Year One

While it’s not the 150th anniversary of American Independence captured in this photo of 40,000 people at Stadium Bowl on July 5, 1926, today is the first anniversary of this TacomaHistory.wordpress blog. In the last year, 210 stories have been posted exploring the city’s adventures, tragedies, triumphs and follies. We have profiled good people and bad and followed the events and misadventures of characters that both praise and dis this place we call home. 60,879 views have been recorded and there have been hundreds of comments, corrections and scolds sent our way via the blog, Facebook and Twitter.

Just want to take a moment and recognize the vital role the Tacoma Public Library, Washington State Historical Society, University of Washington Digital Collections, HistoryLink and many other public archives play in telling our shared stories and understanding our collective past. I’m not sure wisdom or the better aspects of human nature are ever easy to recognize or find but if we want to go searching I think the past is a good place to start. Its why we have memories and libraries and the stories we tell each other.

Here are the most popular stories we have posted so far:

Way Back-History as Hidden Code

Tacoma’s Grandest Secret Space

Gone to Market

31 Flavors

Olmsted’s Phantom City

Brown Spots

Nihonmachi, ca. 1920

The Ancient

The Remarkable Mr. Stanup

Market Street Ghost

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