Pierce

Formed December 22, 1852 (8^th county)

Pierce County (795,225), Tacoma (198,397)

The Modern tan brick and concrete courthouse was built in 1958.  The facility is on Tacoma Avenue at 9^th Street.  Interstate Highway 705 is nine blocks to the east of the structure.  A. Gordon Lumm is the architect.  A classic courthouse existed earlier from 1883.  Pierce County was formed on December 22, 1852 from Thurston County as the 8^th county.  Striacoom was the first county seat followed by Tacoma in 1880.  The county is named for United States President Franklin Pierce.  The county seat was named for Mount Tacoma (Mount Rainier) which got its name from the Native American word for “Mother of Waters.”  Pierce County is the birthplace of 3 Washington Governors, Albert D. Rosellini, Dixie L. Ray, and Booth Gardner. 

Pierce County government consists of an Executive, a sheriff, an attorney, a clerk, a treasurer, an auditor, and an assessor (executive).  It has 7 Council Members (legislative.)  Twenty-three Superior Court Judges and Eight District Court Judges serve Pierce County (judicial.) Pierce County is in the western part of the state.  Seattle, Washington is north and Portland, Oregon is south of the county.  The county center is 24.3 miles Southeast of Tacoma nearer Orting.  The county is surrounded clockwise by King, Kittitas, Yakima, Lewis, Thurston, Mason, and Kitsap counties. 

The area of the county is 1806 square miles.  It is 21 out of 39 in the state.  It ranks 2 out of 39 in population in the state.  It has a density of 440.32 persons per square mile making it 4 out of 39 in the state.  Pierce County has 53.9% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 5 crosses the county from north to south from King County to Thurston County.  The highest point in Washington, Mount Rainier, is in the county.  The county looks like a lounge chair.  Tacoma is located on the northwest border of the county.  Tacoma is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 25.0% of the county population.  This county is in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue Metropolitan Statistical Area.