A visitor to Tacoma, Washington could be easily overwhelmed by all of the history surrounding them. Luckily, the National Historic Register has officially recognized the most important historical sites. While you still might not be able to hit all of these the first time through, history buffs can use this guide as an introduction to the best of what Tacoma has to offer.

1. Engine House No. 9: Built in 1907 as the North End’s fire protection center, the Engine House was recognized as a historical site in 1975. In 1992, the site became the first non-smoking pub in Pierce County, and it now houses a microbrewery with eight local beers. (more…)

Sometimes good things come out of bad, even when it doesn’t seem that way at the time. Such was the case with the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge on November 7, 1940. While no human life was lost in the collapse (one dog did perish), the footage of the fall demonstrates how cruel nature can be to the works of man.Workers started construction on the bridge in September of 1938, quickly giving the bridge the nickname “Galloping Gertie” for the way in which the deck buckled. The designers had suggested shorter girders (8 feet as opposed to 25 feet) as a means of cheapening the cost of the bridge. While they expected this to stiffen the bridge, the result was an insufficiently secured deck where alternate halves of the bridge would rise and fall independently. (more…)

When Job Carr moved to Commencement Bay in 1864, his hope was that the site would be chosen as the terminus of the Transcontinental Railroad. However, even though he built what would become Tacoma’s first permanent residence, he soon sold his claim to developer Morton McCarver. In the end, McCarver was one of those most responsible for the site’s selection.Tacoma was the underdog competitor to Seattle and Portland for the western terminus of the Northern Pacific railroad. When the line was first being constructed in Duluth, Minnesota in 1870, the only requirement for the line’s end was that it should be north of the 45^th degree of latitude, and near Portland. Tacoma’s eventual selection greatly angered Seattle, but it was just what the city needed to spur on its growth. New jobs brought new settlers, who bridged the two mile gap between Carr’s original site and the “New Tacoma” depot. (more…)

While Nicholas Delin was instrumental in attracting settlers to Commencement Bay, a European settlement existed at the Puget Sound as early as 1833. Fort Nisqually was built as an outpost for the Hudson’s Bay Company, the oldest commercial company in North America. Settlers travelled from sites as distant and diverse as Scotland, Hawaii, Canada, and the West Indies to trade for beaver pelts, livestock, and crops. The fort was originally closed in 1869, when the United States government bought the land from HBC for 460,000.In 1930, the fort was rebuilt at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma, primarily to provide new jobs during the Depression. While the only original buildings capable of being moved were the granary and the factor’s house, the Fort Nisqually Granary was named a National Historic Landmark in 1970. (more…)

Nicholas Delin first arrived at the Puget Sound in 1851, after spending the previous year in Portland, and the year before that in Massachusetts. Whatever he was searching for, he seemed to find in Olympia, because it was there that he began to gain recognition for his lumber work. However, Delin was not content to work someone else’s mill for long, and quickly found backers for the construction of a mill at Commencement Bay. The site of that mill is now Tacoma’s Twenty-Fifth and Dock streets. Delin did all of the work himself except for the three days he had the assistance of Sam McCaw, a nearby Irishman who owned a team of oxen. Mr. Delin also built his own house to the south of the mill.Delin’s Mill turned Commencement Bay into a port of call for ships moving down the west coast, even though he only employed a few other helpers, and took six months to make a full shipload. The mill also attracted new settlers who brought him logs in exchange for lumber. In 1853, the first party to make it over the Cascades arrived, with thirty-four wagons and 171 people. Only two wagons had been lost during the passage, when oxen were slaughtered for ropes to lower the other wagons down a cliff. (more…)