Tacoma
The population was 193,556 at the 2000 census and had a 2008 Washington State Office of Financial Management estimate of 202,700. Tacoma is the second-largest city in the Puget Sound area and the third largest in the state.
Tacoma adopted its name after the nearby Mount Rainier, originally called Mount Tacoma or Mount Tahoma.
It is known as the "City of Destiny" because the area was chosen to be the western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad in the late 1800s. The decision of the railroad was influenced by Tacoma's neighboring Commencement Bay.
By connecting the bay with the railroad Tacoma’s motto became “When rails meet sails.” Today Commencement Bay serves the Port of Tacoma, a center of international trade on the Pacific Coast.
Like most central cities, Tacoma suffered a prolonged decline in the mid-20th century as a result of suburbanization, divestment, and federal urban renewal programs. Recently the city has been undergoing a renaissance, investing in the downtown core to establish the University of Washington, Tacoma; Tacoma Link, the first modern electric light rail service in the state; various art and history museums; and a restored inlet, the Thea Foss Waterway.
With a long history of blue-collar labor politics — from the railroad workers of the 1800s, to the longshoremen of the 20th century, to the Labor Ready workers of today — Tacoma has long been known for its rough, gritty image.
Tacoma-Pierce County has been named one of the most livable areas in the country. Tacoma was also recently listed as the 19th most walkable city in the country. In contrast, the city is also ranked as the most stressed-out city in the country in a 2004 survey. However, in 2006, women's magazine Self named Tacoma the "Most Sexually Healthy City" in the United States.
History
Tacoma was inhabited for thousands of years by American Indians, predominantly the Puyallup people, who lived in settlements on the delta of the Puyallup River and called the area Squa-szucks.
It was visited by European and American explorers, including George Vancouver and Charles Wilkes, who named many of the coastal landmarks.
19th century
In 1852 a Swede named Nicolas Delin constructed a sawmill powered by water on a creek near the head of Commencement Bay, but the small settlement that grew up around it was abandoned during the Indian War of 1855-1856. Its hopes to be the "City of Destiny" were stimulated by selection in 1873 as the western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad, thanks to lobbying by McCarver and others.
The transcontinental link was effected in 1887, but the railroad built its depot on "New Tacoma", two miles (3km) south of the Carr-McCarver development. Rudyard Kipling visited Tacoma in 1889 and said it was "literally staggering under a boom of the boomiest".
George Francis Train was a resident for a few years in the late 1800s.
A plaque in downtown Tacoma marks the start/finish line.
What came to be known as "Tacoma method" was used in November 1885 to expel several thousand Chinese peaceably living in the city. The next day two Chinese settlements were burned to the ground."
The discovery of gold in the Klondike in 1898 led Tacoma's prominence in the region to be eclipsed by the booming development of Seattle.
Downtown looking North from the Tacoma Sheraton
20th century
During a 30-day power shortage in the winter of 1929/1930, Tacoma was provided with electricity from the engines of the aircraft carrier USS Lexington.
In 1935 Tacoma received national attention when George Weyerhaeuser, nine-year-old son of prominent lumber industry executive J.P.
FBI agents from Portland handled the case, in which payment of a ransom of $200,000 secured release of the victim. The last to be released was paroled from McNeil Island in 1963; George Weyerhaeuser went on to become chairman of the Board of the Weyerhaeuser Company.
In 1951, an investigation by a state legislative committee revealed widespread corruption in Tacoma's government, which had been organized commission-style since 1910.
On both occasions, voters rejected 3-1 the computer voting systems that local officials sought to purchase. The Museum of Glass opened in downtown Tacoma in 2002, showing glass art from the region and around the world.
The glass and steel Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center opened in November 2004.
Downtown Tacoma has a thriving Theatre District, anchored by the 89-year-old Pantages Theater. Other attractions include the Grand Cinema and the Temple Theatre.
The area around the Theatre District is the center of Tacoma's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender culture.
Rainier.
The city is near several military installations, including Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 193,556 people, 76,152 households, and 45,919 families residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 60.25% White, 12.17% African American, 2.01% Native American, 8.23% Asian, 0.93% Pacific Islander, 3.02% from other races, and 6.28% from two or more races.
13.2% were of German, 7.7% Irish, 6.8% English, 5.5% Norwegian and 5.4% American ancestry according to Census 2000. Almost one third of households (31.7%) were made up of individuals living alone; 10.4% of these were 65 years of age or older.
The average household size in 2000 was 2.45 and the average family size was 3.10.
In the city the population was spread out with 25.8% under 18, 10.4% from 18 to 24, 31.6% from 25 to 44, 20.3% from 45 to 64, and 11.9% who were 65 years of age or older. D3 )
Government
The government of the City of Tacoma operates under a council-manager system.
Most meetings are open to the public and provide for public input.
Normal day-to-day operations of the city government are administered by the city manager, Eric Anderson, who is appointed by the city council.
Commerce and industry
The Port of Tacoma, on Commencement Bay, is one of the largest seaports in the Pacific Northwest
Tacoma is the home of several international companies, such as Russell Investments and Labor Ready, Inc.(now named True Blue Inc.)
Beginning in the 1930s, Tacoma became known for the "Tacoma Aroma", a distinctive, acrid odor produced by paper manufacturing on the industrial tide flats. Built in Tacoma in 1952, it currently refines 39,000 barrels of petroleum per day.
The Tacoma Mall is the largest shopping center in Tacoma.
The majority of the city has a system of gridded streets oriented in relation to A Street (one block east of Pacific Avenue) and Sixth Avenue, both beginning in downtown Tacoma. Within the city, numbered streets run east to west and are labeled "North" or "South" according to their relationship with Sixth Avenue or Division Street.
For example, the intersection of South 11th Street and Union Avenue is just ten blocks south of North 11th Street and Union Avenue. This numeric system extends to the furthest reaches of Pierce County, except for the Key Peninsula, which retains the north-south streets but chooses the Pierce-Kitsap line as the zero point for east-west streets.
In newer portions of the city to the west and south, residential cul-de-sacs, four-lane collector roads and indoor shopping centers are more commonplace.
The dominant intercity transportation link between Tacoma and other parts of the Puget Sound is Interstate 5, which links Tacoma with Seattle to the north and Portland, Oregon, to the south. State Route 16 runs along a concrete viaduct through Tacoma's Nalley Valley, connecting Interstate 5 with Central and West Tacoma, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and the Kitsap Peninsula.
(Service to and from Olympia is serviced by Pierce and Intercity Transit.) Sound Transit has also established Tacoma Link light rail, a 2.5 km (1.6-mile) free electric streetcar line linking Tacoma Dome Station with the University of Washington, Tacoma, Tacoma's Museum District, and the Theater District. Expansion of the city's rail transit system (either in the form of electric streetcars or light rail) is under consideration by the city of Tacoma and Pierce Transit, and is supported by a local grassroots organization, Tacoma Streetcar.
The Washington State Ferries system, which has a dock at Point Defiance, provides ferry access to Tahlequah at the southern tip of Vashon Island, typically on the ferry MV Rhododendron.
Greyhound service is also accessible via Tacoma Dome Station.
Amtrak train 11, the southbound Coast Starlight, is scheduled to depart Tacoma at 10:31am with service to Olympia-Lacey, Portland, Sacramento, Emeryville, California (with bus connection to San Francisco), and Los Angeles. 1 was built in 1929 for the Port of Tacoma by the Coastline Shipbuilding Company.
Sheridan Elementary School operates three foreign language immersion programs (Spanish, French, and Japanese).