Harriett Kennedy holds up her pet worm Herman - or is it Frenchy? In 1947, Harriett and her partner Lee Mason owned and operated Western Worms, the only large scale scientific worm farm west of the Mississippi. They were also the only known women worm farmers. Their high quality worms were sold to gardeners, fishermen…
WPA at the Ready!
110 WPA (Works Progress Administration) workers were used to build, mostly by hand, the section of South Tyler Street that stretched from Snake Lake to South 66th Street. The WPA, created by order of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was a relief measure designed to put the millions unemployed during the Depression to work in a…
The Hiawatha
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad had a new diesel streamliner, "Hiawatha". The streamliner had a 6000 horse-power motor, built by Fairbanks-Morse and General Electric. The engine had a 3000 gallon capacity for fuel oil, and used four and a half gallons per mile. The Hiawatha could travel 105 miles per hour. See more…
A Cake You Can Have And Eat, Too!
Cutting a 1,000 pound cake at Big Bear Store, Big Bear Store, Don Taylor. Two young men stand with the enormous cake made with Swans Down Instant cake mix and Medosweet milk created especially for the first anniversary of the Big Bear grocery store on February 17, 1949. The cake was 5' x 8' at…
Valentine at Salishan
Tacoma Housing Authority Valentine Party at Salishan. Salishan began as a community for military, war workers and their families. The first families moved in, in 1943. The community center offered many activities for youth to take part in. The Valentine's Day dance was sponsored by the Tacoma Housing Authority. View of fourteen unidentified youth who…
Hold the Line!
Her hair in disarray, a harried phone operator at Permanente Metals listens to one of many calls to the big plant at 3400 Taylor Way on February 9, 1949. Permanente, producers of Kaiser Aluminum, ran round-the-clock operations to keep up with the heavy demand by industry and the military for aluminum. Opened in Tacoma in…
What a Hoot!
Handsome great horned owl, named "Hoot", was given to Art Langendorder by the State Game Department in 1947. Mr. Langendorfer took Hoot with him when he drove to Skagit Valley, Washington, each weekend to shoot crows on his ranch there. Hoot would perch on the back of the front seat of the car. Crow was…
Dummy Doe
Two unidentified Tacoma police officers, including one who appears to be a motorcycle officer in leather jacket and boots, examine the dummy that was thrown off the 11th Street bridge on February 7, 1940. The "suicide" attempt by "Dummy Doe", the name given to the dummy, was apparently a well-planned prank by several high school…
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