All About Tacoma, WA

Tacoma is a working city with one of the largest shipping ports in the Northwest. Enduring decades of marginal growth that kept developers from erasing its prosperous past, Tacoma's enjoys a plethora of meticulously restored turn-of-the century buildings housing unique shops and eateries. Recent downtown renovations have centered on highlighting the historic victorian-age architecture and brick-lined grand avenues. Today, Tacoma has a vibrant and modern downtown with a warm and welcoming charm that echo's the dreams of its maritime, timber and railroad entrepreneurs.

"Its everyone's front yard," reads the motto of Walk the Waterfront, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and development of Tacomas new public shoreline path. From City Waterway to Point Defiance Park, the seven-mile stretch of walkable shoreline invites visitors to explore the area's ecological and historical treasures. The recently created path connects the downtown waterfront with the Old Town historic district, Ruston and Point Defiance.

Tacomas vibrant downtown culture meets with the past at the Foss Waterway Seaport Museum. Here in one of the oldest structures of the waterfront, the Old Baufour Dock building, the Museum celebrates Tacomas shoreline history. It was the waterfront that first drew explorers to the area. Captain Vancouver and his crew of the H.M.S Discovery noted the beauty of the tree-lined coast punctuated by a majestic mountain. Settlers began arriving around 1864, and the town grew as it became the Northern Pacific Railway terminus. The industry the railroad brought with it soon took over the waterfront, covering it in shipyards, lumber mills and warehouses. Some of these industrial sites have been since turned into parks as the city continues to reclaim and rebuild the welcome of its front yard.

Community Links:

Tacoma Pierce County Chamber of Commerce

Walk The Waterfront

Tacoma Downtown Blog

City of Tacoma

Foss Waterway Seaport

Thea Foss Development Authority

Downtown Tacoma Shopping

Downtown Merchants Group

TravelTacoma.com Visitors Info

Tacoma Busines Improvement Area