Job Carr's original cabin was added to Tacoma's Register of Historic Places in 1976. At the time, it stood in Point Defiance Park as a testament to Tacoma's settlement, but it was a ruin with no doors or windows, and by 1988 it had deteriorated to the point that Parks Tacoma had to demolish the structure.

Shortly thereafter, business owners Karen Poole and Phillis Olsen began conversations with the Old Town Business and Professional Association to bring Old Town's historic past back to life. Preservation architect Gene Grulich and Valerie Sivinsky, JCCM Executive Council Member and Tacoma’s Historic Preservation Officer, examined the logs from the original cabin and determined that they were not salvagable. After a year promoting the project in the community and raising funds, construction began in the spring of 2000, led by Gene's expertise. Countless individuals and companies donated in kind services to bring this dream to life, including Absher Construction and Rushforth Construction, North Fork Timber Company, and Shire Mountain Homes.

Dedicated on December 2, 2000, the Job Carr Cabin Museum is the result of a grassroots effort to preserve Tacoma's frontier history. Today, we work to ensure that the stories and impacts of Tacoma's settlement and growth are accessible for students and families. We hope that by sharing diverse stories of perserverance, injustice, home, love and land, we inspire our community to care for our beautiful city and work towards a brighter future together.