Tacoma, << tuh KOH muh >> (pop. 219,346) is one of the largest cities in Washington. This seaport is also an industrial and commercial center, and the heart of a major military complex. The city lies on Commencement Bay, an inlet of Puget Sound, between Seattle and Olympia. Tacoma, Seattle, and Bellevue are part of a metropolitan area with 4,018,762 people.
Tacoma is located between the Olympic Mountains on the west and the Cascade Mountains on the east. The city rises steeply from the bay to more than 400 feet (120 meters) above sea level. The Puyallup River flows through the city from Mount Rainier, which lies about 40 miles (65 kilometers) to the southeast. The name Tacoma is the Indian word for Mount Rainier, which is the state’s highest peak at 14,410 feet (4,392 meters).
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, several smaller airports, railroads, and steamship lines serve the Tacoma area. The Tacoma Narrows Bridge crosses Puget Sound and connects Tacoma with the Kitsap Peninsula.
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Tacoma is one of the nation’s chief gateways of trade. Major imports include automobile parts, clothing, machinery, and ore. Exports include food products, machinery, and wood and paper products. Tacoma was a shipbuilding center for many years, but that industry had declined greatly by the 1980’s. The city is a center for chemical processing and metal processing. It is also the home of a large forest products industry, including milling, woodworking, furniture making, and pulp and papermaking. The city operates hydroelectric dams on rivers draining the Cascade and Olympic mountains.
Several military bases and military medical facilities operate in the area. Near the outskirts of the city are Joint Base Lewis-McChord and Madigan Army Medical Center. Tacoma is the home of the University of Puget Sound, Pacific Lutheran University, and campuses of the University of Washington and Evergreen State College. The glass-walled Greater Tacoma Convention Center is one of the state’s largest meeting and convention facilities. The Tacoma Dome, a large domed arena, hosts many concerts and sporting events.
Puyallup Indians occupied what is now Tacoma before the first white settlers arrived. The Puyallup now have a reservation in the city and an adjoining area. White people settled the region when a sawmill was built near the bay in 1852. In 1868, two settlements developed, called Tacoma and Tacoma City. In 1873, the Northern Pacific Railroad chose a site called New Tacoma for the western end of its transcontinental railroad. Service to the eastern United States began in 1883. The villages merged into a single city in 1884. Tacoma has a council-manager form of government. It is the seat of Pierce County.
See also Tacoma Narrows Bridge .
