On November 2, 1880, Pierce County residents vote to move their county's seat from Steilacoom to New Tacoma on Commencement Bay. New Tacoma, controlled by the Northern Pacific Railroad, has experienced rapid growth due to the selection of Commencement Bay as the Northern Pacific's terminus in the Pacific Northwest.
Steilacoom had served as Pierce County's seat of government since the Oregon Territorial legislature established the county in 1852. At that time Steilacoom was by far the largest settlement in the new county and was the natural choice for county seat. The site was the traditional home of the Steilacoom Tribe. Nearby, at Nisqually, the Hudson's Bay Company had operated a trading post since 1833. The U.S. Army established Fort Steilacoom in 1849 and in 1850, Captain Lafayette Balch sited his land claim next to the fort and founded Port Steilacoom.
Tacoma City was platted on Commencement Bay in 1868. In 1873 the Northern Pacific Railroad chose Commencement Bay as the rail line's western terminus. The Northern Pacific-controlled Tacoma Land Company established New Tacoma south of Tacoma City in 1874. The promise of the railroad fostered steady growth and by 1880 the two Tacomas boasted nearly 1, 100 residents to Steilacoom's 574. Prominent Tacomans began agitating for the removal of the county seat.
A Quick Tour Of The Impressive Pierce County, Wisconsin, Courthouse
Theodore Hosmer, at the time serving as manager of the Tacoma Land Company, pledged that the company would donate four lots on which a courthouse could be built in the event that Tacoma secured the county seat. The lots were valued at about $2, 000 at the time. Hosmer also promised that county offices could occupy the Tacoma Land Company premises without paying rent for one year while the courthouse was being built.
Although it was clearly eclipsing Steilacoom as Pierce County's preeminent town, New Tacoma was by no means yet metropolitan. Even as substantial buildings rose and warehouses and docks beckoned maritime traffic, the streets were as yet unpaved and were dotted with stumps. Bears and wolves roamed the outskirts of the settlement, devouring fawns and lambs with little to hinder them.
The new county commissioners elected on November 2, 1880, were William B. Blackwell, W. C. Gibbs, and George Byrd. They met in New Tacoma for the first time on November 15, 1880, and set about arranging for their rent-free offices, temporary courthouse, and jury room.
Pierce County Wisconsin
Not until June 8, 1882, did the Pierce County commissioners call for bids for construction of the new county courthouse. On June 29, 1882, W. H. Merrill was awarded the construction contract with a bid of $6, 850. Joseph Sherwin drew the courthouse plans. The building was constructed at 920 Broadway in Tacoma and served Pierce County until the construction of a new courthouse at 1012 S. G Street in 1892. This courthouse was in turn replaced in 1959.
Sources: W. P. Bonney, History of Pierce County, Washington, Vol. 1 (Chicago: Pioneer Historical Publishing Company, 1927); Murray Morgan, Puget's Sound: A Narrative of Early Tacoma and the Southern Sound (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1979), 219; Murray and Rosa Morgan, South on the Sound (Woodland Hills, CA: Windsor Publications, Inc, 1984) p. 56; Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History, Clara McCarty is elected superintendent of Pierce County schools on November 2, 1880 (by Priscilla Long), http://www./ (accessed October 17, 2006); Pierce County Buildings Index, Tacoma Public Library Northwest Room website accessed October 17, 2006 (http://search.tacomapubliclibrary.org/); Caroline Denyer Gallacci, The City of Destiny and the South Sound: An Illustrated History of Tacoma and Pierce County (Carlsbad, California: Heritage Media Corp., 2001); A Short History of Fort Steilacoom, Fort Steilacoom website accessed on October 21, 2006 (http://fortsteilacoom.com/).
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Pierce County, Washington
Major Support for Provided By: The State of Washington | Patsy Bullitt Collins | Paul G. Allen Family Foundation | Museum Of History & Industry | 4Culture (King County Lodging Tax Revenue) | City of Seattle | City of Bellevue | City of Tacoma | King County | The Peach Foundation | Microsoft Corporation, Other Public and Private Sponsors and Visitors Like YouThe Pierce County Courthouse designed by Proctor & Dennis and built in 1893 stood as a landmark in Tacoma until its demolition in 1959. After the county seat was moved to Tacoma in 1880, Pierce County saw huge population growth. County commissioners responded by ordering a grand new county courthouse to be built. The structure contained all county offices, courtrooms, and a large county jail. It was the scene of official county business including two legal executions that took place in the attic. The construction process was contentious, and the completed building experienced many problems including dry-rot, sagging floors, leaking windows and roof, and dangerous electric wiring. An earthquake in 1949 further damaged the building and engineers deemed it dangerous. In the 1950s, county and city officials agreed to build a new $6 million county-city building. When it was completed in 1959, the Pierce County Courthouse was demolished.
Tacoma's first courthouse was built at 9th and C streets in 1883, following the removal of the county seat from Steilacoom to Tacoma in November 1880. By 1889, the courthouse could not keep up with the growing population of Pierce County. A November 14, 1889,
The rooms are much too small for the people who want to crowd into them and there are not sufficient rooms to accommodate the officials and clerks connected with the different branches of the county government. New wings and additions have been added from time to time until one is puzzled to determine what style of architecture the original building was intended to represent. The 'improvements' are at best but temporary makeshift, and as fast as made are found to be entirely insufficient to accommodate the constantly increasing business that demands larger space and better arranged rooms (New Court House Needed).
Miller Hull — Pierce County Environmental Services Building
Citizens urged the Pierce County Commissioners to build a new, larger courthouse. On April 6, 1890, commissioners Charles T. Fay (1829-1893), Joseph Johns (1847-1923), and Amos F. Tullis (1830-1900) published an ad calling for competitive plans for a new county courthouse to be built on a downtown lot on South 11th Street, between South G Street and Yakima Avenue, which was purchased by the county in 1888. The request, which was limited to architects from Pierce County, called for a three-story building with brick and stone facings and terra-cotta trimmings. It needed to accommodate four courtrooms, four judge's rooms, two offices for the county sheriff, two offices for the county commissioners, three offices for the auditor, and at least three other offices for county use. The basement was to include plans for a new county jail to accommodate at least 100 prisoners.
Architectural firms Preston & Heid, Bullard & Bullard, Proctor & Dennis, Reynold & Ripley, Hatherton & McIntosh, and Haywood & Green submitted proposals. The county commissioners partnered with Judge Frank Allyn (1848-1909), Sheriff James Price (1847-1919), and Portland, Oregon, architect David L. Williams (1867-1937), to review the proposals. On June 18, the commissioners announced that Proctor & Dennis had been awarded the contract.
The firm Proctor & Dennis was composed of John G. Proctor (1853-1925) and Oliver P. Dennis (1858-1927). Proctor was born in Ontario, Canada, and had arrived in Tacoma around 1885 with his business partner Charles Daniel. Their firm designed several private residences in Tacoma before the partnership dissolved around 1890. Proctor and Dennis joined forces shortly before the call for courthouse proposals. Dennis was born in New York and had spent time working as an architect in Minneapolis before arriving in Tacoma around 1888. In addition to the courthouse, the firm of Proctor & Dennis would be responsible for the design of many downtown Tacoma buildings, including the original Puget Sound University (now University of Puget Sound), the Bostwick Block, the West Coast Grocery building, and several private residences.
Pierce And Thurston County Residents Organizing To Protest Potential New Airport
Proctor & Dennis modeled the Pierce County Courthouse on the style of the famous Allegheny County Courthouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, designed in 1883 by Boston architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1886). Richardson was credited with creating a new style of architecture known as Richardson Romanesque. Its characteristics included massive stone walls with a rugged texture, dramatic semicircular arches for entryways, deep windows, short robust columns, and often a prominent tower.
The firm's winning proposal envisioned a four-story building with a 200-foot central clock tower. The exterior comprised three layers of building material. A wooden frame was covered by brick. On top of the brick was a stone façade that featured light grey Wilkeson stone with blue Tenino stone on the tower and building trimmings. The roof had metallic shingles and a copper ridge. The interior featured nearly 144, 000 square feet of floor space. The
Major Support for Provided By: The State of Washington | Patsy Bullitt Collins | Paul G. Allen Family Foundation | Museum Of History & Industry | 4Culture (King County Lodging Tax Revenue) | City of Seattle | City of Bellevue | City of Tacoma | King County | The Peach Foundation | Microsoft Corporation, Other Public and Private Sponsors and Visitors Like YouThe Pierce County Courthouse designed by Proctor & Dennis and built in 1893 stood as a landmark in Tacoma until its demolition in 1959. After the county seat was moved to Tacoma in 1880, Pierce County saw huge population growth. County commissioners responded by ordering a grand new county courthouse to be built. The structure contained all county offices, courtrooms, and a large county jail. It was the scene of official county business including two legal executions that took place in the attic. The construction process was contentious, and the completed building experienced many problems including dry-rot, sagging floors, leaking windows and roof, and dangerous electric wiring. An earthquake in 1949 further damaged the building and engineers deemed it dangerous. In the 1950s, county and city officials agreed to build a new $6 million county-city building. When it was completed in 1959, the Pierce County Courthouse was demolished.
Tacoma's first courthouse was built at 9th and C streets in 1883, following the removal of the county seat from Steilacoom to Tacoma in November 1880. By 1889, the courthouse could not keep up with the growing population of Pierce County. A November 14, 1889,
The rooms are much too small for the people who want to crowd into them and there are not sufficient rooms to accommodate the officials and clerks connected with the different branches of the county government. New wings and additions have been added from time to time until one is puzzled to determine what style of architecture the original building was intended to represent. The 'improvements' are at best but temporary makeshift, and as fast as made are found to be entirely insufficient to accommodate the constantly increasing business that demands larger space and better arranged rooms (New Court House Needed).
Miller Hull — Pierce County Environmental Services Building
Citizens urged the Pierce County Commissioners to build a new, larger courthouse. On April 6, 1890, commissioners Charles T. Fay (1829-1893), Joseph Johns (1847-1923), and Amos F. Tullis (1830-1900) published an ad calling for competitive plans for a new county courthouse to be built on a downtown lot on South 11th Street, between South G Street and Yakima Avenue, which was purchased by the county in 1888. The request, which was limited to architects from Pierce County, called for a three-story building with brick and stone facings and terra-cotta trimmings. It needed to accommodate four courtrooms, four judge's rooms, two offices for the county sheriff, two offices for the county commissioners, three offices for the auditor, and at least three other offices for county use. The basement was to include plans for a new county jail to accommodate at least 100 prisoners.
Architectural firms Preston & Heid, Bullard & Bullard, Proctor & Dennis, Reynold & Ripley, Hatherton & McIntosh, and Haywood & Green submitted proposals. The county commissioners partnered with Judge Frank Allyn (1848-1909), Sheriff James Price (1847-1919), and Portland, Oregon, architect David L. Williams (1867-1937), to review the proposals. On June 18, the commissioners announced that Proctor & Dennis had been awarded the contract.
The firm Proctor & Dennis was composed of John G. Proctor (1853-1925) and Oliver P. Dennis (1858-1927). Proctor was born in Ontario, Canada, and had arrived in Tacoma around 1885 with his business partner Charles Daniel. Their firm designed several private residences in Tacoma before the partnership dissolved around 1890. Proctor and Dennis joined forces shortly before the call for courthouse proposals. Dennis was born in New York and had spent time working as an architect in Minneapolis before arriving in Tacoma around 1888. In addition to the courthouse, the firm of Proctor & Dennis would be responsible for the design of many downtown Tacoma buildings, including the original Puget Sound University (now University of Puget Sound), the Bostwick Block, the West Coast Grocery building, and several private residences.
Pierce And Thurston County Residents Organizing To Protest Potential New Airport
Proctor & Dennis modeled the Pierce County Courthouse on the style of the famous Allegheny County Courthouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, designed in 1883 by Boston architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1886). Richardson was credited with creating a new style of architecture known as Richardson Romanesque. Its characteristics included massive stone walls with a rugged texture, dramatic semicircular arches for entryways, deep windows, short robust columns, and often a prominent tower.
The firm's winning proposal envisioned a four-story building with a 200-foot central clock tower. The exterior comprised three layers of building material. A wooden frame was covered by brick. On top of the brick was a stone façade that featured light grey Wilkeson stone with blue Tenino stone on the tower and building trimmings. The roof had metallic shingles and a copper ridge. The interior featured nearly 144, 000 square feet of floor space. The
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