Name: Tacoma Narrows Bridge
Brand: Donald R. Tjossem
SKU: 9781467106276
Price: 24.99 USD
Availability: InStock

Tacoma Narrows Bridge

9781467106276

$24.99

When the first Tacoma Narrows Bridge opened on July 1, 1940, the bridge was in use for 130 days before it collapsed due to faulty engineering and high winds. A decade later, following World War II, the second Tacoma Narrows Bridge opened, and it is still in use today. However, due to a population increase over the bridge's 57 years of use, an additional bridge was opened in 2007 to alleviate increasingly high traffic. The completion of the third bridge allowed vehicle speed to increase from less than 25 miles per hour to the present speed of 60 miles per hour during commuting times. Today, sections of the original bridge that was opened in 1940 and is pictured on the cover are still submerged in Puget Sound and were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

Preserving Ballard

9781467107938

$23.99 $12.00 Save 50%

As the first community to incorporate after Washington achieved statehood in 1890, the original city of Ballard has one of most storied histories in the state.

Bordered by Salmon Bay, the famous Ballard Locks, a bascule bridge, and the Salish Sea, the longtime joke was that one needed a passport to enter. The convergence of protected water and rich forests made Ballard's resources a seasonal draw for the Shilshole branch of the Duwamish tribe and then homesteaders. Dating back to the first claim of 820 acres in 1852, Ballard has weathered waves of development and rare times of bust. Once known as the Shingle Capital of the United States, Ballard saw many of its mills burn, its fishing fleet endure, and its local museum become a national treasure. Ballard always rises again, as did the iconic bell, which graced its city hall before annexation and now anchors the Ballard Avenue Landmark District, from its wildly popular Farmer's Market by day to destination nightlife. Preserving Ballard celebrates what has always kept the community's independent spirit alive.

Formed in 1988, the Ballard Historical Society is a nonprofit organization committed to the research, preservation, and public awareness of the Ballard community. The society maintains a growing interactive archive of photographs, media materials, and artifacts. Preserving Ballard showcases Ballard's spirit by providing historic knowledge and a deep sense of place to a district experiencing rapid change.

Tugboats on Puget Sound

9780738559728

$24.99

While square-rigged sailing ships, steamboats and ferries, and ever-larger cruise and cargo-carrying vessels have made their mark on Puget Sound's maritime history, no other vessels have captured the imagination of shore-bound seafarers like tugboats. Beginning in the 1850s when the first steam-powered tugboats arrived in the Sound from the East Coast via San Francisco, company owners and their crews competed fiercely for business, towing ships, log rafts, and barges. The magnetic attraction of powerful, tough tugs both large and small is unexplainable but enduring. This book, featuring about 200 rare historic images and carefully researched text, tells the colorful story of tug boating on Puget Sound.

Tacoma's Point Defiance Park

9780738595917

$24.99

For more than a century, the citizens of Tacoma have valued Point Defiance Park as a forested refuge and an urban oasis. The community treasures its history and ecology as the crown jewel of the city's public spaces. Ancient forest continues to cover the majority of the park's 700-plus acres. Attractions of the past--a saltwater swimming pool, riding stables, and an amusement park--delighted earlier generations, though they are now long gone. The first boathouses, early zoological collections, and gardens near the park's entrance date back to the 1890s and now greet visitors in modern form. Today's park amenities are designed to foster appreciation for the rich historic and environmental heritage of "Tacoma's Great Pride" and serve an estimated two million visitors annually. Historic images from both private and public collections highlight this memorable "walk in the park" through a beloved civic preserve.

Mount Baker

9781467131070

$24.99

Mount Baker rises over northern Washington State like a mirage, dominating the landscape like few mountains in the United States. On a clear day, it is visible from as far away as Vancouver, British Columbia, and Tacoma, Washington. This immense volcano is a study in superlatives: it is the third-highest peak in the state, holds the world record for snowfall in a season (95 feet!), and is the second-most heavily glaciated peak in the contiguous United States. The mountain also played a dominant role in the history of the region, having served as a beacon to seafarers and a lure for men in search of gold, timber, and adventure.

Cover image for Mount Baker, isbn: 9781467131070

Road to Rainier Scenic Byway

9781467129282

$23.99

The Road to Rainier Scenic Byway has grown from a Native American forest trail, hundreds of years old, to a modern forest highway carrying 1.5 million travelers a year. In 1833, a European tourist first reached a glacier, and soon others followed, seeking the wonders of Mount Rainier. In 1903, the railroad reached Eatonville; and national park visitors, who started as a few thousand, became tens of thousands. With a market for timber, hundreds rushed to claim the lands. Forestry and tourism both thrived off the rich natural resources, and as the region developed, purely commercial ventures were supplemented with educational outreach. Charles L. Pack Experimental Forest, established in 1926, conducts scientific research into forest management and sustainability. Historical interpretation has become a function of the Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad and Logging Museum. The Road to Rainier Scenic Byway continues to serve all as it heads to scenic Mount Rainier.

Cover image for Road to Rainier Scenic Byway, isbn: 9781467129282

Mexicans in North Central Washington

9780738548791

$24.99

The first Mexicans to the region of North Central Washington were braceros (Mexican nationals) brought to Wenatchee, Okanogan, Moses Lake, and later Quincy to work under contract during World War II. The late 1940s witnessed the arrival to the region of Mexican American families who came from south Texas following migratory routes established in the 1920s to the Pacific Northwest. In the early 1950s, Mexican American families from the Yakima Valley moved north seeking economic opportunities. By the late 1980s, as Mexicans in such places as Wenatchee, Quincy, Brewster, and Moses Lake began to settle down and integrate into the community, they started businesses, bought homes, and many moved into a more diverse economic market.

Woodbrook Hunt Club

9780738558639

$24.99

The Woodbrook Hunt Club, cofounded in 1926 by Maj. J. H. Mathews and Thornwood Estate superintendent Thomas Bryan, is the oldest fox-hunting club west of the Mississippi. Horses have long played an important historical role on the prairies south of Tacoma. The Nisqually Indians were the first to ride horses on the Nisqually Prairie in the early 1800s, followed by the Hudson's Bay Company and horse-race activities in the 1840s. The establishment of Fort Lewis in 1917 has protected this unique prairie ecosystem, resulting in a longstanding partnership with the Woodbrook Hunt Club. Today the club continues its rich tradition on the last remaining three percent of native prairie in the Puget Sound Corridor.

Schafer State Park

9780738596426

$24.99

Schafer State Park, a US National Historic Site, not only represents a unique example of 1930s craftsmanship from the Works Progress Administration and other emergency programs but is also a window into the settlement of the Satsop River Valley. In the last quarter of the 19th century, this included the vast logging and lumber operations undertaken at the park and in the surrounding forest, as well as the bounty available from the river stretching far back into the history of Native Americans in the Northwest. It also memorializes an early example of philanthropy by private citizens and corporations in Washington State, an effort that has continued over the years and has been crucial to the expansion of the state park system. The authors are pleased to provide this book as the Washington State Parks System celebrates its 100th anniversary.

Seattle's Historic Houses of Worship

9781467126380

$24.99

As Seattle grew in the mid-1800s, the increase in families settling in the area created a need for churches. Seattle First Church was established in 1853 and by 1901 Seattle had 112 churches; today, there are less than 20 of these churches still in existence. Seattle's Historic Houses of Worship explores many of these churches, examining how they have survived over 100 years, while still going strong today. Churches have guided the Seattle community through the great Seattle fire, world wars, internment camps, the assassination of a president, and the protests of the civil rights era.

Tacoma's Parks

9780738548968

$24.99

When civic benefactor Clinton P. Ferry donated a graceful, elliptically shaped plot of land in 1883 for the first park in Tacoma, he hoped his adopted hometown would do him proud and become a veritable city of parks. The young community did not disappoint. Landmarks such as Wright Park, Lincoln Park, and Point Defiance Park graced the landscape by 1900, a testament to Tacoma's appreciation for beauty, conservation, and recreation, which continues to this day. In 1907, residents voted to establish the Metropolitan Park District of Tacoma, Washington's first independent parks municipality, to act as steward of these civic treasures. A century later, Metro Parks Tacoma embraces some 57 parks covering 2,700 acres, as well as swimming pools, sports complexes, community centers, and recreational programs for all ages.