The Tacoma Historical Society’s
Exhibit Center

‘Building Tacoma’ Exhibit Explores City’s Early Growth

“Building Tacoma” traces Tacoma’s history from the first Euro-American settlement activity in 1852 through its emergence as a city of some world importance by 1915.  The exhibition highlights important events during these years, features images of the town’s early architecture, and profiles some of the people who shaped the community. 

Much of the city’s architectural legacy from the period covered in this exhibit is intact.  It is this rich heritage that gives Tacoma such a remarkable and compelling aura of time and place.  Streets throughout the city are named for our founders, preserving the memory of their contributions.

Our exposition is based on Herbert Hunt’s three-volume Tacoma: Its History and Its Builders (first published in 1916), and we include over fifty of Hunt’s images in this exhibit.  We also make extensive use of the photo collection of the University of Washington and include some photos from the Tacoma Public Library collection.  

The central turning point of our story is the selection of Commencement Bay as the terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1873.  It touched off a twenty-year period of intense, even frantic, development that transformed a forested wilderness into the city of Tacoma.  In 1855 the ratification of the Medicine Creek Treaty, which resulted in the creation of the Puyallup Indian Reservation, opened the way for in-migration and settlement.  But before 1865, settlement activity on Commencement Bay was minimal.  Between 1865 and 1872, however, a village of over 100 inhabitants, now known as Old Town, grew up in anticipation of the railroad’s coming to Puget Sound.  The terminus was located, however, several miles away—at the head of the bay, where downtown is today.     

With the choice of Commencement Bay as the terminus of the NP, the race with Seattle for supremacy on Puget Sound was on.  As Tacoma grew, the population increased enormously in the 1880s, and Tacoma was actually larger than Seattle for a brief period in 1892-1893 when its population surged above 50,000.  Then the Panic of 1893 hit, and the depression that followed burst the bubble.  By 1900, Tacoma’s population was barely larger than it had been in 1890.  Good times came again with the new century, and a long period of steady growth ensued.  Though its population never again rivaled Seattle’s, by 1915 Tacoma had matured into a city of considerable importance and renown, a reputation it still enjoys today.

Exhibit Area Name Honors Tacoma Visionary Allen C. Mason
The Tacoma Historical Society’s exhibit space was officially named for visionary Tacoma entrepreneur Allen Chase Mason in a ceremony at the exhibit center on May 18, 2006. Mason was born in Illinois in 1855 and came to Tacoma in 1885. Known for his generosity and civic-mindedness, Mason developed much of Tacoma’s North End and built a streetcar line to Point Defiance.
Learning of Mason’s death in 1920, Tacoma Mayor Crocket Riddell declared, “Mr. Mason has done more for the present and future of Tacoma than any other man in the city’s history.”

Exhibition Sponsor: The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation

The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation

Curator: Jim Hoard

Exhibit Design & Consultation: Chris Fiala Erlich