Railroad Expansion Spurs Tacoma Industrial Speculation
Milwaukee Road's infrastructure plans for Tacoma ignite local real estate hopes for a new industrial suburb.
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.
President Earling of the Milwaukee Road visited the Tacoma Eastern sawmill on the Nisqually River this morning. There has been significant speculation regarding the location of the new company shops, which many hope will be situated to utilize power from the Nisqually River. While no permanent site for the main shops has been finalized, Mr. Earling announced that immediate repair facilities will be built on company land along the Puyallup River. Additionally, the company will construct general warehouses, a ferry slip, lumber docks, and an outside yard in Tacoma. Local residents are watching the development closely, as the prospect of large railroad terminals—comparable to those of the Northern Pacific—could lead to the creation of an entirely new industrial suburb, similar to South Tacoma.
“The question of terminal shops is one in which Tacomans have taken especial interest as it means another suburb like South Tacoma to be added to the city.”
The 'Milwaukee Road' (Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific) played a massive role in Tacoma's industrial morphology. The struggle to secure permanent terminal facilities and jobs was the primary driver of 20th-century civic boosterism in the Tideflats, a legacy that continues to shape land-use conflicts in the Port of Tacoma today.
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