Our First Downtown

Our First Downtown. . , Called the head of the harbor, North Gig Harbor, or Finholm's Marketplace, this area was the harbor's first downtown. Beginning in the 1880s and into the early 1920s it was home to the community's first mercantile, first library, first phone service, the post office, a butcher shop, bakery, several restaurants, a community hall, one of the harbor's three steamboat landings, and an outdoor bandstand. The harbor's first car ferry landing, built in 1917, was located at the head of the harbor and serviced ferry traffic until 1923., Axel Uddenberg, an immigrant from Sweden, arrived in Gig Harbor in 1907. He opened his first store in his home not far from this location, next to a passenger steamboat landing. He built a new store in 1910. His last move came when he built a brick marketplace. In 1935, at the age of 80, he sold the store to John Finholm, an immigrant from Finland who had opened his first Gig Harbor store in 1931. The store he bought from Axel still bears the Finholm name., [Photo captions, top to bottom, read] , . North Gig Harbor, steamer landing on right, original Uddenberg home and store (with 3 dormers), before 1910, . Axel (l.) and Hobert Uddenberg in front of Axel's second north Gig Harbor store, . Axel Uddenberg's general merchandise store alongside the ferry landing, taken circa 1920