File:Tacoma (MAPS 65).jpg

Color printed lithograph.

North oriented to lower right.

Printed at bottom: "Tacoma. Published by Geo. W. Traver."

Printed beneath key: "Copyrighted by Geo. W. Traver, Tacoma, 1890."

Depicts Tacoma and Commencement Bay in three dimensional detail. Indicates the presence of the city of Olympia and the Olympic Mountains in the background. Printed at the bottom is a numbered legend listing a key to various businesses, churches, hotels, mills, parks and other areas of interest throughout the city. Shows major streets including Winthrop Street, Cliff Avenue, Puyallup Avenue, Pacific Avenue, Adams Street, Tacoma Avenue and South 15th Street. Includes inset illustrations of major businesses and other important structures and geographic entities in top and bottom edges including: Hotel Fife, The Ledger, Tacoma National Bank, Oak Grove, Annie Wright Seminary (an all-girls' school), Tacoma Abstract & Title Insurance Company, Tacoma Theatre building, Tacoma City Market, Charles Uhlman Market block, Mount Rainier, Chilberg's Restaurant, Lombard Investment company, N. A. Perry D Street Grocery, Hotel Bostwick and F.S. Harmon and Company Furniture. Also included as inset is the residence of George W. Traver who was the publisher of the map. Tracks of the Northern Pacific Railroad and and the Tacoma and Fern Hill St. R.R. are shown. In addition sailing vessels, steamers and steamboats are depicted in Commencement Bay.

George W. Traver was a publisher and prominent businessman in Tacoma. He published several wall maps of Tacoma and a book concerning Tacoma, "Tacoma and Vicinity" in 1889. In the last decades of the nineteenth century, Tacoma experience booming growth as reflected on this particular map of Tacoma. In 1873, the Northern Pacific Railroad Company chose Tacoma as its western terminus. In 1884, Old Tacoma and New Tacoma "consolidated" into one major city. The same year, the grand Tacoma Hotel opened as did an all girls' school, Annie Wright Seminary, featured on this map. The railroad line was completed in 1887 and two years later, Washington Territory became Washington State. From a population of about 1100 in 1880 to a population numbering 45,000 in 1890, Tacoma had truly become a city (Martin and Kellog, 31; Wilma and Crowley). The intense growth of business and industry is evident in the large number of buildings, the railroad and major streets depicted in Traver's map. Source(s): Martin, Harry and Caroline Kellog. "Tacoma: A Pictorial History." Virginia Beach, VA: Donning Company, 1981. Wilma, David and Walt Crowley. "Tacoma-Thumbnail History." 2003 Jan. 17. Historylink.org. Accessed November 18, 2008.

• Subjects (LCSH): Tacoma (Wash.)-Aerial views-Maps; Tacoma (Wash.)-Pictorial works
• Categories: Bird's eye view; Pacific Northwest