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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1903 | 1 |
| 1904 | 54 |
| 1909 | 47 |
102 stories matching light
- City Launches Crackdown on Unpaid Utilities
Tacoma utility officials are enforcing new liens on real estate and securing legal judgments to collect delinquent light and water bills.
- Tacoma's 1909 Fight to Own Its Power
On the eve of a city election, advocates urged voters to approve a $2 million municipal light and power plant—and warned the private power trust would lie to stop them.
- The Daytime Light Mystery
Citizens flood city hall with calls wondering why electric lights are burning in broad daylight.
- The Battle for Cheaper Lights
Mayor Campbell's administration faced intense pushback from the city council while attempting to dismantle an electric lighting monopoly.
- The Torch That Saved the Train: How a Fireman’s Light Scared Off Bandits in South Tacoma
In a dark stretch of rail near Lakeview, engineer H.W. Burke faced down armed robbers until his fireman charged them with nothing but a lit torch.
- The Great Tacoma Water Grift
How a corrupt water monopoly swindled the city out of nearly $1.5 million for a tainted water supply, leaving residents with a decade of filth.
- Search Ends for Missing Teen; 'Globe Hotel' Hanger-on Arrested
The disappearance of 16-year-old Norma Hoyt is solved after she is located in a Vancouver brothel with a man known in Tacoma's red-light district.
- The Bid to Bottle Up Tacoma
A proposed electrical franchise sparked a bitter fight between City Hall and a powerful private utility corporation over the future of the city's power grid.
- The City of Destiny Lights Up for the Fair
Tacoma plans a massive electrical display of double arches across Pacific Avenue to welcome visitors for the upcoming A.-V.-P. fair.
- Savoy Stock Company Actors Sue for Unpaid Wages
Troupe members seek $656.75 in back pay as the theater management faces a separate legal battle over an unpaid lighting fixture bill.
- City Lights Up the Dark Corners of Tacoma
New electrical transformers finally arrive, powering up dozens of new arc lamps in the Indian Addition and across the city—just in time for the council elections.
- The Power Grab: Tacoma Businessmen Battle Utility Monopoly
Prominent citizens organize to fight an electric franchise they fear will cripple local industry and inflate power prices.
- The 1909 City Hall Power Grab That Tacoma Voters Were Told to Stop
A fiery Times editorial urged citizens to pack the council chamber against charter amendments it said would gut civil service, raise council pay, and hand city jobs to political loyalists.
- Public Backlash Grows Against Utility Monopoly
Tacoma residents are rallying against a proposed power franchise that would grant the Tacoma Railway & Power Company control over city resources.
- The Closure of the Sandberg District
City Attorney Stiles unilaterally forces the closure of Tacoma's red-light district, triggering a panicked exodus from the blocks between Court A and A Street.
- Burning Oil, a Shattered Shanty, and a Logger Who Threw Two Men to Safety
Chester LaChapelle rescued his cousin and a roommate after a gasoline stove exploded near Kapowsin, sacrificing his own face and hands to the flames.
- Tacoma Councilmen Move to Kill Civil Service — and Give Themselves Raises
A charter-revision package would scrap civil service, shrink the council to nine and boost pay from $300 to $1,200, prompting a public showdown at tonight's special meeting.
- Rent Pressures in the Red Light District
A street worker is arrested after struggling to meet the high rent demands of a boarding house landlord.
- Expansion of the Red Light District
A notorious district on A Street is set for expansion as a developer secures permits for a new subterranean 'house of ill-fame'.
- The Price of Challenging the Red Light District
A laboring man fights for his stolen wages only to face a brutal assault by the enforcers of a powerful downtown syndicate.
- The Barber Who Inhaled Gas and Ran Screaming Down Pacific Avenue
A faulty gas arc left a new barber violently irrational and touched off a street struggle in Tacoma.
- The Birth of a Utility Titan: The Stone & Webster Merger
A new $8,000,000 holding company, the Puget Sound Power Company, has been incorporated to consolidate regional electric and streetcar systems.
- The Fight Over Tacoma’s Public Utilities
City Controller Lister defends the administration’s plan to earmark utility profits for bond repayment rather than immediate rate cuts.
- The City Hall Tug-of-War Over Power
A legal opinion opens the door for a private utility to power a public school, sparking a heated debate over city charter boundaries.
- City Sued After Falling Light Pole Injures Resident
A victim of a city infrastructure failure seeks damages for injuries caused by poorly graded streets.