Puget Sound · WA
Tacoma
The City of Destiny, on Commencement Bay.
- Population
- 219,346 (2020 census)
- Railroad terminus
- 1873
- Narrows Bridge collapse
- 1940
Then
- Before 1873
The Puyallup people live on the delta. The city's name comes from the Salish name for Mount Rainier.
- 1873
Tacoma is picked as the Northern Pacific's western terminus.
- 1875
Tacoma incorporates. It merges with New Tacoma in 1884.
- 1940
The first Tacoma Narrows Bridge, "Galloping Gertie," collapses.
Now
The Port of Tacoma on Commencement Bay is Washington's largest port, and Point Defiance Park covers about 700 acres. This place includes the Narrows and Vashon's south tip at Tahlequah.