This week: Wapato Lake

In this 1931 photo we see a fair amount of development to the east of the lake. Meanwhile, the western side still looks to be mostly rural.

In this 1950 photo, a main entrance to the park has been added on the eastern side (notice the roundabout). A couple of bridges have been placed across the lake by this time. Also note the extension of major arterials to the area replacing dirt roads and paths.

The difference seen in this 1973 photo is striking compared with just 23 years prior. The eastern grid is nearly fully built out and the western side has become more developed as well. Post WWII suburban developments are crowding the north end of the lake while I-5 has chopped its way through connecting with a widened 72nd Street.

This 1990 shot shows a continued filling in of the grid, but also a commercial strip development has sprung up adjacent to the lake on the western side.

And finally a color photo taken in 2006. Note how the size of the lake appears to be shrinking compared with earlier photos.

This week: The Tacoma Mall

It’s hard to imagine this section of town as wide open scrub land. But that’s what it appears to be in 1931. Just a few well-worn paths bisect the area now consumed with surface parking lots and 20% off sales. To help orientate the reader, an overlay featuring today’s roads and highways is turned on. Not even South 38th Street existed here at this point in time. The dirt road running right to left with a jag in the middle to traverse a steep hillside still exists today.

By 1950, the city’s grid has become more pronounced to the right and left of what will become the mall. South 38th Street has been graded and extended from the Lincoln District to Highway 99 (South Tacoma Way).

By the time this photo was taken in 1973, the Tacoma Mall had been open for almost 10 years. The Mall’s opening coincided with the opening of another suburban phenonemon: the super highway, in our case I-5. With a single slash, I-5 severed the local street grid pattern, removed housing, divided neighborhoods, and effectively cut the city in half. Fifty years later, the city still has not recovered.

By 1990, almost every parcel has been developed. The challenge of building on the steep hillside as seen in the center of the photo – the original “center” of the mall area that had the bisecting road in the 1930 photo above – most likely has prevented new development from occurring there.

By 1998, strip malls and surface parking had eaten up every square inch of the former scrub lands. Only the Tacoma Mall hill was left to develop. But not for long.

In this 2006 photo, we see a top section of the hill has been scraped and is awaiting development of the Apex Condo/Apartments. Since completing the first phase, a second “Apex” has since been constructed. It’s only a matter of time before the remaining single family residences – and a Quaker friends center – is replaced by large multi-family projects.

This week: Old Town Dock
A familiar landmark to generations of Tacoman’s, the Johnny’s Ocean Fish Co. at the Old Town Dock closed earlier this year after Johnny’s was purchased by the nations’ largest seafood company, Pacific Seafood. The retail store is set to re-open this week and will be operated by Tacoma-based Northern Fish Company. New refrigerated display cases will feature fresh caught seafood and prepared food.

In this 1931 photograph, we see Tacoma during its heyday of being a significant lumber town. The waterfront is dominated by lumber mills with the only automobile access via McCarver Street – Schuster Parkway would not be built for another 40 years.

By 1950, the shift from lumber mills to retail starts to becomes visible. Gone are the log booms from the previous 70 years. The Ocean Dock seafood shop immediately next to the Old Town Dock and Top of the Ocean restaurant are operating. “The Top,” as it was affectionately called by Tacoman’s, was built by boat builders using traditional boat building techniques, but was never designed to actually float. The Top became the victim of an arsonists’ match in 1977.

By the time this photo was created 1973, Tacoma’s lumber past was on its last legs. Decades of consolidations and buy-outs by have taken their toll. But as one door closes, another one opens. The conversion of an industrial waterfront to a retail one continues as we see the construction of a parking lot and restaurant constructed to the west (left) of the Top of the Ocean building.

In the most recent aerial photo, The Top is gone, being replaced by a walking path and just recently a sculpture in memory of the old Top restaurant – complete with a miniaturized burned out fuel container as was found at the arson scene. Other changes: a floating dock has been added to the Old Town Dock; the restaurant to the west of the Top of the Ocean site has been replaced with a hotel (most likely, one of the few in the country where visitors will find a pair of ear-plugs next to the Gideon’s bible); and Schuster Parkway now connects Ruston Way and Old Town with a fast way to escape the city.

This week: The South Tacoma Railyards

This 1950 photo must have been taken during a rain spell as the pond has grown in size. The land to the right of the pond has been cleared to make way for the South Tacoma Airport which operated from 1936 to 1973. The city grid to the right above the cemetery continues to shape up as residential and commercial properties get developed.

By the time this 1973 photo was, the airport was closing. The following year found Burlington Northern Railroad closing operations. Most of the original structures, some dating to the 1890s, were demolished by 1976. Then, in the early 80s, the railyards were added to the national list of Superfund sites.

The EPA reported, “During the past 100 years, the site has been used for a variety of industrial and disposal activities. Historical industrial activities involved the manufacture and repair of railroad cars and equipment, the operation of a brass and iron wheel foundry, the maintenance of an airport runway, refueling depot and repair facility, and the construction and operation of an electric and water utility company. Large parts of the airport were used as dump sites for industrial and construction materials. Swamp and lakebed areas of the site were filled with refuse and dirt, including slag and sand from the foundry operations and dirt from the utility building foundation. Early investigations of the site suggested that past industrial and disposal activities have contributed to the contamination of soil, groundwater, surface water, and sediments at the site.”

In 1986, Burlington Northern Railroad was required to conduct an initial remedial investigation of the site. A more intensive investigation of the site was conducted by State and Federal experts from February 1991 through August 1992. In November of 1992, the EPA notified the community to avoid recreational use of the site.

Today, with the site all cleaned up and ready to go, Burlington Northern Railroad wants to put the land back in use by developing five warehouse buildings totaling approximately 1,900,000 square feet. This time though, it looks like it will be diesel semi-trucks and not trains providing the transportation.

More background:
The natural resource use associated with the South Tacoma Field site is groundwater production primarily for the city of Tacoma. Some of the wells in this field are high capacity with the potential of producing flows in excess of 3,000 gallons per minute. To the northwest, the towns of Fircrest and University Place have six production wells within 8,000 to 10,000 feet of the site. These production wells are considered upgradient of the site. Within one mile of the South Tacoma Field site, 41 residential wells also access local groundwater for domestic purposes. The nearest residential well is about 2,500 feet west of the site on South Mullen Street.

Potentially, the site can pose a public health hazard through exposure to groundwater and subsurface soil contaminants that could cause adverse health effects. Industrial development of the site may result in future exposure by workers to groundwater contaminants, should private supply wells access the shallow aquifer in areas of contamination. Additionally, should construction/excavation activities uncover contaminated subsurface soils, workers as well as recreationalists/trespassers may be exposed.

During the remedial investigation, groundwater contamination was detected in
off-site background and upgradient wells; however, the actual extent of contamination is not known. Should new public and private (residential and industrial) supply wells be installed accessing the contaminated aquifer, workers and residents could be exposed to groundwater contaminants. Exposure of workers and residents could also occur should migration of groundwater contamination impact existing public and private supply wells. Elevated concentrations of inorganic chemicals were detected in background and upgradient wells. Aluminum, chromium, cobalt, cooper, iron, lead, sodium, and vanadium detected in background wells at concentrations exceeding the range of inorganic concentrations naturally occurring in groundwater.

The initial comparison of lung cancer incidence rates between the two populations showed a higher than expected rate in residents living near the site. To determine if this higher rate was unique for the three census tracts, or caused by some other factor, it was compared to the rate for the entire Pierce County population for 1980 through 1990. This comparison revealed that the lung cancer incidence rates for residents of the three census tracts and residents of the entire county were similar. The incidence rate of lung cancer in Pierce County ranks fourth highest of 17 regions for which data are available in Washington State. The higher rate of lung cancer in the resident population when compared to the 13 northwest Washington counties population is most likely the result of the higher overall rate seen in Pierce County.

source: Department of Health and Human Services, PUBLIC HEALTH ASSESSMENT

Also, catch the related post at exit133.com

This week: Trolley Court

By 1950, several more homes have been built and the former streetcar rail bed has grown over and is starting to disappear into the surrounding land.

By 1973, housing and a new church now occupy the north-eastern portion of the old streetcar line while the south-western portion is gradually being taken over by new development.

By 1998, it is nearly impossible to tell that a streetcar line had once bisected these two blocks. We also see single family homes along South 19th being replaced by larger commercial buildings.

Finally, in this 2006 image we see a temporary reappearance of the streetcar path. The path is a result of the land being cleared to make way for a new housing development. Today, with construction wrapped up, the development is being marketed as an “11 home community” called “Trolley Court.”

Previous Over Tacoma Then & Now: ASARCO/Point Ruston

This week:
ASARCO/Point Ruston

Rust ended up selling the business to ASARCO for $5.5 million, a tidy sum even now. As a bonus in the sale, Rust received a payment which he used to build his “I” Street mansion for his wife. His wife thought the house was too large so he built a more “modest” house on Yakima Avenue. But that’s a another story. 

As seen in this 1931 photograph, the entire “campus” has been built out and a thriving industry is in full swing. The 571 foot smokestack is near the center of the photo. At the time of its construction in 1917, the smokestack was the tallest in the world.

By 1950, the shoreline had been filled in and extended out into the bay to provide additional warehouse and work yard space. Originally built to produce lead, the smelter eventually dropped lead production to become a major supplier of copper. Sulfuric acid was also produced in high quantity.

This 1973 photo shows very little change over the previous 23 year period, save for the addition of a few more shoreline facilities.

This 2006 aerial reveals a greatly altered landscape. By 1983, it had become an EPA designated Superfund site and in 1985 the plant was permanently closed. The smelter was imploded in 1993 and remediation work followed. Today, it is the site for a planned community called Point Ruston.