Coenen-Mentzer / North Shore Lumber Co. (1901-1930)

This needs an intro.

The area south of Alder Street’s intersection with Ruston Way was once known as the 36^th Street Gulch. At the turn of the 20^th century (1901 to be exact) lumber mills seemed to spring up all along the waterfront—at the same time. After the fires, fiascoes and failures of the 1880s and ‘90s, it looked like a new successful era was to start. But many more mill problems would occur.

Coenen-Mentzer Lumber Co. was located at the entrance of the gulch; today this mill’s sited is occupied by the “Puget Creek Park. Cyrus Mentzer and his father-in-law John Coenen, built this mill in 1901 and started production in 1902. The mill’s wharf was far out into the bay. Logs were fed under the railroad line (from the bay) to a mill pond. It was a great distance.

Cy Mentzer had other mills (one at 6^th Avenue and Pine Street) prior to his Old Town location. He was a developer in the west end of town (above his mill site). He put in North 36^th Street, which winds down the steep hill to the “switch-back” at the bottom; this became Alder Street which then continues north to Ruston Way.

In 1905, the Mentzer mill was sold to the Foster Lumber Co. (not of Old Town) and the name changed to North Shore Lumber Co. In October 1907 a fire completely destroyed the mill. Millions of board feet of lumber were stacked far into the gulch to the south; fortunately, it was not lost in the fire. The Foster Lumber Co. planned to rebuild the mill but it never happened. 

Nerheim, J. N.. The History of Lumber Mills in Old Town. Tacoma, WA. Self-published, 2004.