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In honor of our Centennial this year – Test Your 1924 Tacoma Knowledge!

By Christine Hall

As we continue to gear up for our Centennial celebrations, here are some fun facts about Tacoma in 1924:

1924 WA State Population: 1,467,000  (2024 = 7,951,150)

1924 Tacoma Population: 96,965 (2024 = 217,872)

19-year-old Ben Cheney moves to Tacoma and takes a stenographer job with a local lumber company. In 1936,  he would start his own company with the first of millions of Cheney Studs being shipped in 1945.

March 15

The first patients are admitted to the new U.S. Veterans Hospital at American Lake.

April 29

Schoenfeld Furniture moves to 14th and Pacific, where its name would be a part of the Tacoma skyline for the next 72 years. 

May 26

Aaron Robbins, owner of the Olympic Ice Cream Company, dedicates its new factory on E. 25th Street. His son Irv would co-found  Baskin-Robbins in 1945.

June 11

Commencement exercises for the College of Puget Sound (now the University of Puget Sound) were held in Jones Hall on the new campus on North Warner Street. (Mrs. Franke Tobey Jones had given $200,000 toward the construction of the building that would  be named after her late husband). 

July 4

An estimated 35,000 people watch Independence Day fireworks from the Stadium Bowl.

July 16

The Franke Tobey Jones Home cornerstone was laid on a spectacular five-acre site with views of Commencement Bay and Mount Rainier. With a wheelbarrow and spade, Franke, at the age of 80, presided over the ceremony. 

July 26

The first nine holes of the Fircrest Golf Club open. The course is completed the following year.

September 15

William Jennings Bryan addresses an audience at the First Methodist Church.

September 18

Classes begin at the new location of the Annie Wright Seminary on Tacoma Avenue North.

September 25

All schools in Tacoma were ordered closed due to an outbreak of polio that would last for the next three weeks.

October 18

USS Shenandoah, first American dirigible based on the German Zeppelin, stops at Camp Lewis for two days. The same day, Babe Ruth makes a whirlwind visit to Tacoma culminating in an exhibition game at the Stadium Bowl.

December 14

H.C. Weaver Productions opens a motion picture studio on 5.5 acres at Titlow Beach. Three silent

films were shot there, including Eyes of the Totem.

What is the 1924 Connection between Franke Tobey Jones Retirement Community and the University of Puget Sound?

• Both of these fine organizations have been linked since 1924.
• Both institutions moved to their current sites in 1924. FTJ from the D Street “Restholme,” and UPS from 6th and Sprague.
• Each had its first building under construction in 1924— the Franke Tobey Jones Home and Jones Hall at UPS.
• Franke Tobey Jones donated the money for each building and officiated at their dedications.
• Both buildings are in the same Tudor architectural style, although they were designed by different architects.
• Both institutions continue to flourish.