With These Tools ~ HORACE TUCKER'S TOOLS

NEW EXHIBIT SHOWCASES
HORACE TUCKER'S TOOLS



More than 225 hand tools used to build many of Port Townsend's earliest homes are featured in a new exhibit in the JCHS Museum that opened November 21.  

Horace Tucker joined his father—also a carpenter—in Port Townsend when he was 19 years old. His tools were stored in two large wooden trunks that connect with a centerpiece to make a 10-foot workbench. More than 80 hand planes and several trays of carving, upholstery and carpentry tools will be on display, as well as information about the homes and buildings known to be Tucker's work. These include the Rothschild House, Fowler House and St. Paul's Episcopal Church, where he married Mary Jane Caines on August 27, 1867.

Tucker was one of the principal founders of the Quimper Manufacturing Company which produced house finishing products. They started manufacturing brick in 1889; producing almost all of the bricks used in Port Townsend structures.

Tucker also served as deputy collector and inspector of United States Customs for twenty years, was a member of the Washington State legislature and was elected mayor in 1892. He and Mary Jane had four children. He lived to be 99 years old.