TACOMA –Mar. 11- On 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.
Such are the stories being told in The West the Railroads Made, a new exhibit at the Washington
State History Museum that offers a look at what the iron road created. Learn about how this one
form of transportation reshaped the West and helped create a truly continental nation. The exhibit
opens April 13 and will run through January 24, 2009.
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 recounts how the idea of a Pacific railroad grew through the 1840s and
1850s, how it came to life in the second half of the 19th century, and how it reconceived itself to
survive new challenges by the late 20th century. The exhibit will focus on the battleground between the
river cities St. Louis and Portland, and the railroad cities Chicago and Seattle/Tacoma. It will feature
more than 80 artifacts, including rare railroad ephemera, photographs, paintings and other three-dimensional
pieces.
The companion book, “The West the Railroads Made,” written by exhibition curators Carlos A. Schwantes
and James P. Ronda, is now available through the University of Washington Press. It is also available for
purchase at the Northwest Museum Store, located in the History Museum.
Schwantes is the St. Louis Mercantile Library Endowed Professor of Transportation Studies at the
University of Missouri-St. Louis, specializing in the history of 20th century American West. He is the
author of “Going Places: Transportation Redefines the Twentieth-Century West” and “Railroad Signatures
across the Pacific Northwest.”
Ronda holds the H.G. Barnard Chair in Western American History at the University of Tulsa, specializing
in the history of exploration of the American West. He is the author of “Beyond Lewis and Clark: The Army
Explores the West” and “Jefferson’s West: A Journey with Lewis and Clark.”
The West the Railroads Made will travel nationally through January 2010, making stops at the St. Louis
Mercantile Library in St. Louis and the Oregon Historical Society Museum in Portland. This exhibit is
generously supported by M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, TTX, Click! Cable TV,
Union Pacific Railroad, Ajax Foundation, The News Tribune, Tacoma Rail, Port of Tacoma, Dimmer Family
Foundation, Candelaria Fund, Patricia & David J. Nierenberg Family Fund, FreightCar America, Inc. and
Great Northern Asset Management, LLC.
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.
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About the Washington State History Museum
The Washington State History Museum, flagship of the Washington State Historical Society, is located
at 1911 Pacific Avenue in downtown Tacoma, just off 1-5. The Washington State History Museum presents
exhibits, programs, and events that bring to life the stories of Washington's history. The Washington State
Historical Society has been dedicated to collecting, preserving, and vividly presenting Washington's rich
and varied history since 1891.
HOURS - Tuesday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., with extended hours and free admission every
Thursday night, 5 – 8 p.m.; Sunday NOON – 5 p.m. During the summer, from Memorial Day through Labor Day,
the Museum is open on Mondays from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
ADMISSION - $25 for families (two adults and up to four children); $8 for adults; $7 for seniors, age 60
and above; $6 for students and military with valid ID; children, age 5 and below, and members are always
FREE.
CONTACT – 1-888-BE THERE,
www.WashingtonHistory.org
Media Contact:
Marketing Office
public relations coordinator
Washington State History Museum
253-798-5877
socialmedia@wshs.wa.gov