The Fight for Tacoma’s Autonomy
Citizens of Old Town successfully revolt against a legislative push to consolidate the region into a single city, fearing the loss of local school and post office funds.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The attempted consolidation of the two towns of Tacoma has been defeated. It is understood that the charter for the consolidation of the two cities has been withdrawn, and the amended charter for the city of New Tacoma substituted. The amended charter passed the Legislature on Friday, and will come into operation as soon as possible. Two gentlemen from Old Town, A. Walters and Job Carr, were at Olympia this week with a remonstrance against the charter to present to the Legislature, if necessary. The remonstrance was signed by about 150 citizens of Old Town, the principal points touched on in the remonstrance being the danger of losing the post office, the school district and the road fund, all of which objects had been expressly provided for in the charter. By the withdrawal of the charter the citizens of Old Town have secured their much desired autonomy.
“By the withdrawal of the charter the citizens of Old Town have secured their much desired autonomy.”
The fierce resistance to municipal consolidation in the 1880s mirrors the modern, ongoing tensions regarding civic identity and resource control in Puget Sound area annexations and regional planning. The fear of losing hyper-local services like school districts remains a potent driver of political mobilization.
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