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Overview

The Union Meat Company maintained a factory on a triangular site located in an industrial section of Tacoma, WA, in 1912.

Buiding History

The American Architect reported in its issue of 08/09/1911: "Tacoma--Union Meat Co. will erect modern $25,000, two-story brick building at Commerce and 19th Sts." ("Building News: Washington," American Architect, vol. C, no. 1859, 08/09/2025, p. 14.) In 1913, A.R. McCoombs was the manager of the Union Meat Company at 1754 Commerce Street. (See R.L. Polk and Company's Tacoma, Washington, City Directory, 1913, p. 740.)

According to the University of Washington, Tacoma (UWT) website, the Union Meat Company operated here between 1911 and 1918, before being taken over by Swift and Company, one of the key components of the "Meat-Packing Trust" in the US. Swift, headquartered in Chicago, IL, for most of the 20th century, operated the location until 1949. (See University of Washington, Tacoma (UWT).edu, "Keystone Building: Building History," accessed 02/05/2025.)

Building Notes

The factory in 1912 occupied 1742-1754 Commerce Street, and consisted of two brick buildings joined in the center by a wood-frame wagon shed. The southernmost building contained the office, cold storage and a wooden loading platform on the west

Demolition

The Union Meat Company Building was demolished c. 1949 and replaced in 2001 with the University of Washington, Tacoma's (UWT) Keystone Building, the site of the Carwein Auditorium.

PCAD id: 25635