North End Community Church at 3502 N Mullen St, Tacoma, WA 98407 is charming. It was built in 1928 as the Grace Baptist Church. There is a Grace Baptist Church on Vassault now, so maybe the original church moved. The website of North End Community Church is here.
There is a glorious magnolia tree in front of the First Lutheran Church at 524 South “I” Street, Tacoma, WA. The church was founded in 1882 and their current building was finished in 1929. The church’s original mission was to support Swedish immigrants. There website is here.
The First Evangelical Lutheran Church was designed by Heath, Gove & Bell, arch. The Gothic design is tapestry brick with Tenino stone trim and an oak interior. An addition was added in 1957.
The Old Settler’s Cemetery is located at the Northeast corner of Washington Boulevard SW and 83rd Avenue SW in Lakewood. The almost 5 acres site is partially tree covered with paths leading through the graves. A variety of headstones are there including those flush with the ground, old marble, new marble and wooden. It appears that several of the grave sites are no longer marked. Burials began at the site in 1855 for pioneers and their descendents.
The first headstone I came to belong to Hugh McLeod who died on July 3, 1891 at age 60. His stone stated that he was a native of Scotland. The most recent burial that I’m aware of was in 1988.
I noticed a bunch of crocuses in bloom all over the site. The explanation for this can be found here “Another settler of note is James Holt, who came from South Wales and settled in what is now Lake City in 1915. He built many of the houses in Lake City as well as donated the land used for the Lake City Community Church. His daughter Janette is credited for planting the crocus bulbs on his grave that still bloom each year.” Information can also be found here
The Rex Theater at 3809 Yakima Ave., in Tacoma’s Lincoln District, was built in 1919 and stayed in business until 1958. It has 650 seats which included a nursery so mothers with young children could see the films. The property owner was Martin Steffen. In 1958 it was converted to the Tacoma Calvary Temple, a church. And in 1980 it again became a theater, but this time it was porn. I believe the property stood vacant for a while and now it is occupied by the New Restoration Christian Ministries.
A movie database site with this picture can be found here http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/9489 The movie on the marquee is Four Hours to Kill (1935, A murderer eludes his guard and escapes into a theater where the lives of those in attendance are affected by the danger of his presence.)
Update, January 2017: I stopped by again today to capture the theater. It is looking pretty sad. I have hopes that it will be fixed up during the district’s revitalization this year.
St. Leo’s at 1323 Yakima Ave., Tacoma, is having their annual Fair Trade Market this weekend (Friday 4-7pm, Saturday Nov 17, 1-7pm and Sunday Nov 18, 9am-2pm). There were plenty of vendors, both Fair Trade and local folks. The building was constructed in 1912 and the architect was C. Frank Mahon. I remember when we first moved to Tacoma, I would attend Tacoma Actor’s Guild plays in the theater here. I admire the social justice program and food bank at St. Leo’s
I was in my 20s when I read Stephen King’s Pet Cemetery and it scared me to death! Though I did better then my husband who tossed it across the room and refused to pick it up for about a month. So in my head Pet Cemetery’s are creepy places, appropriate for a Halloween New Place of the Day. But all in all the Pet Cemetery in the New Tacoma Cemetery is lovely and peaceful. With umbrella in hand I walked through what I guess was the pet section, though I couldn’t find more then one grave. The photo with the graves is the traditional cemetery. The link for the cemetery is here http://www.newtacoma.com/fh/facilities/facilities.cfm?page=4&fh_id=12090
The old Acton Cemetery was founded in 1855 and has the graves of Davy Crocket’s wife, son and daughter in law. The grouping of the Crocket graves and associated statue are the smallest state park in Texas. The statue was erected in 1911 to honor all Texas pioneer mothers. The Church of the Good Shepard is located at the edge of the cemetery.
The First Congregational Church at 918 Division Avenue, Tacoma, WA 98403 is being sold to Mars Hill Church. The church will be renovated and services for the new congregation will begin in about a year. First Congregational Church was built in 1908 with George Bullard as the architect. I was pleased that the building will not be razed.
The sign outside of the church says “God’s love embraces all persons equally, no matter their gender, race, or sexual identity.” I hope that the church’s new congregation feels the same way!
Today I went with others from a photo meetup to the Vietnamese Buddhist Meditation Center at 2625 72nd Street East, Tacoma. It was way wonderful to be able to stroll around the grounds, looking at their amazing statues and we were even invited in to the meditation temple (I hope that’s the right word!) I’m finding almost nothing about the center and our kind hosts did not speak English, so I’m a bit in the dark. But still it was great. After wards most of us went to the dahlia farm and snapped some more photos.
