HistoryLink Tours

The Swiss Society finished this chalet-influenced hall in 1913 on neutral ground between the jobbers district and the ethnic neighborhoods above Market Street. The main interior space is a charming folk-art decorated hall with scrolled waif panels, a stage and proscenium scaled perfectly to the size of a polka band, and a listening balcony above the dancing floor. The hall’s distinctive tower and mock half-timbering once marked the southern edge of Tacoma’s market district. Japanese grocers and merchants lined Market Street to the north. Scandinavian, Italian, German, and Southern European immigrants settled in the wood-frame houses up the hill. Warehousemen, wagon drivers, and shipping clerks all earned their wages just below. To the south, there were several of the Northwest’s best breweries, and at the middle of the mix sat Swiss Hall.