Peg and I attended the annual meeting of the Tacoma Historical Society. We are not members, but we went to see Living History: “Leading Ladies Come to Life.” Karen Haas and a cast of re-enactors portrayed seven women from Tacoma’s history going back 150 years.
In the hit television series, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Mary applies for a newsroom job of a local television station. Lou Grant is interviewing her and finally says, “You’ve got spunk . . . I hate spunk!” I love spunk. All of the seven women heard from that night had spunk. Spunk gets things done.
Leading the storytelling was Karen Haas as Janet Elder Steele Fuller 1842-1894 (Karen Haas) – Ms. Steel built the first hotel in Tacoma, actually Old Tacoma now. She bought the property based on railroad results: $300 if the railroad came to Tacoma and $100 if it didn’t. The railroad stopped short in what is now downtown Tacoma. The hotel boasted the cleanest sheets from Portland to Seattle. The hotel stood out in a town with 13 saloons and 2 jails. One of her prized possessions was a pearl handled revolver. She later loaned to the sheriff, who promptly lost it. To make up the loss he traded some land at Sprague and 12th, which she later sold for $2,000.00. She divorced her first husband and married again. Spunk! Her message to the crowded rotunda at the University of Puget Sound was “You are all the guardians of those who’ve gone before.”
Next to introduce herself was Alice Bliven Blackwell 1840-1916 (Karla Stover). Her husband was injured in the Civil War and sent home to die. He didn’t die and they came west leapfrogging as they operated hotels from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest. January 1, 1874 they opened a hotel along what is Dock Street now on pilings twenty feet wide and two hundred feet long. the hotel featured covered walkways to keep off the rain. Honeymooners came from as far away as Portland to stay. Seafood and game was served for meal. Native Americans supplied the food. Chinese laborer delivered sacks of dirt for flower and vegetable gardens on the wharf. The Chinese also carried gunny sacks of dirt that they dumped directly on the wharf for their own gardens. The mist from the bay helped water the plants. The Chinese always had produce before everyone else. They were good neighbors.
Etta Brady Cummings d. 1922 (Dana Repp). Etta graduated from the Bellevue School of Nursing and was the first graduate to go directly into private nursing. When she and her husband came west they found a shortage of women and especially nurses. Her first mission in Tacoma was to replace a public drinking cup, which was spreading diphtheria. She later pressured changes in local nursing and the Washington Nursing Association. In 1913 she was elected to the Tacoma council of Women Voters. She also set up a fund for tired and worn out nurses. The fund still exists today helping with nursing education.
Estelle (Stella) Bradish Mann 1856-1928 (Holly Stewart). Estelle was the first florist in Tacoma. When she came to Tacoma around 1872 there were really no houses. There were just cabins and lean-tos. Her family paid $9 a month to rent a cabin and they were happy to get it. Her mother encouraged her to “follow your dream.” She was the first woman in Pierce County to serve on a jury. She opened her floral shop. She later moved to Puyallup and helped found the first local library.
Virginia Wilson Mason 1854-1936 (Victoria Pann). Virginia was born in Pennsylvania. At twenty one she moved to Missouri and married John Quincy Mason. Her family moved to Tacoma in 1888 and she became involved in the suffragette movement for women’s right to vote. She worked to help the elderly and women’s rights. Before 1881, women were not allowed to enter into contracts. In 1889 women were allowed to vote in local school elections. In 1911 Virginia served as foreman on an all women’s jury. They acquitted the woman defendant after deliberating only 18 minutes. In 1920 women won the right to vote.
Bernice Newell 1861-1937 (Melissa McGinnis). Bernice was a member of the Art & Music Society and wrote for the Tacoma Ledger. One of her articles stirred up some excitement, “One Woman in Tacoma Would Like to Kidnap President Roosevelt.” President Theodore Roosevelt doubled the number of sites within the National Park system which oversaw Point Defiance Park, but there was a provision that the park could lose it’s status at any time. At the risk of being cited for engaging in lawlessness she suggested the president be spirited away in a big open street car and taken to Point Defiance Park and demand a revision. President Roosevelt never saw Point Defiance and it soon was passed along to the city of Tacoma.
Abby Williams Hill 1861-1943 (Karen Haas). Abby injured her back and was unable to walk for some time. While recuperating, she discovered that she had a talent for drawing. She also had a talent for doing things her way. When her husband demanded that she dress like other women: corseted, and bustled and weighed down with petticoats, she responded if he would wear them she would consider it. She went camping with her family to Mount Rainier and when she got to Paradise, she fell in love with color. She offered her painting skills to the railroad. In exchange for landscapes of the sights along the railroad line, she would take free passage for her and her family. She was a free thinker and a national traveler. She visited the Tuskegee Institute and was so taken by Booker T. Washington that when she had the opportunity to name a mountain in the North Cascades, she named it Mount Booker . . . and yes, she created a wonderful painting of Mount Booker. A permanent collection of her works and papers is held by the University of Puget Sound.
Each of the women re-enactors did their own research, writing, memorizing and finding their clothing. The audience filled the rotunda at the University of Puget Sound. There were two past mayors in the room. Awards were given out to members of the Tacoma Historical Society as well as community awards. Everyone there had a great time. People stayed around and talked, laughed, and just enjoyed themselves. The message was clear. Following dreams, determination, hard work and spunk make things happen. These women had it all. Because of the trails they blazed we have a woman mayor, a woman city manager, a woman school superintendent, and more.
