Tacoma

Sister cities

• Ålesund Municipality
• Gunsan
• Davao City
• Vladivostok
• Boca del Río
• Brovary
• George
• Taichung
• Biot
• El Jadida
• Cienfuegos
• Kitakyūshū

History

The area was inhabited for thousands of years by Native Americans, most recently the Puyallup people, who lived in settlements on the delta. In 1852, Swedish immigrant Nicolas Delin built a water-powered sawmill on a creek near the head of Commencement Bay, but the small settlement that grew around it was abandoned during the Indian War of 1855–56. In 1864, pioneer and postmaster Job Carr, a Civil War veteran and land speculator, built a cabin (which also served as Tacoma's first post office; a replica was built in 2000 near the original site in "Old Town"). Carr hoped to profit from the selection of Commencement Bay as the terminus of the Transcontinental Railroad, and sold most of his claim to developer Morton M. McCarver (1807–1875), who named his project Tacoma City, derived from the indigenous name for the mountain. Tacoma was incorporated on November 12, 1875, following its selection in 1873 as the western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad due to lobbying by McCarver, future mayor John Wilson Sprague, and others. However, the railroad built its depot in New Tacoma, two miles (3 km) south of the Carr–McCarver development. The two communities grew together and joined, merging on January 7, 1884. The transcontinental link was effected in 1887, and the population grew from 1,098 in 1880 to 36,006 in 1890. Rudyard Kipling visited Tacoma in 1889 and said it was "literally staggering under a boom of the boomiest". In November 1885, white citizens led by then-mayor Jacob Weisbach expelled several hundred Chinese residents peacefully living in the city. As described by the account prepared by the Chinese Reconciliation Project Foundation, on the morning of November 3, "several hundred men, led by the mayor and other city officials, evicted the Chinese from…

Geography

Tacoma has an official elevation of , varying between sea level and about . According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of , of which is land and is water. Tacoma straddles the neighboring Commencement Bay with several smaller cities surrounding it. Large areas of Tacoma have views of Mount Rainier. In the event of a major eruption of Mount Rainier, the low-lying areas of Tacoma near the Port of Tacoma are at risk from a lahar flowing down the Puyallup River. The city is several miles north of Joint Base Lewis–McChord, formerly known separately as Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base. Tacoma is home to numerous architectural landmarks and was shaped by prominent architects such as Everett Phipps Babcock, Frederick Heath, Ambrose J. Russell, and Silas E. Nelsen. The city features two suspension bridges, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, that connect Tacoma to Gig Harbor and the Kitsap Peninsula. The collapse of the original bridge in 1940 remains a well-known case study in engineering and design. Tacoma's historic preservation program oversees 165 city landmarks and more than 1,000 historic properties within five overlay zones. Several structures are listed on local, state, and national historic registers, including Engine House No. 9 (now a pub and microbrewery), Fireboat No. 1, and the William Ross Rust House. Other notable sites include the Murray Morgan Bridge, a 1911 steel lift bridge across the Thea Foss Waterway, the National Realty Building, Lincoln High School, Rhodes House, Pythian Temple, Perkins Building, Tacoma Dome, and Rhodesleigh. The Luzon Building and Nihon Go Gakko school house have been demolished, and the MV Kalakala was scrapped in early 2015. University of Puget Sound, Cushman Dam No. 1, Cushman Dam No. 2, Rialto Theater,…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  35,290
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  29,143
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  28,116
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  25,842
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  24,784
• Spotted Towhee

  Pipilo maculatus Swainson, 1827 · Aves
  21,749
• Anna's Hummingbird

  Calypte anna (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  20,641
• Northern Flicker

  Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  20,113

Largest nearby schools

• Puyallup High School
  High · Puyallup · 1,701 students · 23.6:1 ratio
• Lincoln High School
  High · Tacoma · 1,578 students · 19:1 ratio
• Stadium High School
  High · Tacoma · 1,571 students · 23.4:1 ratio
• Gig Harbor High
  High · Gig Harbor · 1,435 students · 24.7:1 ratio
• Mount Tahoma High School
  High · Tacoma · 1,430 students · 20.4:1 ratio
• Curtis Senior High
  High · UNIVERSITY PLACE · 1,349 students · 23.3:1 ratio
• Clover Park High School
  High · Lakewood · 1,315 students · 18.8:1 ratio
• Lakes High School
  High · Lakewood · 1,286 students · 21.4:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.51 — 2026-08-09
  11 km SSW of River Road, Washington
• M 2.5 — 2026-06-26
  11 km E of Carnation, Washington
• M 2.82 — 2026-06-26
  1 km SSE of Easton, Washington
• M 2.84 — 2026-05-27
  4 km W of Wauna, Washington
• M 2.75 — 2026-04-11
  13 km NW of Cliffdell, Washington
• M 2.52 — 2026-03-17
  7 km SE of Mineral, Washington