Washington State Historical Society - Tacoma, WA - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

The WASHINGTON STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY MUSEUM, N. Stadium Way between N. 3rd and 4th Sts., houses the collections of C.P. Ferry and those of the society. The building, of pressed-brick trimmed in sandstone, was designed by George W. Bullard in the Classic style with Corinthian portico; subsequent alterations were planned by Mock and Morrison.

Before the main entrance is an old iron cannon from the Russian gunboat Politkofski, a souvenir of the purchase of Alaska in 1867. The main floor is devoted to the historical exhibits of the society. Indian pottery, baskets, weapons, hunting and fishing gear vie for attention with nineteenth-century pewter, spinning wheels, and cradles that reached pioneer Washington via Cape Horn in territorial days. Paintings and photographs of pioneers and Indians prominently associated with the early history of the Northwest adorn the walls.

Exhibits include the mummy of Ankh Unnefir, the oxen and covered wagon used by Ezra Meeker in retracing the Oregon Trail in 1906 and 1911 (when he was an old man); the billiard table upon which Gearge E. Picket, William Slaughter, and George B. McClellan played in the days before the Civil War, when all served at Fort Steilacoom as young officers; the pipe belonging to Chief Seattle; the first stove and first piano in Washington Territory; and a large collection of personal belongings of Isaac I. Stevens, first Governor of Washington Territory. In the grounds at the rear of the building are the boiler, wheel shaft, and some of the bearings from the Beaver, built at Blackwell, England, in 1834-35, the first steamboat on the Pacific. The vessel was wrecked inside the harbor of Vancouver, B.C., July 26, 1888.

The Washington State Historical Society was founded in 1891 and in 1903 was designated as a trustee agency of the state government. Twenty-five thousand dollars were appropriated in 1909 for the society to build a home for the organization.

They built this structure adjacent to the castle-like Stadium High School, next to the Stadium Bowl and perched high atop the Commencement Bay Bluffs, looking out over Puget Sound. The original building was just the portion that looks like a classical temple, and much later an additional wing was added to create the structure that we see today.