South Tacoma
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About this ebook
Darlyne Reiter
Author Darlyne A. Reiter is a Tacoma resident and a Tacoma Historical Society member who is passionate about local history. The exceptional collection of images she has showcased here belongs to the people of South Tacoma. Families, businesses, churches, schools, clubs, and more eagerly shared their photographs and the stories behind them to help tell the history of this beloved community.
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South Tacoma - Darlyne Reiter
neighborhood.
INTRODUCTION
In 1870, Mount Rainier peered majestically down at Hunt’s Prairie as Irish immigrant John Rigney built one of Pierce County’s first homes. In 1890, George W. Traver and the Excelsior Park Land Company purchased large parcels of land in the prairie south of Tacoma and divided them into lots to sell for profit when the Northern Pacific Railway relocated its shops there,
according to Herbert Hunt in his book Tacoma: Its History and Its Builders, Volume II. Thus the development of South Tacoma began.
On April 17, 1891, Ordinance No. 398 was approved to annex the South Tacoma area to the City of Tacoma. The special election was held in the City of Tacoma, Pierce County, State of Washington, and the territory was described in detail in the beginning of the ordinance. Each voter was asked to vote by placing either For Annexation
or Against Annexation
on his ballot. A notice was published in the Tacoma Daily Ledger for four weeks prior to the election. Inspectors, judges, and clerks were appointed for each precinct within the First Ward and the Second Ward. The approved annexation was inclusive to South Sixty-fourth Street. Additional ordinances passed in 1908 and 1909 extended the South Tacoma perimeter south to Eightieth Street to mark the southern boundary that remains today.
One hundred years later, the City of Tacoma Neighborhood Council Office established boundaries for the South Tacoma neighborhood as Center Street, Interstate 5, Eightieth Street, and Orchard Street, with multiple residential neighborhoods. In the early 1960s, Interstate 5 divided the community. Many homes were moved to construct the freeway, and many neighbors were no longer within yelling distance.
Although there are no people alive today who originally helped establish South Tacoma as a community, their descendants are here. Memories, images, family lore, and stories survive—albeit in somewhat varying narrations. This book voices their stories via their images.
The story begins with the establishment of the cemeteries in chapter one and continues with the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway Shops in chapter two. Chapter three shows the need for an infrastructure in a fast-growing community. Chapter four embraces the importance of education. Chapter five demonstrates how a diverse population created a community and reveals how South Tacoma sustains their status as a respected neighborhood.
South Tacoma has thrived, survived, and arrived. From telegraph to the Internet, the community perseveres owing to a proud group of citizens committed to the South Tacoma way of life.
The town of Edison, as it was known at the time, was annexed to Tacoma April 17, 1891. By ordinance and a special election, the city limits was established at Sixty-fourth Street and, 18 years later, extended farther south to the present Eightieth Street. The area was officially named South Tacoma in 1895. (City of Tacoma Ordinance 398, TPL.)
One
A GRAVE BEGINNING
Stories gleaned in cemeteries contradict the belief that death concludes storytelling.
In 1873, pioneers John and Eliza Rigney sold four acres of family land for $1 to A. M. A. Blanchet, bishop of Nisqually, for a place to bury Tacoma’s Catholics. By 1905, the old cemetery, Pioneer Catholic Cemetery, was full. An adjacent 35 acres were purchased, and Calvary Cemetery Association was incorporated.
In 1874, Tacoma Land Company deeded 60 acres of prairie land south of Tacoma to establish a cemetery for all Tacomans. Reminiscent of the land it occupied, the 60-acre parcel was named Prairie Cemetery, now known as Oakwood Hill Cemetery. The main entrance was on Edison Avenue, where today South Park Community Center on South Tacoma Way is located. The land remained in the hands of the city for nine years, when it was turned over to the families who owned cemetery property or had a loved one buried there.
When ownership transferred, the acreage was amicably divided into three sections: Oakwood Hill Cemetery’s entrance moved to the south side of the property; Tacoma Cemetery’s entrance was a short distance north and up the hill from the original entrance; and the Pauper Cemetery was tucked behind the two without its own entrance.
In 1910, Tacoma Mausoleum Association opened its first building next to Oakwood Hill Cemetery to offer an alternative means for burials.
By then, trolley cars were being used to carry funeral groups from the mortuary in the city to the cemeteries to the south. According to South Tacoma History, compiled for the City of Tacoma in 1985, Often a casket would ride in the vestibule of the trolley car.
With the Northern Pacific Railway Shops soon to be built, coupled with water and electricity lines extending south, South Tacoma was shaping up to be a lively community as the new century peeked around the corner.
Tales are shouted from the famous, the infamous, and the families of Tacoma who rest with the flowering tulips planted beside their graves to those who stroll under the huge trees and past the markers.
The entrance to Old Tacoma Cemetery was moved to this spot c. 1885. The caretaker’s house on the left was moved across the street and later demolished. The two inside gate pillars were eliminated to make a wider entrance to allow two-way traffic in and out of the cemetery. (Thomas R. Stenger collection.)
Those buried in the South Tacoma cemeteries read like a who’s who from Tacoma’s founders and families. The oldest recorded burial is 1870 in Calvary Cemetery. Many were buried before and after 1900 at Oakwood Hill and Old Tacoma Cemeteries as well. The beautiful park-like settings are peaceful burial places for all Tacoma families. (Author’s collection.)
In 1873, John and Eliza Rigney sold four acres of dairy land to form the beginning of Calvary Cemetery. This 1914–1915 image shows what Calvary Cemetery looked like in its infancy as a final resting place for Tacoma’s Catholics, which included Rigney family burials,