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Ben Gilbert Park Fundraiser Project
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To donate now, print and mail this form.
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What has been accomplished -
One year ago, this was a blighted site, harboring illicit activities. The Tacoma Police Department had plans to simply fence the site and the City of Tacoma intended to locate two garbage compactors there. Neighborhood activists were determined that this site better serve the highly diverse demographics of this emerging area. When the Broadway LID project was implemented last year, calling for the development of an open space directly adjacent to this site on St. Helens Avenue, a strategic effort was set in motion to maximize this rare opportunity to transform blight into a unique urban park. Thus, Ben Gilbert Park and Ledger Square are now companion parts of a dramatic transformation in the heart of the Theater District.
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On June 24th a statue was installed in Ledger Square and a special tree planting ceremony was held to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Tacoma’s sister city with Kitakyushu, Japan. A delegation from Kitakyushu took part in the ceremony with special landscaping and a plaque to follow.
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Aside from serving as an open space for office workers and residents representing the full spectrum of income demographics, the park is just a block’s walk for patrons of four theaters. The seat walls and benches, the flower boxes and landscaping, the unique pine trees, the historical lighting and brick pavers all contribute to an attractive setting. The crown jewel of this facility is to be a photo reproduction on tile of an historic event that happened on this site nearly a century ago.
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The Mural – (6’ x 28’)
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On October 10, 1926, several thousand of Tacoma citizens swarmed across Ledger Square and everything surrounding the area to witness World Series results re-enacted on a large display board mounted on the Tacoma News Tribune & Ledger Building. This event was the seventh and deciding game between the Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig-led New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals. Ruth homered for the Yanks, but ended up being the goat, causing the last out by getting thrown out trying to steal second base, as St. Louis won the game 3-2 and the World Series – much to the delight of the pro-Cardinals Tacoma crowd
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Eight weeks later, Ruth made a celebrity appearance at the Pantages Theater, which was located one block away at 9th and Broadway.
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On many occasions throngs of locals gathered at the intersection of Market, St. Helens and S. 7th Streets, to make a community event out of the news dispatches. This was the primary source of the latest news of major events, as teletype reports would come into the newspaper and then be displayed on a panel. Often there would be an announcer addressing the crowd to augment the visual display. Election results, major boxing events and the World Series were popular occasions for gatherings.
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The technology of the time made information-gathering a shared experience – notices were posted in the town square – a sharp contrast to today, when a host of individual electronic connections link us to the news of world events, leading to an impersonal, virtual community.
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Side panels – (36” square)
Two side panels will be installed next to the mural. One will tell the story of the event captured in the 1926 photo and also describe the historical connections to the important buildings in the immediate sightlines of the park, including the YMCA, Medical Arts Building (now the Municipal Building), the Tribune & Ledger Building, Webster Apartments and rows of houses along Market Street.
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The second panel will represent Ben Gilbert’s important contributions to the city of Tacoma as a leader in the historic preservation movement that inspired downtown’s renaissance. Before coming to Tacoma, Ben was an accomplished newsman in Washington, D.C., serving as city editor at the Washington Post, then becoming an Emmy-award winning broadcast-news pioneer and advocate for the rights of the hearing-impaired .
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As part of the narrative, we want to invite people as they look at these historic elements to consider the value of community participation – whether it is the fun of a shared entertainment event or building new parks and cultural programs.
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How you can participate -
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More than $175,000 has been contributed to develop Ben Gilbert Park. These contributions have been made in the form of monetary funds, materials and both paid and in-kind services by City of Tacoma, Tacoma Water, Dickson Construction, and architects, project managers and community representatives. The Theater District Association, a coalition of neighborhood residents, arts institutions and business and property owners, has adopted this project and is holding a fund raiser to complete the project. The Tacoma Historical Society [a 501 c(3)] is serving as the fiscal sponsor of the fund raising aspect of this project.
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The Ben Gilbert Park Project committee originally sought to raise $30,000 for the mural components. Encouraged by the grassroots fund-raising efforts of the Theater District Association, the suppliers, graphic services and installers have agreed to significantly lower their costs or are making out-right donations. As a result, the garage sale events have raised $9,000 to date, with a total expected to reach $10,000. An additional $7,500 is needed to implement this project. We hope to install and dedicate the mural this summer. Please consider contributing to help complete this lasting monument to our city's past and the contributions of this important Tacoma citizen.
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To donate now, print and mail this form.
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