Samuel Slaughter

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Samuel Clarence Slaughter (1848–May 23, 1910) was a Virginia-born banker who became a pioneer real estate developer and politician in Tacoma, Washington. He spent more than 15 years in New York with the banking firm Norton, Slaughter & Company before moving to Tacoma in the early 1880s to work in real estate. He helped shape Tacoma’s growth, first with Henry K. Moore in Moore & Slaughter and later as the chief partner of S. C. Slaughter & Company by 1903.

One of his early deals helped create a major Tacoma business district; the land at Pacific Avenue and 11th Street later became the site of the Pacific National Bank. In his twenty years in Tacoma real estate, he closed many deals that contributed to the city’s development and commercial expansion.

Politically, Slaughter was a Democrat and a member of the Pierce County Democratic Club. He ran for Tacoma City Controller several times and was elected in 1892, the only Democrat to win that year, serving two years.

Born in Culpeper County, Virginia, he was the son of Dr. Philip C. Slaughter, a Confederate Army surgeon, and Mary Slaughter. In 1889 he married Julia Widgery, a Tacoma civic figure.

In 1908 he was injured in a car accident, and he died of heart disease in Tacoma on May 23, 1910. He is buried in Oakwood Cemetery.