Document Type
Occasional Paper
Paper Type
Faculty Research
Publication Date
Summer 2018
Abstract
This article, drawing on oral histories with Nisei, addresses the dearth of publications about pre-WWII Japanese life in the urban U.S. and provides evidence of Japanese immigrants’ active presence in the lumber industry and on Tacoma’s tideflats. This is important not only for Tacoma’s history and a fuller accounting of the major industries that shaped the south Puget Sound region, but also because Japanese contributions to early industrial development are often overlooked. The oral history narratives also stretch the boundaries of what has been depicted as a densely-connected and lively Japanese community in the downtown core. Also, stories of moving from and between sawmills and the ethnic economy highlight the fluidity of employment from the lumber industry to self-employment. This article thus argues for a remapping and expansion of existing visualizations of the Japanese community and for recognition of Japanese presence in the tideflats and sawmill spaces.
Occasional Paper Number
010
Recommended Citation
Hoffman, Lisa; Hanneman, Mary; and Pyle, Sarah, "Re-mapping Tacoma's Pre-War Japantown: Living on the Tideflats" (2018). Conflux. 10.
https://digitalcommons.tacoma.uw.edu/conflux/10
This map shows the relationship between the downtown core of Japanese businesses and residences and the houses on St. Paul Avenue that were across the street from the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company operations. Map created by Sarah Pyle 2018
Map 2a.jpg (2343 kB)
Detail: 1912 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington shows St. Paul Avenue and depicts 9 of the 14 houses, the Japanese Boarding House, another boarding house, dining room, commissary, and laundry.
Map 2b.jpg (672 kB)
Detail: 1912 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington shows St. Paul Avenue and depicts 9 of the 14 houses, the Japanese Boarding House, another boarding house, dining room, commissary, and laundry.
Map 3.jpg (383 kB)
This map, created by Sarah Pyle (2018) and based on the 1926 Metsker Atlas, shows the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company Hotel, dining facility, the numbered residences where some Japanese families lived, and the Japanese Hotel, which we understand functioned as a boarding house for Japanese laborers.
Map 4.jpg (3069 kB)
This map shows the original tideflats, including “The Boot” purchased by the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company for their sawmill operations (US Coast Geodetic Survey [1888] 1976).
Map 5.jpg (535 kB)
This map outlines the contemporary port and main urban area in Tacoma. Note in particular the waterways in relation to the original and natural tideflats. Map created by Sarah Pyle 2018.
Included in
Oral History Commons, United States History Commons, Urban Studies Commons, Urban Studies and Planning Commons