Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Derek Hayes has a passion for mapping our history

After the Northern Pacific Railway selected Tacoma as its terminus in 1873, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted's firm was hired to plan the city. In his innovative design, which tried to conform to the city's topography, streets curve around hillsides and steep slopes are ascended on diagonals rather than traditional right angles. But the railroad board rejected the plan in favor of a more conventional one.