A steam locomotive pulls out of King Street Station
in 1925. This photograph, taken by Yukio Morinaga,
a member of the Seattle Camera Club, was titled
"Smoke and Steam.(Washington State Historical
Society)
July 14, 1873, the Northern Pacific Railroad announced its decision to build its new terminus in Tacoma. The coming of the railroad turned Tacoma,
then no bigger than a village, into a hub of trade and travel, creating the city it is today.
Beyond iron tracks and coal-fired engines, the story of railroads is a story of transformation. By bringing in immigrants, railroads changed
the character of the region’s population. By building depots, bridges and tunnels, it changed the area’s landscape. By promoting agriculture,
ranching and mining on a grand scale, it changed the people’s way of life. Railroads brought the modern world to the West and the West to the modern world.
The West the Railroads Made will be on display through January 24. Organized by the Washington State Historical Society and the Barriger Railroad
Library of the St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri, St. Louis.
To read a review of the exhibit, visit AmericanCollector.com
Brochure promoting travel along the route of the Great Northern Railway, 1933.(Washington State Historical Society)
Northern Pacific Railroad bridge over the Columbia River at Pasco, Wash., 1959.(Washington State Historical Society)
Prospectus written to attract homesteaders and investors to Oregon, Washington and Idaho, 1905.(Washington State Historical Society)