Values - "Why I'd like to Live in UP" by Mary Curran News Tribune article
Mary Curran won an essay contest in the late 1930's on "Why I'd like to live in UP." She won a land lot located at 3734 Olympic Blvd W and the Curran's built a home on that location in 1939 according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Building Index.
Text of Article:
Essay Contest Comes to End
The first prize winning essay in the Soundview addition essay contest, which came to a close last week, has been released by the H. A. Briggs Co., sales agents for the new marine view subdivision in the West End. The award was a choice building site at Soundview, which was won by C. C. Curran of Tacoma.
The essay follows:
"Soundview addition! Yes, it is all the name implies and more. The site for our dream home has the advantages of city and suburban life combined. Located as it is, just seven and one-half miles from the city center, it has the surroundings of one of the most beautiful districts near Tacoma, and yet all the conveniences that city life has to offer.
"For instance, you have the advantage of city lights, water, telephone service, protective building restrictions, bus transportation, a store, and an excellent, progressive grade school. And still, residents of this subdivision pay county taxes, may select a home site large enough for flower and vegetable gardens, even a badminton court if they desire.
"At Soundview you may select a lot with an unequaled view of nature's splendors, one ever changing. In the foreground are the sparkling waters of Puget Sound, in the distance wooded islands and beyond the Olympic mountains! Here, in surroundings free from the soot and smoke of the city, one may breathe refreshing sea air and enjoy the sunshine of the day, not to mention sunsets that leave you breathless. Where could one find a healthier spot to live and bring up children?
"Many of the sites have their own springs and streams, some are wooded and offer unusual opportunities for landscaping. Then, too, the roads have been laid out to conform with the contour of the property, thus keeping the surroundings and natural as possible.
"Soundview stretches for a mile along the shores of Puget Sound, bounded by Sunset and Lemon beaches, and in the distance one may see the towers soon to support the Narrows bridge! Thus it is a new and growing community, one whose property is bound to appreciate. It seems hard to realize that with all the splendid advantages, the prices for lots start at a surprisingly low figure.
"Then, too this addition is certain to be progressive -- one whose home owners are of the finest type, the kind of people you would like for neighbors, with sons and daughters who will make excellent playmates for your own children.
"Do you wonder then, that, after moths of 'lot' shopping in and around Tacoma, we have chosen as the site for our dream home the subdivision of which Tacoma may feel justly proud -- Soundview addition?"
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