Local History

Role of Exporers:  English and United States explorers named many of the geographic locations along Puget Sound. George Vancouver sent by King George III of England first explored the Sound in 1792. He named Puget Sound and Gig Harbor among other places. He re-named Mt. Rainier which native peoples simply called “The Mountain” or Mt. Tahoma. Charles Wilkes explored for the United States in 1841 and gave our Browns Point the name Point Harris. By 1877 both Dash Point and Point Brown (replacing the name Pt. Harris) were named on official maps. In 1901 Point Brown was officially renamed Browns Point (no apostrophe) by order of the U.S. Dept of Commerce and Labor.

Indian Treaties: During the mid 1800s as a result of the arrival of pioneers from the east and middle west migrating into the area, the Medicine Creek Treaty was signed, followed with more negotiating with the native tribes. The result was the creation of the Puyallup Indian Reservation. By 1886 individual Indians received patent deeds to specific pieces of their own private property within the Reservation. There were thirteen natives who received plots of land in the western parts of Northeast Tacoma including Big Head Bob, Charley Satiacum and Joe Douette, George Tichinahon, George Bird, Criss Laughlet, John Cook, Joseph Peasup, William Tocahun, Jim Sitwell, George Johnson, Sampson Zahuheus and Sam Squatahan.

Mosquito Fleet: Beginning in the mid to late 1800s cargo ships exporting lumber, canned fish and other local products out of Commencement Bay resulted in tremendous growth of the small settlement of Tacoma. The waters of Puget Sound became the main means of transportation due to the lack of roads through dense forests on the mainland. Large steam ships carried cargo and passengers in and out of Tacoma, small boats carrying 30-60 people served small beach communities up and down the Sound and pleasure boats and fishing boats added to this panorama of boats and ships called the “Mosquito Fleet”, a universal name for this kind of maritime activity.

First Light: In 1887 due to the increased maritime traffic, a kerosene lantern was installed on a post on Point Brown warning maritime traffic to make the turn around the point into Commencement Bay. Even with the lantern light some serious accidents and near misses during foggy weather became a big problem. By 1901 the property where the lantern had been installed was purchased by the United States government from the heirs of Joe Douette, the native who received the property in a patent deed signed by President Grover Cleveland in 1886. The plan to build a lighthouse with a fog bell on Point Brown had begun. Finally in 1903 the first lighthouse was built. Oscar Brown and his wife Annie arrived on May 26, 1903. He lit the lantern that evening for the first time and at that moment the name of the point changed to Browns Point. It is noted that by coincidence that its first keeper was named Brown.

Development Begins: Within the first decade of the 20th Century large parcels of land in Northeast Tacoma were purchased and platted by partnership entrepreneurs; namely, Hyada Park in Browns Point and in Dash Point the Dash Point View Addition, Arthur’s Sound View, Dash Point Palisades and Fairview Park Tracts. Soon people were camping and building small cabins for summer vacationing. Permanent homes were the next step of building and developing these small communities. Captain Mathew McDowell, the owner of a small fleet of boats that serviced communities up and down the Sound, purchased and platted the quiet cove and adjoining land between Dash Point and Browns Point. He called it Caledonia. He built a dock where he moored his D Fleet at night for protection from the Puget Sound weather and other boats. The name of each of his boats began with the letter “D”.

In order to accommodate these small service boats on the Sound every community built their own dock. This made loading and unloading cargo and passengers easier and safer. Through the years Dash Point has had four docks; the first in 1907 which disintegrated, the second in 1912 which also disintegrated and finally the third dock in 1917 that was built on steel enforced concrete pilings. The latter lasted 80 years when it was replaced in 1997 as a fishing pier. There was another dock called Fairwood built between Dash Point and today’s Dash Point State Park. Little is known about this dock or what its major purpose was. Something to research.

Schools Established: By 1914 Dash Point had enough permanent residents to require a school that was located in a house close to the beach at the bottom of today’s Markham Ave. Browns Point built a small building for their school on Tok A Lou. Each community also had a grocery/mercantile store and each also incorporated their own improvement club; Dash Point in 1907 and Browns Point in 1919.

The development of the rest of Northeast Tacoma began when Fred Phohl in 1914 purchased and platted a large pierce of property on the south side overlooking Commencement Bay which he called Crescent Heights. Large ½ acre lots were sold to families. Soon a school was built in 1919.

In these early years of development several men contributed much to each community. In Dash Point James Churchill, one of the Dash Point developers was also the realtor and the first store owner. His store burned down in 1920. In 1910 another store had opened by Ernest Day (today the Lobster Shop building). Others contributing were Harry Johnston, Lloyde Eberhart, R.P. Milne and Claude Austin to name a few.

First Lightkeepers: In Browns Point the light keeper Oscar Brown and his wife Annie, who were the first white residents coming to Northeast Tacoma in 1903, served as the light keepers for 36 years. They became active and prominent in the community. Jerry Meeker, a Puyallup tribe member and one of the owners of Hyada Park development named all the streets with Indian names. He was well educated and accepted in both the Puyallup tribe and the white man’s world. As a realtor and full time resident of Browns Point he became a highly respected community leader. His “end of the summer season clam bakes” were enjoyed by all and evolved into today’s Salmon Bakes. His was often called the “Father of Browns Point.”

First Roads: By the 1920s many roads were being built which required fewer and fewer boats servicing communities on Puget Sound. By 1919 McDowell had sold all of his D Fleet having seen that roads would soon take over transportation options. He retired to run his own real estate holdings. He founded the McDowell Water company for his residents in 1944, the same year the Hyada Water Company and the Dash Point Cooperative Water Company were founded.

First Churches: St. Theresa’s Catholic Church was built in 1924 accommodating people who had been opening their living rooms for Sunday Masses. A Sunday School, the forerunner of the Marine View Presbyterian Church met in the first Dash Point School beginning in 1922.

Schools Development: A new Dash Point school was built in 1924 on property originally owned by Claude Austin. He had swapped this property with the Tacoma School District for property it owned higher up the Dash Point hill. Soon after in the 1930s some changes came to the schools. Browns Point School’s increased enrollment demanded a portable addition in 1932 only to be closed in 1938 with Browns Point students sent to Dash Point, Northeast Tacoma and Federal Way schools a dark time for the Browns Point community. The old Browns Point School became the Browns Point Improvement Clubhouse. Also in 1938 Northeast Tacoma Improvement Club built their clubhouse.

New Lighthouse: The 1930s were important years contributing many other changes to the Points. Electricity arrived in the early 1920s, so that Oscar Brown no longer had to turn a crank to keep the fog bell ringing or light the lantern every night. But the old, wooden lighthouse built in 1903 was being damaged and threatened by the continued washing away of its foundation by the tides. It was seriously damaged and its equipment outmoded. In 1933 the United States Lighthouse Service replaced it with a concrete, art-deco style lighthouse. For a short time the two buildings stood side by side, but when the new was put into service, the old building was razed and burned. The United States Lighthouse Service was terminated in 1939 with the United States Coast Guard taking responsibility for all lighthouses and lightships. Oscar Browns retired that same year at the age of 70 after 36 years at Browns Point.

Community Celebrations: A small community celebration that began in 1927 in Dash Point called the Hoop-te-doo evolved into ham and scalloped potato dinners and finally the Dash Point Beef Barbecues. In 1934 the Dash Point Dock Dinners had become a two day affair with many water sport events. In Browns Point Jerry Meeker’s Clam Bakes had evolved into the Browns Point Salmon Bakes featuring Indian dancing.

A major improvement occurred in 1933 with the opening of the road to Federal Way. A bridge was built over the deep ravine separating King County from Pierce County. Northeast Tacoma was then less secluded having another major road besides Marine View Drive in and out of the area.

War Years: The early 1940s, the War Years demanded much from Northeast Tacoma: the draft taking its young men to fight in Europe and the Pacific and people at home contributing to the war effort. Seventy-five residents from all of Northeast Tacoma manned the Crestview Observation Post 24 hours a day looking for enemy aircraft. The road leading to the watchtower is now called Watchtower Road. There was some degree of normalcy during this period with the founding of two garden clubs, the Madrona Garden Club and the Dash Point Garden Club in 1940. Perhaps they were inspired by the Browns Point Garden Club which had been founded in 1932. The first preschool was founded in 1943 which eventually became and still exists as the Northpoint Cooperative Preschool.

By the 1950s Northeast Tacoma was a quiet place made up of three small communities. The war had brought a slight increase in population due to increased ship building in the tide flats during the war. There were two outlets via main roads and a dirt path at Julia’s Gulch. Moderate growth did include the opening of Browns Point Elementary school on 51st Street NE in 1952 with the Meeker Jr. High School opening adjacent to the elementary school in 1958. Major additions were made to Northeast Tacoma Elementary School in 1958 and again in 1979. In 1958 a second building was built next to Dash Point School to accommodate more students at Dash Point Elementary. But a drop in enrollment in the early 70s required that Dash Point School to close in 1973. All Dash Point students went to Browns Point School until 1977 when students in kindergarten to third grade from both Dash Point and Browns Point were temporarily sent to Dash Point School, and students in fourth through sixth grade were sent to Browns Point School. One wonders what could happen next. The answer… a few paragraphs down.

Businesses Develop: The Crestview Shopping Center (later called Browns Point Shopping Center) was built and opened in 1946. It included a grocery store owned by Charles Jackson, drug store and ice cream fountain (the Yukon Fountain) owned by Jack Robinson, a hardware store, a dry cleaning store and barber shop. Ernie and Marie Burton opened a gas station across the road. In 1956 the Browns Point Medical Center was built on Wa Ta Ga street with Dr, James Hazelrigg and Dr. Leonard Loflin providing medical and dental services. The Cliff House Tavern a popular meeting place for locals burned down in 1953. It was built back in 1955 by W.P. Keyes. By 1957 the Cliff House property was purchased by H.O. Smith who built the Cliff House Restaurant, a two story structure in 1958. Guido Brendicke leased the business in 1976 and eventually purchased and remodeled it in 1986. In Dash Point Denny Driskoll purchased the Beach Hut from Al and Verna Hanson in 1977. He remodeled this building that was built in 1910 into today’s Lobster Shop. It had been a hamburger shop, grocery store, post office and telephone office, and had many owners throughout the years.

Crescent Heights Grocery was built by Warren and Betty Larson on the south side of Northeast Tacoma overlooking Commencement Bay in 1953. A year later they sold it to Betty’s parents, Royal and Margaret La Plante who had the business for several years. In 1961 the grocery store was sold to Al Nix who owned the ground on which it was built. The store still exists today.

Churches Grow: The new congregation of St. Mathew Episcopal church began holding services in the Browns Point Shopping Center in 1951. Their new building was opened in 1952 on Eastside Drive next to the shopping center. Browns Point Methodist Congregation held their first service in the Meeker Jr. High School in 1958, and in 1961 dedicated their new church on Browns Point Blvd. Resurrection Lutheran Church opened their new building in 1961. Marine View Presbyterian (previously a Sunday School and then the Dash Point Community Church) expanded their building on Eastside Drive also in 1961. The small St. Theresa’s Church could not meet the needs of a fast growing congregation being increased by residents from the western part of Federal Way. Their new church was built and dedicated in the Twin Lakes residential area in Federal Way in 1980. The 1924 building was sold to a private owner. Today it is a residence that has maintained the lovely look of a small country church. 

The Browns Point Salmon Bake resumed in 1946 in order to make money to build a new clubhouse and it continues to this day in even numbered years providing services to the community. The Browns Point Improvement Club dedicated their new clubhouse on the beach next to the lighthouse in 1955. Jerry Meeker, one of their most avid boosters, died that same year at the age of 93. The Dash Point Beef Barbecues began again in 1947 in odd numbered years to also provide services to its community. In 1981 the Dash Point celebration came to an end due to demanding county requirements and lack of parking for the event. When a large tree fell on the old clubhouse, it was decided to sell the property. It was sold in 1984 to a private owner who built a house on the property.

Crew Quarters Added: At the Browns Point Light Station, a crew quarters building was built in about1953 next to the light keeper’s cottage in order to house two men who assisted the light keeper in maintaining and monitoring the lighthouse and its other buildings. In addition they had the added responsibility of monitoring and maintaining the lighthouse at Point Robinson and the light at Point Defiance. In 1963 the Browns Point Lighthouse was fully automated with a sun relay cell that turned the light off and on. The fog signal was operated by phone from Point Robinson. The Lighthouse property still owned by the Coast Guard was for a while, maintained as a park by Pierce County and later taken over by Metro Parks of Tacoma who leased the cottage to an employee and later to other renters.

The North Shore Golf Course opened with nine holes on 115 acres in Northeast Tacoma in 1961 with another nine holes added in 1978. In the first decade of 2000, a buyer proposed purchase of the golf course in order to build more houses which inflamed most residents of Northeast Tacoma. As of 2013, the deal is on hold until further decisions are made.

Dash Point State Park: Carl Anderson, who grew up in Dash Point, made a suggestion in the early 60s to the Washington State Parks Department recommending a new state park on property east of the Dash Point residential community. It had an extensive beach at low tides and ideal areas for hiking and camping. It included 272 acres and was dedicated as Dash Point State Park in 1962. When the Dash Point Water Association discovered their water was contaminated in 1972, they switched to Tacoma Water and sold their property in 1979 to the Washington State Parks Department adding another 122 acres to Dash Point State Park. In the 1980s the McDowell (Caledonia) Water Company and the Hyada Water Company also switched over to Tacoma Water.