View Of New Tacoma and Mount Tacoma, Puget Sound, Washington Territory (MAPS 72)

Lithograph.
North oriented to left.
Bird's-eye view.
Printed at bottom:
"View Of New Tacoma And Mount Tacoma, Puget Sound, Washington Territory. Terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad."
Printed in bottom border on left
"Drawn and Published by E. S. Glover. Portland, Oregon. Sketched Feb. 1878".
Printed in bottom border above title:
"Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1878, by E. S. Glover, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. C."
Printed in bottom on right side:
"A. L. Bancroft & Co., Lith., San Francisco, Cal."
Bird's-eye view of area known as "New Tacoma" including Commencement Bay, the Puyallup River, and Mount Rainier (Mount Tacoma) in the distance. The map depicts major buildings and industries including the public school, the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Land Office, the foundry, the ship depot, Blackwells Hotel, the saw mill, and the Northern Pacific R.R. car works. Major streets including Pacific Avenue, Cliff Avenue, Eleventh Street, St. Helen Street and Ninth Street are shown along with the Puyallup Coal Railroad train and the sidewheel steamboat "Dakota" at the wharf to the left. Of note, on the map title a label with the word "Tacoma" has been pasted over the word "Rainier."

Not drawn to scale.
Eli Sheldon Glover was a traveling mapmaker who made a business drawing "bird-eye" views of cities and selling the prints to publishers. Glover was born near Battle Creek, Michigan in August 1845. At 16, Glover taught school for a short time and then attended a course at the Art League in New York. Using some of his training in painting and lithography, he formed a business making "bird's-eye views" or "pictorial plats of cities" including depictions of homes and buildings. After marrying Sara Belle Latta in the early 1870s, Glover headed West and first settled in Salt Lake City. In 1879, Glover returned to Battle Creek, MI and tried to undertake various business enterprises such as creating a machine to bind books and a machine to brew coffee. In 1889, he headed back to the West, having acquired land near Tacoma, WA in exchange for creating a "bird's-eye view" of that city. After his move to Tacoma, he spent most of his time working on his property (Korn, 6-7; Anderson). His works include various bird's-eye maps of major cities including Seattle, Portland, Tacoma, San Diego and Victoria (Anderson).

This map was printed in 1878 by A. L. Bancroft & Company. The original map stated the title as "View Of New Tacoma and Mount Rainier, Puget Sound, Washington Territory." This copy of the map has the word "Tacoma" pasted over "Rainier."

Tacoma did not experience intense growth until Northern Pacific Railroad established plans for Tacoma as its terminus. In 1852, Nicolas Delin built a sawmill at the top of Commencement Bay but mill workers abandoned the area during the Yakima War of 1855-56. In 1864, Job Carr found a small body of water next to the bluffs and believed he could build a city at this prime location. In 1868, Morton McCarver, a developer, arrived in the area and bought Carr's claim. McCarver named the area Tacoma City and tried to bring in settlers and convince the Northern Pacific Railroad to choose the area for its terminus. In 1873, the Northern Pacific Railroad did indeed choose Commencement Bay for its terminus. However, they chose the location for the railroad depot two miles south of Tacoma City and called the new area "New Tacoma." Old Tacoma and New Tacoma were not united until the 1880s (Wilma and Crowley). This map presents the site of New Tacoma as chosen by the Northern Pacific Railroad.

Source(s):

Anderson, Ross. "Pinpoints, Plots, Plats and Panoramas." The Seattle Times. 18 Sept. 2001. Accessed November 11, 2008. >

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