City in Washington, United States
Tacoma
|
---|
|
|
Flag
Seal
|
Nickname(s):
City of Destiny, Grit City
|
Location of Tacoma in
Pierce County and Washington state
|
Coordinates:
47°14′29″N
122°27′34″W
/
47.24139°N 122.45944°W
/
47.24139; -122.45944
|
Country
| United States
|
---|
State
| Washington
|
---|
County
| Pierce
|
---|
Adopted
| 1868
[1]
|
---|
Founded
| 1872
|
---|
Incorporated
| November 12, 1875
|
---|
Named for
| Tahoma
|
---|
|
? Type
| Council?manager
|
---|
?
Mayor
| Victoria Woodards
|
---|
|
?
City
| 62.42 sq mi (161.68 km
2
)
|
---|
? Land
| 49.71 sq mi (128.76 km
2
)
|
---|
? Water
| 12.71 sq mi (32.92 km
2
)
|
---|
Elevation
| 249 ft (76 m)
|
---|
|
?
City
| 219,346
|
---|
? Estimate
| 221,776
|
---|
? Rank
| US:
101st
WA:
3rd
|
---|
? Density
| 4,412.51/sq mi (1,703.53/km
2
)
|
---|
?
Urban
| 3,544,011 (Seattle urban area) (US:
13rd
)
|
---|
?
Metro
| 4,034,248 (
Seattle metropolitan area
) (US:
15th
)
|
---|
Demonym
| Tacoman (plural: Tacomans)
|
---|
Time zone
| UTC?8
(
Pacific (PST)
)
|
---|
? Summer (
DST
)
| UTC?7
(PDT)
|
---|
ZIP codes
|
- 98401?98409, 98411?98413, 98415?98419, 98421?98422, 98424, 98430?98431, 98433, 98438?98439, 98443?98448, 98464?98467, 98471, 98481, 98490, 98493, 98496?98499
|
---|
Area code
| 253
|
---|
FIPS code
| 53-70000
|
---|
GNIS
feature ID
| 1512713
[1]
|
---|
Website
| cityoftacoma.org
|
---|
Tacoma
(
t?-
KOH
-m?
) is the
county seat
of
Pierce County
,
Washington
, United States.
[6]
A port city, it is situated along Washington's
Puget Sound
, 32 miles (51 km) southwest of
Seattle
, 36 miles (58 km) southwest of
Bellevue
, 31 miles (50 km) northeast of the state capital,
Olympia
, 58 miles (93 km) northwest of
Mount Rainier National Park
, and 80 miles (130 km) east of
Olympic National Park
. The city's population was 219,346 at the time of the
2020 census
.
[3]
Tacoma is the second-largest city in the Puget Sound area and the
third-most populous
in the state. Tacoma also serves as the center of business activity for the
South Sound
region, which has a population of about 1 million.
Tacoma adopted its name after the nearby
Mount Rainier
, called
t??q?u?b??
in the
Puget Sound Salish
dialect, and “Takhoma” in an anglicized version. It is locally known as the "City of Destiny" because the area was chosen to be the western terminus of the
Northern Pacific Railroad
in the late 19th century. The decision of the railroad was influenced by Tacoma's neighboring deep-water harbor,
Commencement Bay
. By connecting the bay with the railroad, Tacoma's motto became "When rails meet sails". Commencement Bay serves the
Port of Tacoma
, a center of
international trade
on the
Pacific Coast
and Washington's largest port. The city gained notoriety in 1940 for the collapse of the
Tacoma Narrows Bridge
, which earned the nickname "Galloping Gertie" due to the vertical movement of the deck during windy conditions.
Like most industrial cities, Tacoma suffered a prolonged decline in the mid-20th century as a result of
suburbanization
and divestment. Since the 1990s, downtown Tacoma has experienced a period of revitalization. Developments in the downtown include the
University of Washington Tacoma
; the
T Line
(formerly Tacoma Link), the first modern electric
light rail
service in the state; the state's highest density of art and history museums; and a restored urban waterfront, the
Thea Foss Waterway
.
History
[
edit
]
Early history
[
edit
]
The area was inhabited for thousands of years by
American Indians
, most recently the
Puyallup
people, who lived in settlements on the delta.
In 1852, a Swede named 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").
[7]
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".
[8]
George Francis Train
was a resident for a few years in the late 19th century. In 1890, he staged a global circumnavigation starting and ending in Tacoma to promote the city. A plaque in downtown Tacoma marks the start and finish line.
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 their homes, corralled them at 7th Street and Pacific Avenue, marched them to the railway station at Lakeview and forced them aboard the morning train to
Portland, Oregon
. The next day two Chinese settlements were burned to the ground."
The discovery of gold in the
Klondike
in 1898 led to Tacoma's prominence in the region being eclipsed by the development of Seattle.
A major tragedy marred the end of the 19th century, when a
streetcar accident
resulted in significant loss of life on July 4, 1900.
Early 20th century
[
edit
]
From May to August 1907, the city was the site of a smelter workers' strike organized by Local 545 of the
Industrial Workers of the World
(IWW), with the goal of a fifty-cent per day pay raise.
[9]
[10]
The strike was strongly opposed by the local business community, and the smelter owners threatened to
blacklist
organizers and union officials. The IWW opposed this move by trying to persuade inbound workers to avoid Tacoma during the strike.
[11]
By August, the strike had ended without meeting its demands.
[9]
Tacoma was briefly (1915?1922) a major destination for big-time automobile racing, with one of the nation's
top-rated racing venues
just outside the city limits, at the site of today's
Clover Park Technical College
.
In 1924, Tacoma's first movie studio, H. C. Weaver Studio, was sited at present-day
Titlow Beach
. At the time, it was the third-largest freestanding film production space in America, with the two larger facilities being located in Hollywood.
[12]
The studio's importance has undergone a revival with the discovery of one of its most famous lost films,
Eyes of the Totem
.
Tacoma manufacturing district and tide flats, 1912.
The Great Depression
[
edit
]
The 1929 crash of the stock market, resulting in the
Great Depression
, was only the first event in a series of misfortunes to hit Tacoma in the winter of 1929?30. In one of the coldest winters on record, Tacoma experienced mass power outages and eventually the shutdown of major power supply dams, leaving the city without sufficient power and heat.
[13]
During the 30-day power shortage in the winter of 1929 and 1930, the engines of the aircraft carrier
USS
Lexington
provided Tacoma with electricity.
[14]
[15]
A power grid failure paired with a newly rewritten city constitution ? put into place to keep political power away from a single entity such as the railroad ? created a standstill in the ability to further the local economy. Local businesses were affected as the sudden stop of loans limited progression of expansion and renewal funds for maintenance, leading to foreclosures.
[16]
Families across the city experienced the fallout of economic depression as breadwinners sought to provide for their families. Shanty-town politics began to develop as the destitute needed some form of leadership to keep the peace.
[17]
Hooverville
[
edit
]
At the intersection of Dock Street EXD and East D Street in the train yard, a
shanty town
became the solution to the growing scar of the depression. Tacoma's
Hooverville
grew in 1924 as the homeless community settled on the waterfront.
[18]
[19]
In 1927, Tacoma's Hooverville was coined "Hollywood" due to the type of crimes at the camp.
[18]
[19]
The population boomed in November 1930 through early 1931 as families from the neighboring McKinley and
Hilltop
areas were evicted.
Collecting scraps of metal and wood from local lumber stores and recycling centers, families began building shanties (shacks) for shelter. By 1934, alcoholism and suicide were a common event in the Hooverville
[18]
[19]
that eventually led to its nickname of "Hollywood on the Tide Flats", because of the
Hollywood
-style crimes and events taking place in the camp.
[
further explanation needed
]
In 1935, Tacoma received national attention when
George Weyerhaeuser
, the nine-year-old son of prominent lumber industry executive
J.P. Weyerhaeuser
, was kidnapped
[20]
while walking home from school.
FBI
agents from Portland handled the case, in which a ransom of $200,000 secured the release of the victim. Four persons were apprehended and convicted; 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 1940, after eviction notices failed, the police department attempted to burn down Hooverville.
[18]
[19]
In 1956, the last occupant of "Hollywood" was evicted and the police used fire to level the grounds and make room for industrial growth.
[21]
[18]
[19]
Post-WWII
[
edit
]
In 1951, an investigation by a state legislative committee revealed widespread corruption in Tacoma's government, which had been organized commission-style since 1910. Voters approved a mayor and city-manager system in 1952.
Tacoma was featured prominently in the
garage rock
sound of the mid-1960s with bands including
The Wailers
and
The Sonics
. The
surf rock
band
The Ventures
were also from Tacoma.
Downtown Tacoma
experienced a long decline through the mid-20th century.
Harold Moss
, later the city's mayor, characterized late-1970s Tacoma as looking "bombed out" like "downtown
Beirut
" (a reference to the
Lebanese Civil War
that occurred at that time); "Streets were abandoned, storefronts were abandoned and City Hall was the headstone and Union Station the footstone" on the grave of downtown.
[22]
The first local referendums in the U.S. on computerized voting occurred in Tacoma in 1982 and 1987. On both occasions, voters rejected the computer voting systems that local officials sought to purchase. The campaigns, organized by Eleanora Ballasiotes, a conservative Republican, focused on the vulnerabilities of computers to fraud.
[23]
In 1998, Tacoma installed
Click! Network
, a high-speed fiber optic network throughout the community. The municipally owned power company,
Tacoma Power
, wired the city. In response, the State of Washington passed RCW 54.16.330 in 2000,
[24]
effectively preventing further research and development of Click! Network until its repeal in 2021
[25]
during the
COVID-19 Pandemic
, a period of over 20 years.
Downtown revival
[
edit
]
Beginning in the early 1990s, city residents and planners took steps to revitalize Tacoma, particularly its downtown. Among the projects were the federal courthouse in the former
Union Station
(1991); Save Our Station community group; Merritt+Pardini Architect (1991); Reed & Stem Architects (1911); the adaptation of a group of century-old brick warehouses into a branch campus of the
University of Washington
; the numerous privately financed renovation projects near the campus; the
Washington State History Museum
(1996), echoing the architecture of Union Station; the
Museum of Glass
(2002); the
Tacoma Art Museum
(2003); and the region's first light-rail line (2003).
[26]
The glass and steel
Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center
opened in November 2004.
[27]
America's Car Museum
was completed in late 2011 near the
Tacoma Dome
.
The
Pantages Theater
(first opened in 1918) anchors downtown Tacoma's Theatre District.
Tacoma Arts Live
[28]
manages the Pantages, the Rialto Theater, and the Theatre on the Square. Tacoma Little Theatre (opened in 1918) is northwest of downtown in the Stadium District. Other attractions include the Grand Cinema, McMenamins Elks Temple, and the Landmark Temple Theatre.
Geography
[
edit
]
Tacoma is at
47°14′29″N
122°27′34″W
/
47.24139°N 122.45944°W
/
47.24139; -122.45944
(47.241371, ?122.459389).
[29]
Its official elevation is 381 feet (116 m), varying between sea level and about 500 feet (150 m).
According to the
United States Census Bureau
, the city has an area of 62.34 square miles (161.46 km
2
), of which 49.72 square miles (128.77 km
2
) is land and 12.62 square miles (32.69 km
2
) is water.
[30]
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
.
Neighborhoods
[
edit
]
Climate
[
edit
]
According to the
Koppen climate classification
, Tacoma has a warm-summer
Mediterranean climate
(Koppen
Csb
). The warmest months are July and August; the coldest month is December.
Climate data for Tacoma, Washington (1991?2020 normals, extremes 1982?present)
|
Month
|
Jan
|
Feb
|
Mar
|
Apr
|
May
|
Jun
|
Jul
|
Aug
|
Sep
|
Oct
|
Nov
|
Dec
|
Year
|
Record high °F (°C)
|
66
(19)
|
68
(20)
|
77
(25)
|
83
(28)
|
92
(33)
|
105
(41)
|
94
(34)
|
96
(36)
|
89
(32)
|
82
(28)
|
70
(21)
|
68
(20)
|
105
(41)
|
Mean maximum °F (°C)
|
58.2
(14.6)
|
58.8
(14.9)
|
66.1
(18.9)
|
72.6
(22.6)
|
79.8
(26.6)
|
83.0
(28.3)
|
86.7
(30.4)
|
87.4
(30.8)
|
80.6
(27.0)
|
70.8
(21.6)
|
62.6
(17.0)
|
58.2
(14.6)
|
89.4
(31.9)
|
Mean daily maximum °F (°C)
|
48.1
(8.9)
|
50.3
(10.2)
|
54.7
(12.6)
|
59.8
(15.4)
|
66.5
(19.2)
|
71.1
(21.7)
|
76.8
(24.9)
|
76.9
(24.9)
|
70.7
(21.5)
|
60.7
(15.9)
|
52.4
(11.3)
|
47.3
(8.5)
|
61.3
(16.3)
|
Daily mean °F (°C)
|
42.8
(6.0)
|
43.9
(6.6)
|
47.4
(8.6)
|
51.8
(11.0)
|
57.8
(14.3)
|
62.2
(16.8)
|
67.0
(19.4)
|
66.9
(19.4)
|
61.9
(16.6)
|
53.7
(12.1)
|
46.5
(8.1)
|
42.1
(5.6)
|
53.7
(12.1)
|
Mean daily minimum °F (°C)
|
37.4
(3.0)
|
37.4
(3.0)
|
40.1
(4.5)
|
43.7
(6.5)
|
49.1
(9.5)
|
53.4
(11.9)
|
57.2
(14.0)
|
57.0
(13.9)
|
53.0
(11.7)
|
46.6
(8.1)
|
40.5
(4.7)
|
36.9
(2.7)
|
46.0
(7.8)
|
Mean minimum °F (°C)
|
25.6
(?3.6)
|
27.2
(?2.7)
|
31.2
(?0.4)
|
35.4
(1.9)
|
41.3
(5.2)
|
47.0
(8.3)
|
50.9
(10.5)
|
50.1
(10.1)
|
44.6
(7.0)
|
35.7
(2.1)
|
28.2
(?2.1)
|
25.7
(?3.5)
|
21.9
(?5.6)
|
Record low °F (°C)
|
17
(?8)
|
11
(?12)
|
15
(?9)
|
29
(?2)
|
34
(1)
|
37
(3)
|
46
(8)
|
41
(5)
|
34
(1)
|
26
(?3)
|
5
(?15)
|
6
(?14)
|
5
(?15)
|
Average
precipitation
inches (mm)
|
6.03
(153)
|
4.03
(102)
|
4.38
(111)
|
3.39
(86)
|
2.00
(51)
|
1.42
(36)
|
0.55
(14)
|
0.83
(21)
|
1.57
(40)
|
4.09
(104)
|
6.50
(165)
|
6.02
(153)
|
40.81
(1,037)
|
Average precipitation days
(≥ 0.01 in)
|
19.5
|
15.9
|
17.4
|
14.7
|
10.6
|
8.3
|
3.4
|
3.9
|
7.0
|
14.3
|
19.5
|
20.4
|
154.9
|
Mean monthly
sunshine hours
|
64
|
113
|
186
|
210
|
248
|
270
|
310
|
279
|
210
|
155
|
60
|
62
|
2,167
|
Mean daily
sunshine hours
|
2
|
4
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
9
|
7
|
5
|
2
|
2
|
6
|
Percent
possible sunshine
|
22
|
39
|
50
|
51
|
53
|
57
|
65
|
63
|
56
|
46
|
22
|
23
|
46
|
Source:
NOAA
,
[32]
[33]
The Weather Channel,
[34]
and Weather Atlas (sun and uv)
[35]
|
Demographics
[
edit
]
Historical population
Census
| Pop.
| Note
| %±
|
1870
| 73
| | ?
|
---|
1880
| 1,098
| | 1,404.1%
|
---|
1890
| 36,006
| | 3,179.2%
|
---|
1900
| 37,714
| | 4.7%
|
---|
1910
| 83,743
| | 122.0%
|
---|
1920
| 96,965
| | 15.8%
|
---|
1930
| 106,817
| | 10.2%
|
---|
1940
| 109,408
| | 2.4%
|
---|
1950
| 143,673
| | 31.3%
|
---|
1960
| 147,979
| | 3.0%
|
---|
1970
| 154,407
| | 4.3%
|
---|
1980
| 158,501
| | 2.7%
|
---|
1990
| 176,664
| | 11.5%
|
---|
2000
| 193,556
| | 9.6%
|
---|
2010
| 198,397
| | 2.5%
|
---|
2020
| 219,346
| | 10.6%
|
---|
2022 (est.)
| 221,776
| [4]
| 1.1%
|
---|
2020 census
[
edit
]
As of the
2020 census
, there were 219,346 people and 91,951 households residing in the city.
Tacoma, Washington ? Racial and ethnic composition
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
Race / Ethnicity
(
NH = Non-Hispanic
)
|
Pop 2000
[38]
|
Pop 2010
[39]
|
Pop 2020
[40]
|
% 2000
|
% 2010
|
% 2020
|
White
alone (NH)
|
128,696
|
119,981
|
120,118
|
66.49%
|
60.48%
|
54.76%
|
Black or African American
alone (NH)
|
21,187
|
21,222
|
21,708
|
10.95%
|
10.70%
|
9.90%
|
Native American
or
Alaska Native
alone (NH)
|
3,398
|
2,988
|
2,910
|
1.76%
|
1.51%
|
1.33%
|
Asian
alone (NH)
|
14,508
|
16,013
|
19,932
|
7.50%
|
8.07%
|
9.09%
|
Pacific Islander
alone (NH)
|
1,740
|
2,358
|
4,174
|
0.90%
|
1.19%
|
1.90%
|
Other race
alone (NH)
|
504
|
394
|
1,399
|
0.26%
|
0.20%
|
0.64%
|
Mixed Race or Multi-Racial
(NH)
|
10,261
|
13,051
|
20,090
|
5.30%
|
6.58%
|
9.16%
|
Hispanic or Latino
(any race)
|
13,262
|
22,390
|
29,015
|
6.85%
|
11.29%
|
13.23%
|
Total
|
193,556
|
198,397
|
219,346
|
100.00%
|
100.00%
|
100.00%
|
2010 census
[
edit
]
As of the
2010 census
, there were 198,397 people, 78,541 households, and 45,716 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,864.9 inhabitants per square mile (1,492.2/km
2
). There were 81,102 housing units at an average density of 1,619.4 per square mile (625.3/km
2
). The racial makeup of the city was 64.9%
White
(60.5%
Non-Hispanic White
), 12.2%
African American
, 8.2%
Asian
(2.1% Vietnamese, 1.6% Cambodian, 1.3% Korean, 1.3% Filipino, 0.4% Chinese, 0.4% Japanese, 0.2% Indian, 0.2% Laotian, 0.1% Thai), 1.8%
Native American
, 1.2%
Pacific Islander
(0.7% Samoan, 0.2% Guamanian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian), and 8.1% were from
two or more races
.
Hispanic
or
Latino
residents of any race were 11.3% of the population (8.1% Mexican, 1.1% Puerto Rican).
There were 78,541 households, of which 31.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.8% were married couples living together, 14.8% had a female householder with no spouse present, 5.6% had a male householder with no spouse present, and 41.8% were other families. 32.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 3.10.
The median age in the city was 35.1 years. 23% of residents were under the age of 18; 10.9% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 29.6% were from 25 to 44; 25.3% were from 45 to 64; and 11.3% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.4% male and 50.6% female.
2000 census
[
edit
]
As of the
2000 census
, there were 193,556 people, 76,152 households, and 45,919 families residing in the city. The median income for a household in the city was $37,879, and the median income for a family was $45,567. Males had a median income of $35,820, versus $27,697 for females. The
per capita income
for the city was $19,130. About 11.4% of families and 15.9% of the population were below the
poverty line
, including 20.6% of those under the age of 18 and 10.9% of those 65 and older.
Racial Makeup of Tacoma (2019)
[41]
White alone (63.71%)
Black alone (11.51%)
Native American alone (1.82%)
Asian alone (6.19%)
Pacific Islander alone (1.03%)
Some other race alone (5.31%)
Two or more races (10.43%)
|
Racial/Ethnic Makeup of Tacoma excluding Hispanics from Racial Categories (2019)
[41]
NH=Non-Hispanic
White NH (58.05%)
Black NH (11.20%)
Native American NH (1.01%)
Asian NH (6.13%)
Pacific Islander NH (0.99%)
Other race NH (0.48%)
Two or more races NH (9.38%)
Hispanic Any Race (12.75%)
|
Racial Makeup of Hispanics in Tacoma (2019)
[41]
White alone (44.37%)
Black alone (2.43%)
Native American alone (6.36%)
Asian alone (0.47%)
Pacific Islander alone (0.31%)
Other race alone (37.84%)
Two or more races (8.21%)
|
Crime
[
edit
]
According to
Uniform Crime Report
statistics compiled by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) in 2022, there were 3,601 violent crimes and 19,217 property crimes, for 221,776 residents. Of these, the violent crimes consisted of 147 forcible rapes, 41 murders, 752 robberies and 2,661 aggravated assaults, while 2,365 burglaries, 11,027 larceny-thefts, 5,582 motor vehicle thefts and 243 instances of arson defined the property offenses.
Tacoma's
Hilltop
neighborhood struggled with crime in the 1980s and early 1990s. The beginning of the 21st century has seen a marked reduction in crime, while neighborhoods have enacted community policing and other policies.
[42]
Bill Baarsma
(mayor, 2002?2010) was a member of the
Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition
,
[43]
a bi-partisan group with the goal of "making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets".
Starting in 2020, during the pandemic, Tacoma's crime started to rise again. In 2022, the city of Tacoma had the highest number of murders in its recorded history, at 45 murders, only 7 less than Seattle.
2023 has seen a large reduction in murders, however it is still far above the average before the pandemic.
[
citation needed
]
Government
[
edit
]
The government of the city of Tacoma operates under a council-manager system. The
city council
consists of an elected mayor (
Victoria Woodards
) and eight elected council members: five from individual city council districts and three others from the city at-large. All serve four-year terms and are elected in odd-numbered years. The council adopts and amends city laws, approves a two-year budget, establishes city policy, appoints citizens to boards and commissions, and performs other actions. The council also meets in "standing committees", which examine the council's work in more defined areas, such as "Environment & Public Works", "Neighborhoods & Housing", and "Public Safety, Human Services & Education". The council meets as a whole most Tuesdays at 5:00 p.m. in the council chambers at 747 Market St. Meetings are open to the public and provide for public input.
Victoria Woodards
began her term as mayor of the City of Tacoma on January 2, 2018. She is Tacoma's third African-American mayor and third female mayor, and the second African-American female mayor. She succeeded
Marilyn Strickland
, who was elected in 2009, becoming Tacoma's first African-American female mayor.
Normal day-to-day operations of the city government are administered by Tacoma's city manager, who is appointed by the city council. Elizabeth Pauli was appointed Interim City Manager on February 6, 2017.
[44]
[45]
She replaced former manager T. C. Broadnax, who was appointed to the office in January 2012
[46]
and left in 2017 to become the city manager of
Dallas, Texas
.
[47]
At the federal level, Tacoma is part of three congressional districts. The western portion of the city is part of the
6th District
, represented by
Derek Kilmer
. The eastern portion is in the
10th District
, represented by
Marilyn Strickland
. Northeastern Tacoma is in the
9th District
, represented by
Adam Smith
. All three are Democrats.
[48]
Economy
[
edit
]
Tacoma is the home of several international companies, including staffing company True Blue Inc., lumber company
Simpson
, and the food companies
Roman Meal
and
Brown and Haley
.
Frank C. Mars
founded
Mars, Incorporated
, in 1911 in Tacoma.
Beginning in the 1930s, the city became known for the "
Tacoma Aroma
", a distinctive, acrid odor produced by
pulp and paper
manufacturing on the industrial tide flats. In the late 1990s,
Simpson
Tacoma
Kraft
reduced total sulfur emissions by 90%. This largely eliminated the problem; where once the odor was ever-present, it is now only noticeable occasionally downtown, primarily when the wind is coming from the east. The mill produces pulpwood and
linerboard
products; previously owned by St. Regis
Company,
[49]
the mill was sold to
RockTenn
in 2014.
[50]
The mill's name changed yet again in 2016 to WestRock.
U.S. Oil and Refining
operates an
oil refinery
on the tide flats in the
Port of Tacoma
. Built 72 years ago in Tacoma in 1952, it refines 39,000
barrels
of petroleum per day.
The
Tacoma Mall
is the largest shopping center in Tacoma. It is owned by
Simon Property Group
. Anchor tenants include
JC Penney
,
Macy's
, and
Nordstrom
.
An economic setback for the city occurred in September 2009 when
Russell Investments
, which has been in downtown Tacoma since its inception in 1936, announced it was moving its headquarters to Seattle along with several hundred white-collar jobs.
[51]
A large regional office for State Farm occupied the building until 2018 when the building was purchased by the 909 Destiny Fund LLC. The building reopened as a multi-tenant Class A property. The anchor tenant is TOTE Alaska, which announced in 2019 that it would be relocating its Federal Way headquarters to the 909 A Street building's top two floors.
[52]
Hospitals in Tacoma are operated by
MultiCare Health System
and
Franciscan Health System
. Hospitals include
MultiCare Tacoma General Hospital
,
Mary Bridge Children's Hospital
, MultiCare Allenmore Hospital and
St. Joseph Medical Center
. The
Tacoma?Pierce County Health Department
manages public health initiatives across the city and county.
Top employers
[
edit
]
According to the city's 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,
[53]
the largest employers in the city are:
#
|
Employer
|
Type of Business
|
# of Employees
|
Percentage
|
1
|
Joint Base Lewis?McChord
|
Military
|
54,000
|
5.7%
|
2
|
MultiCare Health System
|
Health Care
|
8,264
|
0.9%
|
3
|
State of Washington
|
Government
|
7,859
|
0.8%
|
4
|
CHI Franciscan Health
|
Health Care
|
5,682
|
0.6%
|
5
|
Tacoma Public Schools
|
Education
|
3,649
|
0.4%
|
6
|
City of Tacoma
|
Government
|
3,623
|
0.4%
|
7
|
Pierce County
|
Government
|
3,304
|
0.3%
|
8
|
Puyallup School District
|
Education
|
2,711
|
0.3%
|
9
|
Bethel School District
|
Education
|
2,689
|
0.3%
|
10
|
Safeway
and
Albertsons
|
Retail Grocery
|
2,153
|
0.2%
|
?
|
Total employers
|
?
|
93,934
|
9.9%
|
Parks and recreation
[
edit
]
Parks and recreation services in and around Tacoma are governed by
Metro Parks Tacoma
, a
municipal corporation
established as a separate entity from the city government in 1907. Metro Parks maintains over fifty parks and open spaces in Tacoma.
[54]
Point Defiance Park
, one of the largest urban parks in the country (at 700 acres), is in Tacoma.
[55]
Scenic Five-Mile Drive allows access to many of the park's attractions, such as Owen Beach,
Fort Nisqually
, old growth forest trails, and the
Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium
(PDZA). There are many historic structures within the park, including the Pagoda, which was originally built as a streetcar waiting room. It was restored in 1988 and now serves as a rental facility for weddings and private parties.
[56]
The Pagoda was nearly destroyed by fire on August 15, 2011.
[57]
Repair work began immediately after the fire and continued until January 2013, at which time the Pagoda was reopened for public use.
Ruston Way is a waterfront area along Commencement Bay north of downtown Tacoma that hosts several public parks connected by a
multi-use trail
and interspersed with restaurants and other businesses. Public parks along Ruston Way include Jack Hyde Park, Old Town Dock, Hamilton Park, Dickman Mill Park, Les Davis Pier, Marine Park, and Cummings Park.
[58]
The trail is used by walkers, runners, cyclists, and other recreationalists. There are several beaches along Ruston Way with public access, some of which are also popular for scuba diving.
[
citation needed
]
Another large park in Tacoma is Wapato Park, which has a lake and walking trails that circle the lake. Wapato is in Tacoma's south end, at Sheridan and 72nd St.
Titlow Beach
, at the end of 6th Avenue, is also a
scuba diving
area.
Wright Park
, near downtown, is a large, English-style park designed in the late 19th century by
Edward Otto Schwagerl
and Ebenezer Rhys Roberts. It contains Wright Park Arboretum and the W. W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory. This historic park is also the home of local festivals such as Ethnic Fest,
[59]
Out in the Park (Tacoma's
Pride
festival
[60]
), and the Tacoma
Hempfest
(Tacoma's annual gathering advocating decriminalization of marijuana).
Jefferson Park in North Tacoma is the location of a new sprayground, an area designed to be a safe and unique play area where water is sprayed from structures or ground sprays and then drained away before it can accumulate.
Frost Park
in downtown Tacoma is often utilized for sidewalk chalk contests.
Don Pugnetti Park
was the site of an
Occupy Wall Street
encampment.
In response to the Tacoma area's growing dog population and stricter leash laws in many areas,
dog parks
have begun to be established. Rogers Off-Leash Dog Park is a metro public park established in 1949.
[61]
Architecture
[
edit
]
Tacoma includes several landmarks and was home to prolific architects, including
Everett Phipps Babcock
,
Frederick Heath
,
Ambrose J. Russell
, and
Silas E. Nelsen
.
Two suspension bridges span a narrow section of the
Puget Sound
called the Tacoma Narrows. The Tacoma Narrows Bridges link Tacoma to Gig Harbor and the
Kitsap Peninsula
. The failure of the first
Tacoma Narrows Bridge
, which was the third-longest suspension bridge in the world, is a famous case study in architecture textbooks.
Historic landmarks
[
edit
]
Tacoma has many properties that are listed on the City of Tacoma Register of Historic Places, the Washington State Heritage Register, and the
National Register of Historic Places
.
The city of Tacoma has an active municipal
historic preservation
program, which includes 165 individual city landmarks and over 1,000 historic properties included within five locally regulated historic overlay zones.
Engine House No. 9
is a
fire station
built in 1907. The building was placed on the
National Register of Historic Places
in 1975. The building houses a
pub
and
microbrewery
.
Stadium High School
and the
Stadium Bowl
, part of the Tacoma School District, provided a setting for the movie
10 Things I Hate About You
.
[
relevant?
]
Fireboat No. 1
rests on a permanent dry berth at a public beach near Tacoma's Old Town neighborhood. It was built in 1929 for the Port of Tacoma by the Coastline Shipbuilding Company, and served for 54 years in waterfront fire protection, harbor security patrols, search and rescue missions, and water pollution control. It is one of only five fireboats designated as a
National Historic Landmark
. Visitors are able to walk around her exterior, but her interior is closed to the public.
William Ross Rust House
is a home in Colonial/Classic Revival style, built in 1905 by Ambrose J. Russell (architect) and Charles Miller (contractor).
Murray Morgan Bridge
is a 1911 steel lift bridge across the
Thea Foss Waterway
; in 2007, it was closed to automobile traffic due to its deteriorating condition but was reopened to all traffic in February 2013 following a substantial rehabilitation.
Other notable buildings include 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
, and Union Station are also noteworthy.
Education
[
edit
]
The majority of Tacoma is within the boundaries of
Tacoma Public Schools
.
[62]
The district contains 36 elementary schools, eleven middle schools, and 10 high schools, including three non-traditional high schools (SAMi, SOTA, and iDEA) and two alternative high schools (Oakland and Willie Stewart Academy). Tacoma is also home to three charter public schools: SOAR Academy (elementary), Green Dot Destiny (middle) and Summit Olympus (high) school.
[63]
Henry Foss High School
operates an
International Baccalaureate
program. Sheridan Elementary School operated three foreign-language immersion programs (Spanish, French, and Japanese).
Mount Tahoma High School
opened a new building in South Tacoma in the fall of 2004.
Stadium High School
and
Wilson High School
were remodeled/refurbished and reopened in September 2006.
Tacoma School of the Arts
, opened in 2001 in downtown Tacoma, is an arts-focused high school that serves as a national model for educational innovation. SOTA is a public school, part of the Tacoma Public Schools, and is one of the nation's first schools to implement standards-based instruction, influencing the design of many schools in the nation. SOTA is in multiple venues around Downtown Tacoma and uses Community Museums and Universities for instructional space. In 2009, SOTA's staff expanded to a second, STEM-based high school located in
Point Defiance Park
, the
Science and Math Institute (SAMI)
. In 2017, the school district opened a third non-traditional high school in the same vein as SAMI and SOTA, called
iDEA
(Industrial Design, Engineering, and Art) in south Tacoma. SAMI and SOTA are the only schools in Tacoma to offer University of Washington in the Classroom college credit options from the University of Washington.
Lincoln High School
reopened in the fall of 2007 after a $75 million renovation and expansion.
[64]
[65]
Other school districts with territory covering parts of Tacoma are:
Clover Park School District
,
Fife Public Schools
,
Franklin Pierce School District
, and
University Place School District
.
[62]
The area also has numerous private schools, including
Evergreen Lutheran High School
, the
Annie Wright Schools
,
Bellarmine Preparatory School
, Life Christian Academy,
Charles Wright Academy
, Covenant High School, and Parkland Lutheran School.
Tacoma's institutions of higher learning include the
University of Puget Sound
,
Tacoma Community College
,
City University of Seattle-Tacoma
,
Bates Technical College
,
Corban University
School of Ministry/Tacoma Campus, as well as satellite campuses of
The Evergreen State College
and the
University of Washington
.
Pacific Lutheran University
is in
Parkland
, just south of the city; nearby
Lakewood
is the home of
Clover Park Technical College
and
Pierce College
.
Cultural attractions
[
edit
]
- The
Museum of Glass
has a structure standing near the Thea Foss Waterway; the steel cone of the hot shop (glassblowing studio) is one of the most recognizable structures in the city.
[
citation needed
]
It is connected to the rest of the Museum District by the Bridge of Glass, which features works by Tacoma native glass artist
Dale Chihuly
.
- LeMay-
America's Car Museum
opened in June 2012 and displays 300 vehicles in various exhibits on vintage to modern automobiles. The museum pays respects to Harold LeMay's collection, one of the world's largest, with a permanent display entitled "Lucky's Garage". The rest of Harold LeMay's collection can be viewed at the Marymount Event Center, home of the
LeMay Family Collection Foundation
.
- Tacoma Art Museum
was founded in 1935 and reopened in 2003 in a new building on Pacific Avenue in Tacoma ? forming the "museum district" with the Museum of Glass and
Washington State History Museum
. It is considered
[
according to whom?
]
a model for mid-sized regional museums.
- Foss Waterway Seaport
is a heritage museum that features hands-on displays, a wooden boat shop, as well as a functional dock. The Museum houses the greatest collection of marine history in the South Sound. The seaport museum today is equal parts education facility, boat shop, maritime museum, dock, moorage, and iconic events venue.
[66]
- Fort Nisqually
Fort Nisqually, the first globally connected settlement on the Puget Sound, was established in 1833 by the Hudson's Bay Company as a fur trading outpost. Originally located in what is now DuPont, WA. The Fort you see today was reconstructed in the 1930s by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Civic-minded citizens preserved and donated two of the original structures, the Factor's House and Granary, to the Metropolitan Park District of Tacoma. The museum gives residents and visitors a chance to experience what life was like on Puget Sound in 1855.
[67]
- Buffalo Soldiers Museums
The museum presents varied accounts of the many challenges and triumphs of the brave African American men who served their country and helped to build and strengthen the Western Frontier with integrity, devotion and pride. The museum is one of only two of its kind in the country dedicated to honoring the Buffalo Soldiers, the other being the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum in Houston.
[68]
- Washington State History Museums
(WSHM), is a part of The Washington State Historical Society, the WSHM partners with our communities to explore how history connects us all.
[69]
- Point Defiance Zoon and Aquarium
, Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium (PDZA) is the only combined zoo and aquarium in the Pacific Northwest. It is nationally accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA), which ensures rigorously high standards of animal welfare, veterinary care, conservation, education and more. The Zoo sits within 700-acre Point Defiance Park, offering spectacular views of Mount Rainier, the Olympic Mountains and Puget Sound. PDZA is operated by Metro Parks Tacoma, the oldest independent park district in Washington.
[70]
- Tacoma Arts Live
is home to three theaters, two of which are on the National Register of Historic Places. They are home to the Tacoma Opera, Tacoma Symphony Orchestra, Northwest Sinfionetta, Tacoma City Ballet, Tacoma Concert Band, Tacoma Philharmonic, Tacoma Youth Symphony, Theatre Northwest, and Puget Sound Revels (one of ten
Revels
organizations nationwide).
- The
Tacoma Film Festival
[71]
takes place annually at the Grand Cinema.
[72]
- Tacoma is home to the first modern legal American
marijuana farmers' market
.
[73]
[74]
- The downtown Tacoma
farmers' market
runs every Thursday, from May through September, in the Theatre District.
[75]
There are also seasonal farmers' markets in the
Proctor District
(along
Sixth Avenue
),
[76]
and in South Tacoma.
[77]
- Tacoma hosts part of the annual four-part
Daffodil Parade
, which takes place every April in Tacoma,
Puyallup
,
Sumner
, and
Orting
.
- Shakespeare in the Parking Lot
[78]
celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2014. Its motto is "taking the fear out of Shakespeare". It offers both educational opportunities and inspired theater in and around Tacoma.
Mass media
[
edit
]
The city's daily newspaper is
The News Tribune
, which has a circulation of about 85,000 (100,000 on Sundays), making it the state's third-largest newspaper.
The News Tribune
was first published on June 17, 1918, as the result of a merger between two competing daily newspapers:
The Daily News
, started in 1883;
[a]
and
The Tacoma Daily Tribune
, started in 1908.
[79]
The newspaper remained under local ownership until 1986, when it was sold to
McClatchy Newspapers
.
[80]
The
E. W. Scripps Company
published a competing daily,
The Tacoma Times
, from 1903 to 1949.
[79]
Other local newspapers include the
Tacoma Weekly
,
[81]
the legal paper
Tacoma Daily Index
,
[82]
and the alternative newsweekly
Weekly Volcano
.
[83]
The
University of Washington Tacoma
is served by
The Ledger
, a weekly
student newspaper
.
[84]
Tacoma's media market
is shared with Seattle. Four television stations are licensed to the city:
KCPQ
13 (
Fox
),
KSTW
11 (
Independent
),
KTBW-TV
20 (
TBN
), and
KWDK
56 (
Daystar
); with the exception of KSTW, all stations are
owned-and-operated
by their respective networks.
[85]
[86]
Bates Technical College
owns the city's
PBS
member station,
KBTC-TV
28, which serves as the market's secondary PBS station. The city government also runs its own
government-access television
station, TV Tacoma, broadcasting its meetings and other local affairs.
[87]
Nine radio stations are licensed to Tacoma, with two
AM stations
and seven
FM stations
; the latter includes
NPR
affiliates
KNKX
and
KVTI
.
[85]
[86]
KNKX was owned and operated by
Pacific Lutheran University
as KPLU-FM until 2016, when public outcry over a planned sale of the station to the
University of Washington
resulted in its transition to a community licensee instead; KVTI, owned by
Clover Park Technical College
, was run by college students until its operation was outsourced to
Northwest Public Broadcasting
of
Washington State University
in 2010.
[88]
[89]
Another station involved in
campus radio
is
KUPS
, which is run by students at the
University of Puget Sound
.
[90]
Sports
[
edit
]
The
Tacoma Dome
is the city's main sports venue and opened in 1983. It hosts traveling sports and other events, such as pro-wrestling, figure-skating tours, and tours by the
Harlem Globetrotters
. For the 1994?95 season, the Tacoma Dome hosted home games of both the
National Basketball Association
's
Seattle SuperSonics
(as the
Seattle Center Coliseum
was under renovation) and the
American Professional Soccer League
's
Seattle Sounders
. The Tacoma Dome also hosted the 1988 and 1989 Women's NCAA Final Four.
[91]
The city has hosted several now-defunct minor-league
hockey
franchises. The
original Tacoma Rockets
played in the
Pacific Coast Hockey League
from 1946 to 1953. The
Rockets
were resurrected in the
Western Hockey League
in 1991 at the Tacoma Dome to record crowds, before
moving to Kelowna, British Columbia
in 1995. Filling this void, the
Tacoma Sabercats
formed in the now-defunct
West Coast Hockey League
in 1997, winning
a title in 1999
, and closed their doors in 2002 for financial reasons.
Cheney Stadium
is home to the
Tacoma Rainiers
, a
AAA
minor league baseball team affiliated with the nearby
Seattle Mariners
since 1995. Minor-league baseball in the city began with the 1903?05
Tacoma Tigers
of the then-independent
Pacific Coast League
(PCL), who were resurrected in the
Western International League
and played from 1922 until 1951, winning three titles.
[92]
Following the construction of Cheney Stadium, the Tigers returned to the PCL in 1960 and were later renamed to the Rainiers.
[93]
Both the Tacoma Dome and Cheney Stadium hosted events during the
1990 Goodwill Games
, an international multi-sport competition.
[94]
Tacoma has also had a long history with soccer. In men's outdoor soccer, the city is currently represented in the
third-division
MLS Next Pro
by the
Tacoma Defiance
,
reserve team
of
MLS
's
Seattle Sounders FC
. The Defiance were founded in 2015 in the
USL Championship
in nearby
Tukwila, Washington
, but have been operated jointly with the Rainiers out of
Cheney Stadium
since 2019. The city's first professional soccer team were the
Tacoma Tides
, who played one season in 1976 in the
American Soccer League
. This team was resurrected in 2006 as the
Tacoma Tide
in the
USL PDL
, playing primarily in nearby
Sumner, Washington
. The Tide were folded into the Sounders organization as their U-23 team in 2012, and played until folding in 2019.
In women's outdoor soccer,
Reign FC
of the
National Women's Soccer League
played their home games at Cheney Stadium during the 2019, 2020, and 2021 seasons.
[95]
The Reign considered plans to build a
soccer-specific stadium
in Tacoma, but ultimately returned to Seattle in 2022.
[96]
[97]
In 1983, Tacoma's entry into indoor soccer, the
Tacoma Stars
, began play in the Tacoma Dome as part of the
Major Indoor Soccer League
. The
original Stars
folded in 1992, but were reformed in 2003 in the
Professional Arena Soccer League
. Since 2015, the new Stars have played in the
Major Arena Soccer League
at the
ShoWare Center
in nearby
Kent, Washington
.
Tacoma is home to the all-female flat track
roller derby
league Dockyard Derby Dames, which fields an away team.
[98]
Many golf clubs and courses are located in Tacoma including Lake Spanaway Golf Course.
[99]
Transportation
[
edit
]
Tacoma's system of transportation is based primarily on the
automobile
. The majority of the city has a system of
gridded streets
oriented in relation to A Street (one block east of Pacific Avenue) and 6th Avenue or Division Avenue, both beginning in
downtown Tacoma
. Within the city, and with a few exceptions, east-to-west streets are numbered and north-to-south streets are given a name or a letter. Some east-to-west streets are also given names, such as S. Center St. and N. Westgate Blvd. Streets are generally labeled "North", "South", "East", or "North East" according to their relationship with 6th Avenue or Division Avenue (west of 'Division Ave', '6th Avenue' is the lowest-numbered street, making it the dividing street between "North" and "South"), 'A Street' (which is the dividing line between "East" and "South"), or 1st Street NE (which is the dividing line between "East" and "North East"). This can lead to confusion, as most named streets intersect streets of the same number in both north and south Tacoma. For example, the intersection of South 11th Street and South Union Avenue is just ten blocks south of North 11th Street and North Union Avenue.
To the east of the Thea Foss waterway and 'A Street', streets are similarly divided into "East" and "Northeast", with 1st Street NE being in-line with the Pierce?King county line. "North East" covers a small wedge of Tacoma and unincorporated Pierce County (around Browns Point and Dash Point) lying on the hill across the tideflats from downtown. Tacoma does have some major roads which do not seem to follow any naming rules. These roads include Schuster Pkwy, Pacific Ave, Puyallup Ave, Tacoma Mall Blvd, Marine View Dr (SR 509), and Northshore Pkwy. Tacoma also has some major roads which appear to change names in different areas (most notable are Tyler St/Stevens St, Oakes St/Pine St/Cedar St/Alder St, and S. 72nd St/S. 74th St). These major
arterials
actually shift over to align with other roads, which causes them to have the name changed.
This numeric system extends to the furthest reaches of unincorporated Pierce County (with roads outside of the city carrying "East", "West", "North West", and "South West", except on the
Key Peninsula
, which retains the north?south streets but chooses the Pierce?Kitsap county line as the zero point for east?west streets. Until 2018, Key Peninsula's roads also carried a "KP N" or "KP S" ("Key Peninsula North" or "Key Peninsula South") designation at the end of the street name. From 2018, these designations have switched to "NW" and "SW" respectively.
In portions of the city dating back to the Tacoma Streetcar Period (1888?1938), denser mixed-use business districts exist alongside
single family homes
. Twelve such districts have active, city-recognized business associations and hold "small town"-style parades and other festivals. The
Proctor District, Tacoma
, Old Town, Dome,
6th Avenue
,
Stadium
, Lincoln Business District, and South Tacoma Business Districts are some of the more prominent of these and coordinate their efforts to redevelop urban villages through the Cross District Association of Tacoma.
[100]
In newer portions of the city to the west and south, residential
culs-de-sac
, four-lane collector roads and indoor shopping centers are more commonplace.
Roads and highways
[
edit
]
Seven highways end in or pass through Tacoma:
I-5
,
I-705
,
SR 7
,
SR 16
,
SR 163
,
SR 167
, and
SR 509
.
[101]
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
.
Aviation
[
edit
]
Seattle?Tacoma International Airport
lies 22 miles (35 km) north, in the city of
SeaTac
. The city of Tacoma contributed $100,000 to the airport's construction, in return for it being constructed at
Bow Lake
. The other proposed location near
Lake Sammamish
is much further from Tacoma, while Bow Lake is halfway between Seattle and Tacoma.
[102]
A
seaplane
service with tours of the Tacoma area is operated by
Kenmore Air
from a dock near Old Town. It was started in August 2023 as part of a partnership with the Puyallup Tribe of Indians; Kenmore also plans to offer flights from the dock to other destinations in the region.
[103]
Public transportation
[
edit
]
Tacoma has a
public transportation
network that includes buses,
commuter rail
,
light rail
, and
ferries
.
[104]
Public bus service is primarily provided by
Pierce Transit
, which serves Tacoma and most of urban
Pierce County
. Pierce Transit operates 38 bus routes
[104]
: 12?97
using a fleet of more than 200 buses powered by
compressed natural gas
, diesel, and electric batteries.
[105]
Bus service generally operates at 30?60 minute frequencies on weekdays; prior to service cuts in 2021, several trunk routes had service every 15 to 20 minutes on weekdays.
[106]
[107]
The busiest Pierce Transit bus route, serving the Pacific Avenue corridor, was planned to be upgraded into a
bus rapid transit
line by 2022, at a cost of $150 million. Significant cost increases during the COVID-19 pandemic caused Pierce Transit to pause the construction of the bus rapid transit line, named the
Stream Community Line
, and instead launch a limited-stop "enhanced bus" on the corridor in 2024.
[108]
[109]
The city's main train and bus station is
Tacoma Dome Station
, a multimodal hub near the
Tacoma Dome
southeast of downtown. The station is also served by
Sounder commuter rail
trains to Seattle and intercity
Amtrak
trains on both the
Cascades
and
Coast Starlight
.
[110]
Sound Transit
, the regional transit authority, operates Sounder, the
T Line
(part of the
Link light rail
system), and daily
Sound Transit Express
bus service to and from Seattle. The T Line connects Tacoma Dome Station to Downtown Tacoma, the University of Washington campus, and the Hilltop neighborhood.
[111]
Sound Transit plans to extend the Tacoma Link light rail further west towards
Tacoma Community College
along South 19th Street by 2039 or 2041.
[112]
The
Washington State Ferries
system, which has a dock at
Point Defiance
, provides
automobile ferry access
to
Tahlequah
at the southern tip of
Vashon Island
. Proposals for a passenger-only ferry linking Downtown Tacoma to Seattle have been studied since the 2010s but remain unrealized.
[113]
Public utilities
[
edit
]
Tacoma's relationship with
public utilities
extends back to 1893. At that time the city was undergoing a boom in population, causing it to exceed the available amount of fresh water supplied by Charles B. Wright's Tacoma Light & Water Company. In response to both this demand and a growing desire to have local public control over the utility system, the city council put up a public vote to acquire and expand the private utility. The measure passed on July 1, 1893, with 3,195 in favor of acquiring the utility system and 1,956 voting against. Since then,
Tacoma Public Utilities
(TPU) has grown from a small water and light utility to be the largest department in the city's government, employing about 1,200 people.
Tacoma Power
, a division of TPU, provides residents of Tacoma and several bordering municipalities with electrical power generated by eight hydroelectric dams on the
Skokomish River
and elsewhere. Environmentalists, fishermen, and the Skokomish Indian Tribe have criticized TPU's operation of Cushman Dam on the North Fork of the Skokomish River; the tribe's $6 billion claim
[114]
was denied by the U.S. Supreme court
[115]
in January 2006. The capacity of Tacoma's
hydroelectric
system as of 2004 was 713,000
kilowatts
, or about 50% of the demand made up by TPU's customers (the rest is purchased from other utilities). According to TPU, hydroelectricity provides about 87% of Tacoma's power; coal 3%; natural gas 1%; nuclear 9%; and biomass and wind at less than 1%. Tacoma Power also operates the
Click! Network
, a municipally owned
cable television
and internet service. The residential cost per kilowatt hour of electricity is just over 6 cents.
Tacoma Water provides customers in its service area with water from the
Green River
Watershed. As of 2004, Tacoma Water provided water services to 93,903 customers. The average annual cost for residential supply was $257.84.
Tacoma Rail
, initially a municipally owned street railway line running to the tideflats, was converted to a common-carrier rail switching utility. Tacoma Rail is self-supporting and employs over 90 people.
In addition to municipal garbage collection, Tacoma offers commingled
recycling
services for paper, cardboard, plastics, and metals.
Notable people
[
edit
]
- Pat Austin
, drag racer
- Zach Banner
, NFL player
- Calvin S. Barlow
, Tacoma pioneer
- Avery Bradley
, NBA player
- Richard Brautigan
, novelist, poet, and short story writer
- Jeff Brotman
, attorney
- Brandon Brown
(born 1989), basketball player for
Hapoel Jerusalem
of the
Israeli Basketball Premier League
- Angela Warnick Buchdahl
(born 1972), rabbi
- Jose Calugas
,
Medal of Honor
recipient
[116]
- Dyan Cannon
, actress
- Jerry Cantrell
, guitarist
- Neko Case
, musician
- Dale Chihuly
, glass sculptor
- Robert Cray
, guitarist and singer
- Bing Crosby
, singer and actor
- Elinor Donahue
, actress
- Joseph Edward Duncan
, serial killer and child molester
- Clinton P. Ferry
, Tacoma pioneer and founder, known as the Duke of Tacoma
- Malachi Flynn
, basketball player for the
Detroit Pistons
- David Friesen
, musician
- Abdul Gaddy
, basketball player in the
Israeli Basketball Premier League
- Kathryn O. Galbraith
, writer of children's books
- Cam Gigandet
, actor
- Frank Herbert
, author
- Eleanor Janega
, medieval historian, author, broadcaster
- Jo Koy
, comedian
- Gary Larson
, cartoonist
- John Lippman
, television executive and the acting director of
Voice of America
- KC Montero
, actor
- Pamela Reed
, actress
- Kelee Ringo
, college football player for the
Georgia Bulldogs
- Darrell Robinson
, track and field athlete
- John Henry Ryan
, businessman, newspaperman, and state legislator
- Homer Screws
, former professional soccer player, and now coach
- Jessica Spring
American letterpress printer, book artist
- Courtney Stodden
, media personality
- Swerve Strickland
, Professional Wrestler
- Lucy Stedman Lamson
, businesswoman, educator
- Michael Swango
, serial killer
- Miesha Tate
, MMA Champion
- Isaiah Thomas
, NBA player
- Aaron Titlow
, lawyer, politician, and real estate developer; the original owner of
Titlow Beach
- Desmond Trufant
, NFL player
- Blair Underwood
, actor
- Jessica Wallenfels
, actress, choreographer, and movement/theatre director
- Ted Bundy
, serial killer
[117]
- Lawyer Milloy
, New England Patriots/ Seattle Seahawks, Super Bowl Champion
Sister cities
[
edit
]
Tacoma's
sister cities
are:
[118]
- Kitakyushu
, Japan (1959)
- Gunsan
, South Korea (1978)
- Alesund
, Norway (1986)
- Vladivostok
, Russia (1992)
- Fuzhou
, China (1994)
- Davao City
, Philippines (1994)
- George
, South Africa (1997)
- Cienfuegos
, Cuba (2000)
- Taichung
, Taiwan (2000)
- El Jadida
, Morocco (2007)
- Biot
, France (2012)
- Boca del Rio
, Mexico (2016)
- Brovary
, Ukraine (2017)
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
The News
was first published as a weekly in 1881 and became a daily in 1883.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Tacoma, Washington
- ^
"2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files"
. United States Census Bureau
. Retrieved
July 24,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Explore Census Data"
.
United States Census Bureau
. Retrieved
January 5,
2023
.
- ^
a
b
"City and Town Population Totals: 2020-2022"
. United States Census Bureau. January 5, 2024
. Retrieved
January 5,
2024
.
- ^
"Zip Code Lookup"
. USPS
. Retrieved
January 5,
2024
.
- ^
"Find a County"
. National Association of Counties. Archived from
the original
on May 31, 2011
. Retrieved
June 7,
2011
.
- ^
"Job Carr Cabin Museum"
.
Job Carr Cabin Museum
.
- ^
Gallacci, Caroline Denyer (2001).
The City of Destiny and the South Sound: An Illustrated History of Tacoma and Pierce County
. Carlsbad, California: Heritage Media Corp. p. 49.
- ^
a
b
Hermida, Arianne.
"IWW Yearbook 1907"
.
IWW History Project
.
University of Washington
. Archived from
the original
on June 1, 2016
. Retrieved
May 5,
2016
.
- ^
"To Whom It May Concern"
.
Industrial Union Bulletin
. Vol. 1, no. 20. July 13, 1907. p. 2.
- ^
"The Strike at Tacoma"
.
Industrial Union Bulletin
. Vol. 1, no. 12. May 18, 1907. p. 2.
- ^
"Silent Era : Progressive Silent Film List"
.
www.silentera.com
.
- ^
Hollywood-on-the-Tide flats, 1938. Richard Studio Collection, Northwest Room Tacoma Public Library, Tacoma, WA.
- ^
"U.S.S. Lexington provides electricity to Tacoma beginning about on December 17, 1929"
.
HistoryLink.org
.
- ^
In late 1929, Tacoma had no electricity; the USS Lexington brought the power
Archived
June 30, 2013, at
archive.today
- ^
Mullins, William H. (1991).
The Depression and the Urban West Coast, 1929?1933: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland. Indiana
. Indiana University Press.
- ^
Schmid, Calvin F. (1944).
"Social Trends in Seattle, 1944"
(PDF)
.
University of Washington Publications in the Social Sciences
.
14
: 286?293.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Tacoma News Tribune
. Tacoma Hooverville Archive, September 4, 1940 ? July 24, 1974. Northwest Room Special Collections and Archives, Tacoma Public Library. Tacoma, Washington.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Tacoma Daily Ledger
. Tacoma Hooverville Archive, July 18, 1924 ? September 4, 1940. Northwest Room Special Collections and Archives, Tacoma Public Library. Tacoma, Washington.
- ^
"Famous Cases: The Weyerhaeuser Kidnapping"
.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
.
Archived
from the original on March 12, 2008
. Retrieved
March 27,
2008
.
- ^
Anderson, Hilary. "A Tale of Two Shantytowns."
Columbia: The Magazine of Northwest History
26, no. 2 (Summer 2012): 10-14. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost.
- ^
Erik Hanberg,
An Exercise in Hope, Faith, Vision, and Guts
Archived
December 25, 2008, at the
Wayback Machine
,
Weekly Volcano
(Tacoma), December 24, 2008. Accessed online December 4, 2009.
- ^
Dugger, Ronnie (November 7, 1988). "Counting Votes".
New Yorker
.
- ^
"SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6685, WA 56th Legislature, 2000 Regular Session"
(PDF)
.
- ^
"ENGROSSED SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1336, WA 67th Legislature, 2021 Regular Session"
(PDF)
.
- ^
Lawrence W. Cheek,
On Architecture: Tacoma's downtown renaissance stumbles with the bland Marriott Courtyard
,
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
, April 5, 2005. Accessed online December 5, 2009.
- ^
"Tacoma GTCTC - Home"
.
- ^
"Broadway Center for the Performing Arts"
.
- ^
"US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990"
.
United States Census Bureau
. February 12, 2011
. Retrieved
April 23,
2011
.
- ^
"US Gazetteer files 2010"
.
United States Census Bureau
. Archived from
the original
on January 25, 2012
. Retrieved
December 19,
2012
.
- ^
"Welcome - 6th Ave"
.
6th Ave
.
- ^
"NowData - NOAA Online Weather Data"
. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
. Retrieved
July 8,
2021
.
- ^
"WA Tacoma #1"
. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
. Retrieved
July 8,
2021
.
- ^
"Monthly Averages for Tacoma, WA ? Temperature and Precipitation"
. The Weather Channel.
- ^
"Monthly weather forecast and climate - Tacoma, WA"
. Weather Atlas
. Retrieved
March 28,
2020
.
- ^
Moffatt, Riley.
Population History of Western U.S. Cities & Towns, 1850?1990
.
Lanham
: Scarecrow, 1996, 333.
- ^
United States Census Bureau
.
"Census of Population and Housing"
. Retrieved
July 25,
2014
.
- ^
"P004: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race ? 2000: DEC Summary File 1 ? Tacoma city, Washington"
. United States Census Bureau
. Retrieved
February 25,
2024
.
- ^
"P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race ? 2010: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) ? Tacoma city, Washington"
. United States Census Bureau
. Retrieved
February 25,
2024
.
- ^
"P2: Hispanic or Latino, and Not Hispanic or Latino by Race ? 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) ? Tacoman city, Washington"
. United States Census Bureau
. Retrieved
February 25,
2024
.
- ^
a
b
c
"B03002 HISPANIC OR LATINO ORIGIN BY RACE - Tacoma, Washington - 2019 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates"
.
United States Census Bureau
. July 1, 2019
. Retrieved
May 28,
2021
.
- ^
Robinson, Sean (September 27, 2009).
"Ash Street shootout: The night that changed Tacoma's Hilltop"
.
The News Tribune
. Archived from
the original
on February 4, 2013.
- ^
"Mayors Against Illegal Guns: Coalition Members"
. Archived from
the original
on February 19, 2008
. Retrieved
March 27,
2008
.
- ^
Ruud, Candice.
"Tacoma council picks longtime city attorney as interim city manager"
. The News Tribune
. Retrieved
February 24,
2017
.
- ^
"City Manager Executive Profile"
.
City of Tacoma
. Retrieved
February 24,
2017
.
- ^
"City of Tacoma ? City Council"
.
CityOfTacoma.org
. Archived from
the original
on March 29, 2008
. Retrieved
March 27,
2008
.
- ^
Martinez, Krystina.
"New City Manager T. C. Broadnax Says 'It's A Great Time' To Come To Dallas"
. KERA
. Retrieved
February 24,
2017
.
- ^
"Washington Senators, Representatives, and Congressional District Maps"
.
GovTrack.us
. Retrieved
January 28,
2019
.
- ^
"3 pulp mills ask compliance extension"
.
Spokane Daily Chronicle
. (Washington). Associated Press. November 29, 1972. p. 23.
- ^
Georgia company agrees to buy Simpson Tacoma Kraft paper mill
- ^
"Russell Investments will leave Tacoma for Seattle"
.
Everett Herald
. Associated Press. September 9, 2009
. Retrieved
January 4,
2024
.
- ^
Peterson, Blake (March 4, 2021).
"Tacoma's 909 a Street Building Starts its Second Act"
.
South Sound Business
. Retrieved
January 4,
2024
.
- ^
"City of Tacoma 2022 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report"
(PDF)
. January 5, 2024. p. 286.
- ^
"Metro Parks Tacoma"
.
- ^
Magazine, Washington State.
"On the waterfront :: Winter 2008 :: Washington State Magazine"
.
- ^
"Metro Parks Tacoma"
.
- ^
Young, Derek.
"Exit133 - In Tacoma By Choice"
. Archived from
the original
on July 29, 2018
. Retrieved
December 12,
2018
.
- ^
"Metro Parks Tacoma"
.
- ^
MetroParksTacoma ? Ethnic Fest
- ^
TacomaPride ? Pride Festival
- ^
"Metro Parks Tacoma"
.
www.metroparkstacoma.org
.
- ^
a
b
2020 Census ? School District Reference Map: Pierce County, WA
(PDF)
(Map).
United States Census Bureau
. pp. 1-2 (PDF p. 2-3)
. Retrieved
July 20,
2022
.
-
Text list
- ^
"Schools"
.
www.tacomaschools.org
. Retrieved
October 1,
2017
.
- ^
"History intact at renovated Lincoln High"
.
The News Tribune
. March 22, 2007. Archived from
the original
on September 30, 2007
. Retrieved
March 27,
2008
.
- ^
"It's awesome, say Abes"
.
The News Tribune
. September 16, 2007. Archived from
the original
on September 19, 2012.
- ^
"About | Foss Waterway Seaport"
.
www.fosswaterwayseaport.org
. Retrieved
April 17,
2024
.
- ^
"FORT NISQUALLY"
.
- ^
"About"
.
Buffalo Soldiers - 9th and 10th Horse Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers Museum
. Retrieved
April 17,
2024
.
- ^
https://www.washingtonhistory.org/about/
.
- ^
"About Us at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium: team, mission, vision, history"
.
Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium
. Retrieved
April 17,
2024
.
- ^
Facebook ? Tacoma Film Festival
- ^
"Tacoma Film Festival"
.
- ^
"Tacoma Cannabis Farmers Market"
, Farmer's Market Online. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
- ^
"About Us"
Archived
January 29, 2013, at the
Wayback Machine
, Cannabis Farmer's Market. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
- ^
Tacoma Farmers Market ? Broadway Farmers Market
- ^
Tacoma Farmers Market ? Sixth Avenue Farmers Market
- ^
Tacoma Farmers Market ? South Tacoma Farmers Market
- ^
Facebook ? Shakespeare in the Parking Lot
- ^
a
b
Harvey, Paul W. (1962).
Tacoma Headlines: An Account of Tacoma News and Newspapers from 1873 to 1962
. Tacoma, Washington: The Tacoma News Tribune.
OCLC
2720728
.
- ^
McDermott, Terry (June 19, 1986). "Jobs at Tacoma paper up in the air".
The Seattle Times
. p. C1.
- ^
Santos, Melissa (September 28, 2021).
"Weekly WA newspaper fined $15,000 for selling election coverage"
.
Crosscut.com
. Retrieved
March 12,
2024
.
- ^
"David Black's empire".
The Seattle Times
. January 21, 2007. p. F5.
- ^
"Poster artists, music group, paper win city recognition"
.
The News Tribune
. September 30, 2007. p. E4
. Retrieved
March 12,
2024
– via NewsBank.
- ^
Grimly, Brynn (November 15, 2014).
"UW Tacoma journalists resurrect 2006 Hilltop shooting death case"
.
The News Tribune
. p. A3
. Retrieved
March 12,
2024
.
- ^
a
b
"Facilities Search Results"
.
Licensing and Management System
.
Federal Communications Commission
. Retrieved
March 17,
2024
.
- ^
a
b
"Tacoma - Search Results"
.
FCC Public Inspection Files
.
Federal Communications Commission
. Retrieved
March 17,
2024
.
- ^
"TV Tacoma"
. City of Tacoma
. Retrieved
March 17,
2024
.
- ^
Kiley, Brendan (August 31, 2016).
"KPLU officially begins broadcasting as KNKX"
.
The Seattle Times
. Retrieved
March 12,
2024
.
- ^
"NWPR to manage college radio station in Lakewood"
(Press release). Pullman, Washington:
Washington State University
. April 6, 2010
. Retrieved
March 12,
2024
.
- ^
Morford, Morf (May 9, 2018).
"Radio, near or far, old or new, is still around"
.
Tacoma Daily Index
. Retrieved
March 17,
2024
.
- ^
Jasmin, Ernest A. (April 13, 2003).
"A nice, round 20"
.
The News Tribune
. pp.
D1
,
D5
. Retrieved
December 29,
2022
– via
Newspapers.com
.
- ^
McGarth, John (May 24, 1999). "Tacoma to thank Clay for many feats".
The News Tribune
. p. D1.
- ^
"Tacoma Affiliation History"
.
Minor League Baseball
. Retrieved
December 29,
2022
.
- ^
Hallenbeck, Mark (May 1991).
Traffic Impacts During the Goodwill Games
(PDF)
(Report).
Washington State Department of Transportation
. pp. 1, 10?13
. Retrieved
February 29,
2024
.
- ^
Baker, Geoff (January 30, 2019).
"Reign FC announces immediate move to Tacoma, dropping Seattle from name"
.
The Seattle Times
. Retrieved
January 30,
2019
.
- ^
Reichard, Kevin (January 30, 2019).
"Seattle Reign FC to Tacoma; Tacoma Defiance New USL Brand"
.
Soccer Stadium Digest
. Retrieved
March 17,
2019
.
- ^
"OL Reign Returns Home to Seattle"
. OL Reign.
- ^
Means, Sean P. (October 4, 2010).
"Roller derby update: Big in Boise"
.
Salt Lake Tribune
. Archived from
the original
on October 21, 2014
. Retrieved
December 29,
2022
.
- ^
"USA Winter Cross Country National Championships"
. pntf.org
. Retrieved
September 8,
2018
.
- ^
"Tacoma Business Districts"
.
www.tacomabusinessdistricts.com
.
- ^
- ^
Crowley, Walt.
"Sea-Tac International Airport: Part 1 ? Founding"
.
HistoryLink
. Retrieved
January 27,
2024
.
- ^
Glenn, Jack (August 10, 2023).
"
'It's a beautiful thing.' Puyallup Tribe, Kenmore Air kick off scenic tours from Tacoma"
.
The News Tribune
. Retrieved
August 11,
2023
.
- ^
a
b
"Chapter 12: Transportation Element"
.
Pierce County Comprehensive Plan
. Pierce County. 2015. pp. 12?11, 12?12
. Retrieved
December 29,
2023
.
- ^
Ryan, John (December 6, 2021).
"New bus fuel is 'carbon neutral,' Pierce Transit claims. It's not"
. KUOW
. Retrieved
March 3,
2024
.
- ^
Sailor, Craig (November 4, 2021).
"Pierce Transit, Sound Transit to reduce bus service this month. Here's how and why"
.
The News Tribune
. Retrieved
March 3,
2024
.
- ^
Lynn, Adam (September 9, 2016).
"Changes are coming to a Pierce Transit bus route near you"
.
The News Tribune
. Retrieved
March 3,
2024
.
- ^
Sailor, Craig (August 16, 2024).
"Pierce Transit puts troubled Bus Rapid Transit project on hold and turns to quicker fix"
.
The News Tribune
. Retrieved
March 3,
2024
.
- ^
Sailor, Craig (February 29, 2024).
"It's not bus rapid transit, but Pierce Transit hopes this new bus line will save you time"
.
The News Tribune
. Retrieved
March 3,
2024
.
- ^
Sailor, Craig (November 18, 2021).
"Amtrak resumes service on Point Defiance Bypass route where 3 died in 2017"
.
The News Tribune
. Retrieved
March 3,
2024
.
- ^
Metzger, Katie (August 17, 2023).
"Tacoma transit connections: How to link up with the extended T Line"
.
The Platform
. Sound Transit
. Retrieved
March 3,
2024
.
- ^
Needles, Allison (August 9, 2021).
"Sound Transit has $6.5 billion ST3 budget gap. What does that mean for Tacoma projects?"
.
The News Tribune
. Retrieved
March 3,
2024
.
- ^
Cockrell, Debbie (February 16, 2021).
"Passenger-only Tacoma-Seattle ferry service is highly desired. What are the prospects?"
.
The News Tribune
. Retrieved
March 3,
2024
.
- ^
Sherman, Chris (January 12, 2006).
"Court Ends Fight Over Dams"
.
Foundation for Water and Energy Education, quoting The News Tribune
. Retrieved
March 27,
2008
.
- ^
"Docket for 05-434"
.
- ^
"Sergeant Jose Calugas Medal of Honor"
.
The National WWII Museum
. May 19, 2021
. Retrieved
January 16,
2024
.
- ^
"Ted Bundy's childhood home"
.
OddStops
. Retrieved
October 26,
2022
.
- ^
"Tacoma's Sister Cities"
.
cityoftacoma.org
. City of Tacoma
. Retrieved
January 26,
2021
.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
|
Principal cities
| |
---|
Other cities
| |
---|
Counties
| |
---|
Geography
| |
---|
|
---|
Three-time winners
|
- Alexandria, VA
(1963, 1984, 1985)
- Allentown, PA
(1962, 1974, 1975)
- Asheville, NC
(1951, 1969, 1997)
- Bloomington, IN
(1958, 1981, 1982)
- Boston, MA
(1949, 1951, 1962)
- Cincinnati, OH
(1949, 1950, 1981)
- Dayton, OH
(1951, 1978, 1991)
- Delray Beach, FL
(1993, 2001, 2017)
- Edinburg, TX
(1968, 1995, 2000)
- Fort Worth, TX
(1964, 1993, 2011)
- Gastonia, NC
(1963, 2000, 2010)
- Grand Rapids, MI
(1949, 1960, 1981)
- Hickory, NC
(1967, 1987, 2007)
- Independence, MO
(1961, 1982, 2001)
- Laurinburg, NC
(1956, 1967, 2003)
- Mount Pleasant, SC
(2010, 2018, 2023)
- Norfolk, VA
(1959, 2013, 2016)
- Rochester, New York
(1981, 1998, 2020)
- Seward, AK
(1963, 1965, 2005)
- Shreveport, LA
(1953, 1980, 1999)
- Somerville, MA
(1972, 2009, 2015)
- Spokane, WA
(1975, 2004, 2015)
- Tacoma, WA
(1956, 1984, 1998)
|
---|
Four-time winners
|
- Akron, OH
(1980, 1981, 1995, 2008)
- Anchorage, AK
(1956, 1965, 1985, 2002)
- Baltimore, MD
(1952, 1977, 1991, 2012)
- Columbus, OH
(1958, 1987, 1992, 2006)
- Fayetteville, NC
(1985, 2001, 2011, 2023)
- Fort Wayne, IN
(1983, 1998, 2009, 2021)
- Grand Island, NE
(1955, 1967, 1981, 1982)
- Hampton, VA
(1972, 2002, 2014, 2023)
- Louisville, KY
(1963, 1995, 2012, 2022)
- Peoria, IL
(1953, 1966, 1989, 2013)
- Philadelphia, PA
(1949, 1951, 1957, 1994)
- Rockville, MD
(1954, 1961, 1977, 1979)
- Toledo, OH
(1950, 1983, 1984, 1998)
|
---|
Five-time winners
|
- Cleveland, OH
(1949, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1993)
- Dubuque, IA
(2007, 2012, 2013, 2017, 2019)
- El Paso, TX
(1969, 2010, 2018, 2020, 2021)
- New Haven, CT
(1958, 1998, 2003, 2008, 2022)
- Stockton, CA
(1999, 2004, 2015, 2017, 2018)
- Tupelo, MS
(1967, 1989, 1999, 2011, 2015)
- Wichita, KS
(1961, 1993, 1999, 2009, 2019)
- Worcester, MA
(1949, 1960, 1965, 1981, 2000)
|
---|
Six-time winners
|
- Des Moines, IA
(1949, 1977, 1982, 2003, 2010, 2017)
- Phoenix, AZ
(1950, 1958, 1980, 1989, 2009, 2022)
|
---|
Seven-time winners
|
- Kansas City, MO
(1950, 1951, 1986, 1994, 2006, 2017, 2021)
- Roanoke, VA
(1952, 1979, 1982, 1988, 1996, 2012, 2017)
|
---|
Nine-time winners
| |
---|
Places adjacent to Tacoma, Washington
|
---|
|
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
Geographic
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|