Tacoma adopted its name after the nearby Mount Rainier, called təˡqʷuʔbəʔ in the Puget Sound Salish dialect, and “Takhoma” in an anglicized version.

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.

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.

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.

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.

[9][10] The strike was strongly opposed by the local business community, and the smelter owners threatened to blacklist organizers and union officials.

[13] 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.

Local businesses were affected as the sudden stop of loans limited progression of expansion and renewal funds for maintenance, leading to foreclosures.

Collecting scraps of metal and wood from local lumber stores and recycling centers, families began building shanties (shacks) for shelter.

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.

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.

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.

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.

[57] 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).

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.

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.

William Ross Rust House is a home in Colonial/Classic Revival style, built in 1905 by Ambrose J. Russell (architect) and Charles Miller (contractor).

In 2009, SOTA's staff expanded to a second, STEM-based high school located in Point Defiance Park, the Science and Math Institute (SAMI).

The city government also runs its own government-access television station, TV Tacoma, broadcasting its meetings and other local affairs.

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.

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.

In portions of the city dating back to the Tacoma Streetcar Period (1888–1938), denser mixed-use business districts exist alongside single family homes.

[104] 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.

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.

Pierce Transit operates 38 bus routes[109]: 12–97  using a fleet of more than 200 buses powered by compressed natural gas, diesel, and electric batteries.

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).

In addition to municipal garbage collection, Tacoma offers commingled recycling services for paper, cardboard, plastics, and metals.