Stadium - Seminary Historic District; Tacoma, Washington
Posted by: 
Hikenutty
N 47° 15.952 W 122° 26.895
10T E 541738 N 5234857
The main site to be seen in this district is the magnificent Stadium High School, although there are also many beautiful Victorian homes to see.
Waymark Code: WMWN2
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 10/28/2006
Views: 73
Stadium High School was originally intended by its financiers, the Northern Pacific Railroad Company and Tacoma Land Company, to be one of the finest luxury hotels on the Pacific Coast. In 1890 they purchased a nine-acre tract of land on a high bluff overlooking Commencement Bay, and solicited architectural designs and bids for the building. The winning architects were Hewitt and Hewitt of Philadelphia.
Construction of the hotel--known both as the Olympic and the Tourist--began in 1891, but came to a screeching halt in 1893 in the wake of a nationwide financial panic and depression. The unfinished shell was then used to store lumber, until a devastating fire (of suspicious origin) gutted the building in October 1898. That was apparently the last straw for Northern Pacific Railroad, which gave up the idea of finishing the hotel and began taking bricks from the burned-out structure in 1901 to build train depots in Montana and Idaho. Fortunately, a number of Tacoma citizens had other ideas for the building.
The cities school district was in great need of a building for its high school. A deal to purchase the property was quickly made with the owners and the building project was completed a few years later at a total cost of approximately $500,000. The Tacoma School District had paid $34,500 for the property.
The High School (then Tacoma High School) was also in need of a stadium and chose to build it in the ravine below the building. Construction began on "the Bowl" in June 1909 [April, actually]. A steam shovel and sluicing pipes moved more than 180,000 [cubic] yards of dirt down the sides of the gulch until it half-filled the great cavity to form a level playfield of two and a half acres. Thousands of board feet of lumber were hand cut to make the forms for the seats, which were molded in concrete. The original seats (with an estimated seating capacity of 32,000*) rose 31 tiers high, with the top seat 52 feet above the field level. Be sure to look at the drawings of the bowl in the photo gallery.
Louis Armstrong performed in the Bowl, as did famous opera singers. Many national luminaries spoke to capacity crowds on various occasions, including Gen. John Pershing, France's Marshal Foch, Babe Ruth, Rev. Billy Sunday, William Jennings Bryan, and presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Warren Harding.
The school was just reopened after a long renovation and celebrated its 100th Anniversary.