Construction Site Photos

From 2003 till now

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Memorabilia?

TV Tacoma production

"First of all, on behalf of John Miller and TV Tacoma (TVT), I want to thank you for the opportunity for us to join the construction tours of Stadium High School last Saturday, January 7th. It is a most impressive project, and we very much appreciated the opportunity to see the progress firsthand and for John to be able to get footage of the work underway, for use in the upcoming TV Tacoma production on the SHS centennial. I am working with John to gather and distill those one hundred years of school history into 30 minutes, a daunting but fascinating process!

As I mentioned to you the morning of the tour, we would like to discuss with you the idea of making a broader appeal to the community, by way of the News-Tribune, for the loan of SHS memorabilia and ephemera (photos - particularly of the last 30-50 years - home movies, programs, recordings, etc.) so that they might be copied/scanned and used in the production.

Prior to working at PLU, I was the historian for Metro Parks Tacoma (MPT) and the Point Defiance Park centennial documentary co-produced with TV Tacoma; such a News-Tribune column by Kathleen Merryman resulted in the loan of some wonderful historical material that we would otherwise not have found and that we were able to incorporate into the production."

Doreen Beard Simpkins
Assistant to the Dean
School of Arts and Communication
Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma, WA 98447

beardsdm@plu.edu
253-535-7807

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A look Inside

Behind the barricades

The News Tribune printed a front page article on what is going on with the $105 million "rehab" of the Castle.

The article by C.R. Roberts includes Russ Carmack's pictures of some of the work that has been done.

The building will have 2 elevators to help modern youth navigate the eight floors.

The News Tribune
January 9, 2006

First peek inside the castle

Tacoma Weekly
January 12, 2006

Touring the Castle; Stadium High School Renovation project nearing completion

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Let the Celebration Begin!

1891

New Hotel Built

The building 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, Hewitt and Hewitt of Philadelphia, submitted with their bid a painting of their planned edifice in French Renaissance architectural style. (That painting hangs today in Stadium's main office.)

Some sources have claimed that the building is modeled after an actual chateau near Tours (southwest of Paris) or Chaumont (southeast of Paris), but neither claim has been verified.

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.

(See Tacoma 1891 )

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