city, seat (1880) of Pierce county, western Washington, U.S., on Commencement Bay of Puget Sound, 30 miles (48 km) south of Seattle. The bay was the starting point (1841) of a U.S. surveying party led by Lieutenant Charles Wilkes (Wilkes, Charles), who named it Commencement Bay. Settled in 1864, the site was laid out (1868) as Commencement City by General Morton M. McCarver; it was soon renamed Tacoma (an Indian name for Mount Rainier (Rainier, Mount), 45 miles 【72 km】 southeast). Sawmills and port facilities were established, and in 1873 the Northern Pacific Railway (Northern Pacific Railway Company) arrived and built a terminus called New Tacoma. The two communities merged in 1883.

Tacoma is a lumber-processing centre. Although its chief industries are still lumber-based, the city contains shipyards, smelters, foundries, electrochemical plants, and food-processing factories. Docks and wharves line its waterfront. A gateway to Mount Rainier National Park, it is also connected to the Olympic Peninsula recreation areas via the second Tacoma Narrows Bridge (1950). (This suspension bridge replaced the famous original, which collapsed in 1940.) Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base are to the south. A replica of the Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Nisqually (1833) is in Point Defiance Park, which also accommodates Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. Tacoma is the seat of the University of Puget Sound (1888), Pacific Lutheran University (1890), and two community colleges. The city also serves as headquarters for the Washington State Historical Society, whose museum overlooks Commencement Bay. Inc. 1884. Pop. (1990) city, 176,664; Tacoma PMSA, 586,203; Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton CMSA, 2,970,328; (2000) city, 193,556; Tacoma PMSA, 700,820; Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton CMSA, 3,554,760.