In 2023, Tacoma Historical Society commemorates the 150th anniversary of the Northern Pacific Railway's arrival in Tacoma, its effect on the people whose paths it crossed, and the city it made.
In 1873, Tacoma was selected as the Northern Pacific Railway’s western terminus. As the railroad expanded, immigrants, families, and single men moved to the Pacific Northwest, and Tacoma’s population grew rapidly. In 1880 there were 1,098 residents, and in 1889 there were 36,000.