A South Sound history through words and pictures
100 YEARS AGO TODAY: NOV. 17, 1912
The new ordinance respecting the service and overcrowding of streetcars went into effect today. Inspector D.O. Smith, recently appointed from the detective department, has announced all in readiness and says the officials of the street railway company have announced their intention of complying with the ordinance in every detail. In the morning and evening hours, when Tacomans are going to and from work, the service on all lines will be inside a 10-minute limit. Cars will not be allowed to be crowded in excess of about 50 percent of their seating capacity. Signs have been provided by the railway company bearing the inscription, “Car Loaded,” to be placed on the car when the allowed capacity is reached.
50 YEARS AGO TODAY: NOV. 17, 1962
The Tacoma School District is making tentative plans to open a community college program next September, limited to about 500 students, Supt. Angelo Giaudrone told members of the newly formed Advisory Committee on a Tacoma Community Junior College yesterday. Action on the planning is, of course, contingent on Tacoma’s selection as a site for a community college, he told the group at an organizational meeting at the Tacoma Vocational-Technical Institute. “Our present timetable,” said Giaudrone, “assumes that the 1963 Legislature will vote funds for new community colleges and that the state Board of Education will decide next June where new facilities will be located.”
25 YEARS AGO TODAY: NOV. 17, 1987
A 2,700-pound elephant bolted from two handlers at the Point Defiance Zoo and trampled fences and broke windows in a North End Tacoma neighborhood recently, much to the amazement of residents and chagrin of zoo officials. Zookeepers caught up with Rama, a 5-year-old Asian elephant, at a convenience store parking lot 10 blocks away, drugged the animal and walked it home.
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