[6] Before the first European arrived in the Green River Valley in the 1850s, the area was home to the Muckleshoot people, who were temporarily driven out by Indian wars later that decade.

[7] Ballard filed for a plat to establish a town in February 1886, naming it Slaughter for an officer slain during the Indian wars in 1855.

Frequent flooding from the rivers caused numerous problems for the people living in the community with one outcome being the creation of Mountain View Cemetery over on one of the hills overlooking the valley.

In 1917 the city, in response to the growing of the Japanese community, donated some of the land in Pioneer Cemetery to the White River Buddhist Church.

Giryo Takemura, minister of the church at the time, and his future son-in-law, Chiyokichi Natsuhara, raised money to replace the old wooden sticks and columns that had been in use as gravestones at the Cemetery with more durable concrete markers.

[12] The interwar period saw several Japanese-American baseball teams from the area compete in the courier league with the White River All-Stars enjoying particularly large success winning four of the July 4th tournaments.

[15] With the Attack on Pearl Harbor during the Second World War, Japanese immigrants and the Japanese-American community as a whole were largely seen with unwarranted distrust by the majority white population, including in Auburn.

Executive Order 9066, issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, led to the city's Japanese-American population being relocated to internment camps.

[17] The two cities reached a compromise on water utility rights in the Pierce County portion of the neighborhood that allowed Auburn to complete its annexation of Lakeland Hills by the end of the decade.

[21][22] A 155-acre (63 ha) exclave of Kent, the Bridges neighborhood, was annexed by Auburn on January 1, 2024, after the two cities agreed to the transfer to simplify municipal services in the area.

Of these, the violent crimes consisted of 8 murders, 55 forcible rapes, 368 robberies and 232 aggravated assaults, while 955 burglaries, 2,214 larceny-thefts, 1,643 motor vehicle thefts and 17 acts of arson defined the property offenses.

[citation needed] Auburn is the site for the Northwest headquarters of United States General Services Administration.

They focus on the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, pioneer life, immigration from Europe and Japan, truck farming, railroading and the building of towns throughout the area.

[38] As part of the King County Library System, there is a 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m2)[39] facility built in 2000 and expanded in 2012 having replaced an earlier, nearby location.

It is part of the Les Gove Park, a 20 acre community campus south of State Route 164 including the White River Valley Museum, a senior center, and other recreational services.

[citation needed] The City of Auburn has designated the following landmarks: Emerald Downs is a 167-acre (0.68 km2) six-level stadium and thoroughbred racetrack.

[citation needed] The city of Auburn is a mayor-council form of government meaning the mayor is a full-time, separately elected position.

The district is larger than the city itself, serving the neighboring towns of Algona and Pacific, as well as some unincorporated areas around Auburn and Kent.