There’s a Forgotten Railroad Beneath This Tacoma Greenway

The broad, tree-filled medians running through Tacoma’s North End may look like an unusually pleasant piece of neighborhood landscaping. Their story, however, begins with a railroad—and stretches back more than 130 years.

In August, the Tacoma City Council unanimously added the North Union Avenue Greenway to the city’s Register of Historic Places. The designation covers 18 blocks between North Ninth and North 30th streets, recognizing the corridor as one of Tacoma’s most distinctive historic landscapes.

Long before neighbors used the medians for walking, gathering and quiet pockets of green space, part of the corridor carried the Tacoma & Lake City Railroad. After the railroad disappeared, a series of decisions by property owners, the city and the Park Board gradually transformed the former right-of-way into Tacoma’s first planted median greenway.

The designation does not freeze the landscape in time or protect every individual tree. Instead, it safeguards the medians’ overall footprint, width, layout and park-like character, meaning major future alterations will receive historic review while routine landscaping and tree maintenance can continue.

News Tribune reporter Becca Most explores how the greenway evolved, why neighbors fought to preserve it and what its new landmark status actually means. Read the complete story—and watch the accompanying video—in The News Tribune here.