Tag Archives: fire

There was a famous aquarium at Salter’s Point

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Dear daughter, her dear friend and I were looking for relieve from the heat on June 5 and we decided on a beach. Dear daughter suggested that beach where one goes on a footbridge over the railroad station. So after my online community and I figured out where that was, Salter’s Point at 91 Champion St. in Steilacoom, off we went. The footbridge is now a steep metal affair with gates on both sides of the stairs. It was constructed in 2014 after the prior wooden bridge was damaged and closed. About 60 trains a day pass along the tracks.

I was expecting to find some natural beauty, relief from the heat and perhaps a couple of small crabs. And indeed I found all that, but I also found an interesting history.

The covered picnic area built in 1939 as part of the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA). Per Wikipedia the WPA “was the largest and most ambitious American New Deal agency, employing millions of unemployed people (mostly unskilled men) to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads. In a much smaller but more famous project, Federal Project Number One, the WPA employed musicians, artists, writers, actors and directors in large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects.”

The remains of a marina and store is located at the southerly end of the park. The property was destroyed by fire in 2009. The fire commanded the attention of three fireboats and more than 50 firefighters from eight fire departments. In 1987 there was a homicide at the store (Wang’s Maritime Marina); two teens killed the store’s owner. In close proximity to the marina ruins was the Soundview Inn and Boathouse, which was a boardinghouse with family style meals. They also had boat rentals.

The site of the Deep Sea Aquarium is also located at Salter’s Point. It was constructed by Ed Bair, brother of Bair (Bair Drugstore). The aquarium featured an extensive collection of sea life including a seal that lived under the porch where it could swim depending on the tide. The aquarium was promoted all over the western states, but closed in the 1930s.

Here are some interesting articles about the location.

A first person account about the aquarium 

“The evolution of Saltar’s Point,” Steilacoom Historical Museum Quarterly, XIV (Summer, 1985) p. l, 3-6.

City of Steilacoom Park Info

Fire destroys Steilacoom Marina and Store

 

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The Oyster House, Olympia

11261934805_66f37c8a11_bThe Oyster House at 320 4th Avenue West, Olympia, burned down in July 2013. The 1924 structure was originally built to cull and ship oysters, but in 1925 a small oyster bar was added. By 1949 it had evolved into a sit down restaurant. In 1957 it burned down with the exception of some structural elements. It was rebuilt, but closed in 1995. The restaurant reopened under new ownership in 1996 and has operated as a high quality, destination seafood restaurant until the most recent fire. Their website says it is the oldest seafood restaurant in Washington State. The owners plan to rebuild. The second photo is mere steps away.

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Lister Elementary School

 10485107495_29fb4d9868_bLister Elementary School at  2106 East 44th Street, Tacoma, WA  98404 is really a nice looking school that was built in 1996 (maybe 1997). The history of the school, which was gleaned from For The Record a History of Tacoma Public Schools, 1869-1984, is interesting. The school is located in the Salishan neighborhood, which had its origins as worker housing during World War II. The federal government paid for the original 1943, eight room school in the area, which was known as Salishan School. By 1948 the school had double the number of intended students and split shifts for the students were occurring. A new 24 room school was within two weeks of completion in 1950, when it burnt to the ground. The school was again built and opened in the fall of 1950. At that time, it was the largest elementary school in the Tacoma School District. In the For the Record book, the Citizen’s Committee for School Facilities Planning recommended demolition of the 1950 structure. That building was indeed demolished in the mid 1990s and the present day school pictured above was constructed. Lister’s mascot is a lion.

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Roslyn Historic Cemetary

9597328312_0b342e13ac_bI find the arrangement of the Roslyn Cemetery to be fascinating. It is actually 26 different cemeteries that reflected the town’s citizens in the late 1880s. The cemeteries include: Memorial Gardens, New City Cemetery, Lithuanian, Dr. Starcevich (Croatian), Veterans, Moose Lodge, Eagles, Selvio Pellico (Italian), Red Men Lodge, I.O.O.F. Lodge, Slovak, New Knights of Pythias, Old Knights of Pythias, Foresters, Mr. Olivet (African American) Old City Cemetery, Foresters, Druids (Italian), Cacciatori DAfrica (Italian), Serbian, Sokol Lodge (Croatian) and St. Thomas Masonic. Each of the 26 cemeteries has a slightly different look to it. Pictured above is the Veteran’s Cemetery. Some of those buried in these various cemeteries were coal miners who lost their lives through accidents in the mines. One of the photos below (with the swan) commemorates four young firefighters who lost their lives in 2001 fighting the Thirtymile Fire. More information about the cemetery and Roslyn can be found here.

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F.S. Harmon Building

To continue art month, I took advantage of Tacoma’s Art at Work Studio Tour. The F.S. Building at 2926 S. Steele St. had three open studios.

The large warehouse building was constructed in 1908 as the Willamette Casket Co. with Frederick Heath as the architect. It was then the Gregory Furniture Manufacturing Co. In 1944 there was a significant fire and in 1945 the plant sold to the F.S. Harmon Manufacturing Co. In 1953 and 1955 there were two fires.

This is my seventh building that was designed by Frederick Heath. The others are:

Hood County Courthouse

20120807-205045.jpg20120808-201141.jpgThis lovely Hood County Courthouse was built in 1890 and is the third (or 5th depending on the source) courthouse on the site with the first two being destroyed by fire. The limestone building is one of three Hood County properties on the National Registry of Historical Places. The middle picture is a mural at the Granbury Post Office that shows the courthouse and several other historic Granbury properties.

One new photo 8/8/15

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Haunted Tacoma – Children’s Industrial Home Site

I had it in my head to look for a place that is allegedly haunted for my new place. So I googled Tacoma and Haunted and found the former site of the Children’s Industrial Home (an orphanage). The orphanage which had been on the site was constructed 1904 at a cost of $7,500.  The building looked like a mansion and held up to thirty children.  It was called the “Home on the Hill”.

In September of 1944 the furnace and the boiler in the building’s basement exploded and thankfully none of the children were seriously hurt, though two of the adults were injured. A TPL photo of the damage can be found here.

And another photo of the original building and some of the darling children can be found here.

The insurance company declared the building a complete loss and it was torn down.  A new facility was constructed on the site later. The youthful occupants of the current site complain about hearing crying at one end of the “new” building and adult staff members have reported seeing ghosts of children playing around the building.

More history of the facility can be found here.

Respecting the privacy of the current facility, I snapped a photo of a lone tree towards the top of the hill away from the buildings.

 

 

Heidelberg Brewery

The Heidelberg Brewery has been at 2120 South C Street in Tacoma under various names since 1900.  There is a most excellent history of the brewery located here http://www.brewerygems.com/columbia.htm and a reader would learn much from reading it.  I was interested to learn that the brewery was actually constructed over an artesian well. Also of interest was that during prohibition, the brewery made soft drinks and a non-alcoholic near-beer called “Colo”. The brewery closed its doors in 1979 and was vacant for many years and was slated for demolition when it caught on fire on July 7, 2011.  As you can see from the photos, at least part of the site is currently being cleared.

 

 

Use to be the Hillside Grocery

Use to be the Hillside Grocery by Gexydaf

I hate when I go to find a new place of the day and the building isn’t there! I went to 1602 South G Street in Tacoma to see the vacant Hillside Grocery, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. The building that isn’t there was built in 1889 and burnt to the ground in 7/28/2009. The building began as a Estil K. Christie Grocery Store and residential rooms and over the course of its existence it has also been the Wm. Schnack Grocery Store, Nelson W. Caldwell Grocery Store, Florence Ellis Grocery Store, Thomas F. Ruckman Grocery Store, Burns Grocery Store, Orville L. Cary Grocery Store, Seizaburo Kinoshita Grocery Store, Carl Schievelbein Grocery Store, Corner Grocery Store and most recently as the Hillside Quickie Market. To see the building as it use to be look here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Building_at_1602_South_G_Street.jpg

Pagoda at Point Defiance Park

I love driving around Point Defiance Park. It soothes my soul. Today I stopped at the Pagoda at 5801 Trolley Lane and took a couple of rainy photos. It was sensibly locked, but looking through the windows worked pretty well. One window shot makes it look like Mother Nature is taking over the building!

Per the Metro Parks Tacoma website “the Pagoda was built in 1914 as a replica of a 17th century Japanese Lodge. It was originally a waiting room for streetcars. Now this magnificent structure functions as a rental facility for weddings and other private parties as well as a venue for garden shows, lectures and concerts.”

http://www.metroparkstacoma.org/page.php?id=62

   

Update 4/15/2011  the pagoda was badly damaged by a suspicious fire.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/04/15/1627154/report-tacoma-fire-responding.html

Update 12/5/12 A community grand re-opening celebration is scheduled for January 12, 2013.