beflowered and Bedraped

    Vast preparations preceded the visit of the nation's chief executive. The historian Murray Morgan writes:

    "The little wooden railroad station at seventeenth and Pacific was repainted. The police were issued new tassels: blue for patrolmen, white for officers. The fire equipment was polished until it would reflect any sun that might chance to shine. Every building in the downtown area was beflowered and bedraped. On the evening before the great day, businessmen joined hired laborers in completing a series of triumphal arches spanning the mud lagoon that was Pacific Avenue" (South on the Sound).

    On the big day, factory whistles woke the town at 6 a.m. Everyone came out in the rain and by 7:30 a.m. people lined the parade route along Pacific Avenue. The crowd jostling umbrellas included miners, sailors, and lumberman. There were men, women, and many children, a diverse and motley populace, white, black, Japanese, and American Indian.

    At two minutes before 8 a.m. a 21-gun salute announced the President's arrival by train. Washington Governor Ferry and Tacoma mayor George Kandle escorted President Harrison and his entourage (including his wife, and bodyguards) from their parlor car to a carriage pulled by a team of four gray horses.

    The procession began. The first triumphal arch it passed under was the Lumbermen's Arch, contributed by the St. Paul and Tacoma lumber company. Next was the Coal Arch, crowned by an eight-ton block of coal. The sign read, "We Can Warm the World on Coal." Next came the Iron Arch, formed with hematite from Ellensburg, magnetic ores from Cle Elum, pig iron from the foundry at Irondale, and a gas pipe festooned with a sign that read, "Undeveloped, but Mountains of It." The last arch, the grain arch, designed by architect C. August Darmer, was made with alternating sacks of grain and flour. Its sign stated, "Washington Can Feed All Mankind."

    A Rather Severe Storm

    At 9th Street the carriage turned left up the hill to C Street and the President said: "I wish you would urge the horses to trot. This is a rather severe storm." At the Annie Wright Seminary a troupe of maidens waved flags and the President doffed his hat. Tacoma's school children were amassed between 9th and 11th streets on Tacoma Avenue. The President offered his opinion that they shouldn't be out in the rain, but the mayor assured him that Puget Sound children didn't mind the rain.

    At 10th Street the Superintendent of Schools stood ready to deliver a speech, but the president wished to continue on past, due to the hard rain. At 11th Street, 119 students from the Indian school were prepared to serenade the President but the entourage continued on by without stopping.

    At the Five Corners a speaker's platform had been erected and the President climbed up. Various dignitaries were introduced as it continued pouring rain. A few fights broke out in the crowd. Finally the President stood to speak. He made reference to the area's mountain and mountains, which, however, he had so far never seen, despite this being his second visit to the region. On the first visit smoke from a forest fire had obscured the view and on this visit it was clouds and rain. He then said:

    "A harbor like this, so safe and commodious and deep, should be made to bear a commerce that is but yet in its infancy. I should like to see the prows of some of those great steamship lines entering your port and carrying the American flag at the mast head. ... We have been content in other years to allow other nations to do the carrying trade of the world. We have been content to see the markets of those American republics lying south of us mastered and controlled by European nations. ... The time is propitious for re-establishment upon the sea of the American merchant marine" (quoted in South on the Sound).

    The President and Mrs. Harrison were then honored in the Tacoma Theater with gifts of a painting and a poem. They were then escorted down to the docks and embarked on the steamer City of Seattle for a city to the north which none of the Tacoma papers mentioned by name.

    At 1:35 p. m., President Harrison and his entourage arrived in Seattle, where it was still raining. Virtually the entire population of 42,837 came out in the rain to greet the President of the United States.

    [x]David and Minnie Lister were the original owners of the property located at 1101 A Street, where the Perkins building now stands. The Listers' were prominent Tacoma pioneers. They lived in a modest two-story stick framed house at the corner of what is now 11th and Cliff Streets. In 1891, Minnie Lister applied for a permit to erect a three-story brick building as a boarding house. This building became known as the Lister Block and was located at the corner of 11th and A Street, just half-a-block from their home. Total cost of construction was $10,650 (Diviney & TDL, January 1, 1891).

    The retail level of the Lister Block contained a saloon called the Dawson Tavern and Sample Room owned and operated by John Lund, a pioneer from Alaska (TNT, January 22, 1961). The second and third floors were known as the Hotel Hauser. Entrance to the Hotel was made by a door located on the 11th Street side and toward the back of the building--few convenient steps to Minnie Lister's home (Diviney).