Tacoma Power employees recently opened two dusty boxes found in the shuttered Adams Substation building on North 21st Street and discovered some well-preserved Tacoma history. According to a report in Insider, the utilitys monthly newsletter, employees found yellow-on-green Tacoma City Light neon signs.
Current Tacoma Power employees are unsure whether the signs were ever used, or perhaps were stored as spares. Another unknown: the exact age of the signs, though a manufacturers sticker reads Coast Neon — Tacoma, Wash., a company that operated on Commerce Street from the 1930s to as late as 1970.
Tacoma Power has stored the signs in a secure location until the utility can decide if they might fit into final construction plans for a new office addition to the Public Utilities Administration Building.
Neon signs werent the only discoveries. Eight hand-painted glass panels were also found. They provide a glimpse of how Tacoma Power of old advertised its services. Each panel measures three feet, six inches by one foot, three inches, and addresses such subjects as monthly bills and operating costs of small applicances, comparing Tacoma Prices to the national average.
The delicate panels are in mostly good condition, although some edges and corners are broken. They are not dated, but were found in a box marked 1949. These, too, may find their way into the building addition, according to Tacoma Power.
