For millenia the only inhabitants of these shores were members of Native American Tribes that had lived comfortably around this bay. In 1792, Captain George Vancouver's expedition named it Commencement Bay.
In 1852 the first settler arrived. Nick Delin built a lumber mill near what is now 25th and Dock Streets. Few settlers followed Delin. It was not until 1864 when Job Carr arrived that an active community began to develop. He settled in Shuballup, "the sheltered place". Later, when New Tacoma was founded to the east, Shuballup became Old Tacoma.
The waterfront along the bay developed rapidly, and many immigrants were attracted to the area. The Yugoslavian community established a purse seining fishery; others founded lumber mills, ship yards, the smelter, the Sperry Flour Mill, and more. Ships arrived laden with tea from the Orient. Lumber, coal, and grain were exported in the sailing ships which lined the shores and waited at anchor. In Old Town, businesses sprang up to meet the needs of the workers and sailors. There were boarding houses, grocery stores, a butcher shop, labor halls, a school, a hospital, a church, and saloons - lot's of saloons, perhaps as many as eight in the two block area from Starr to Carr Streets.
