Tacoma Labor History Landmark Tour
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Description
A Guide to Labor Heritage Sites in Downtown Tacoma
1. Alpha Opera House, 1882-1892
Before the Bank of California building was erected at this location, the Alpha Opera House stood here. The Opera House was one of the more impressive spaces available for public events in New Tacoma, and from the early 1880s locals hosted receptions for visiting dignitaries as well as special events and political meetings inside. Several well-attended 1885 discussions about driving Tacoma's Chinese residents out of the city took place at the Alpha, and periodic rallies there kept the anti-Chinese movement at a fever pitch through November of that year. After the events of November 3rd, 27 prominent Tacomans were arraigned in Vancouver on charges of insurrection for the expulsion of the city's Chinese community; a reception celebrating their return to Tacoma was also held at the Alpha.
2. Villard Passenger Depot, 1883-1892
Chinese laborers helped build the railroads that brought people and goods to Tacoma and other towns in the western U.S. after the Civil War. Chinese men and families built homes on property owned by the railroad when Tacoma landholders refused to sell them residences in town. When members of Tacoma's Chinese community, fearing anti-Chinese violence, began fleeing the city in the fall of 1885 some departed from the passenger train station, Villard depot, built in 1883. Those that remained were forced from their homes the afternoon of November 3rd 1885, marched past Villard Depot to a station outside the city boundaries, and put on trains to Oregon.
