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. 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'). 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. The area was inhabited for thousands of years by American Indians, most recently the Puyallup people, who lived in settlements on the delta. View of Mount Rainier and the Port of Tacoma from Browns Point, 2009 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. Since the 1990s, downtown Tacoma has experienced a period of revitalization. Like most industrial cities, Tacoma suffered a prolonged decline in the mid-20th century as a result of suburbanization and divestment. 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. Commencement Bay serves the Port of Tacoma, a center of international trade on the Pacific Coast and Washington's largest port. By connecting the bay with the railroad, Tacoma's motto became 'When rails meet sails'. The decision of the railroad was influenced by Tacoma's neighboring deep-water harbor, Commencement Bay. 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. Tacoma adopted its name after the nearby Mount Rainier, called təˡqʷuʔbəʔ in the Puget Sound Salish dialect. Tacoma also serves as the center of business activity for the South Sound region, which has a population of about 1 million. Tacoma is the second-largest city in the Puget Sound area and the third-largest in the state. The city's population was 219,346 at the time of the 2020 census. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, 32 miles (51 km) southwest of Seattle, 31 miles (50 km) northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and 58 miles (93 km) northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. Tacoma ( / t ə ˈ k oʊ m ə/ tə- KOH-mə) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States.

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