Tacoma History

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Think Your Potholes are Bad? Check These Out

Here’s the backstory: People talk a lot about busted roads in Tacoma but this 500 foot strip of awful is literally more patch than road at this point. The potholes are so deep you can actually damage your chassis if you don’t navigate them properly. Its infamy is so widespread that, in years past, whenever there was a paving project elsewhere in the city that ended up with surplus asphalt, the crews would bring the extras here to dump into the potholes. Read More

Lesser-Known Tales of Galloping Gertie’s Collapse

For a brief period of time many Tacoma residents experienced the bit of bounce that earned the original Tacoma Narrows... Read More

Tall Cool Ones: Five Highlights of Tacoma Music History

Tacoma may not be Nashville or Detroit, but it's got its fair share of music history. The argument could be made, in fact, that the Grit City is the figurative birthplace of garage rock, and it's inarguably the literal birthplace of one of America's most beloved music celebrities Read More

A Look at Easter Sunday in Tacoma History

The way Easter is celebrated changes a little from place to place and from year to year. We took a look at the image archives at the Tacoma Public Library to see how things have changed through the years here in Tacoma. Read More

A Cabin, a Beard, and a Pioneering Spirit: The Story of Tacoma’s Founding Father

What’s the best Christmas present you ever received? For Job Carr, it was probably finding the 138 acres that would become the city of Tacoma, which he claimed on Christmas Day of 1864. Read More

Long Time Tacoman, Bob Piatt, Remembers Tacoma of the 1940s

Tacoma has museums, photo archives at the library, and many websites dedicated to preserving its history. However, a truly invaluable way of learning about the history of a city you love is talking to someone who actually lived it. Read More

A Rare Look at the Remnants of Tacoma’s Realart Theater

Just inside 5415 So. Tacoma Way you'll find wall art from a Chinese restaurant, graffiti from the building's medicinal marijuana growing days, a modern apartment, and a small glimpse of what was once the Realart Theater. Read More

1955 Tacoma: Safety via Bikinis at Kaiser Aluminum

In 1955 Kaiser Aluminum decided there was no better way to promote safety on the job than to have models—in bikinis—demonstrate proper equipment handling. Read More

Please Pause & Admire W. W. Pickerill’s Mighty Fine Automobile

In 1899, W.W. Pickerill became the very proud owner of the first automobile in Tacoma. It was summer when the... Read More

Tacoma’s Loch Ness is an Electrified Sea Monster

Every 60 years or so the tale of Tacoma's electrified version of the Loch Ness Monster manages to find a way to be told once more. Read More

89 Years Ago Tacomans Were Obsessed With Flying to Tokyo

Look up Harold Bromley in the history books and you'll find photos of a man ready to take off for Tokyo from Tacoma Field. Read More

There’s a “DomaTacoma” Song From 1983 You’ve Got to Hear

"Driving down I-5, feeling kinda witty/Takin' in the sunshine, lookin' at the city" begin the lyrics of a Tacoma Dome song not nearly enough people are aware even exists. Read More

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