Editing Commencement Bay (section)

==History==
[[File:MountTahoma.JPG|thumb|right|Artist rendering of [[Mount Rainier|Mt. Tacoma]] from Commencement Bay, 1888<ref>{{cite book |last=Winsey |first=H. J. |title=The Great Northwest |publisher=Northern News Co |location=St Paul, MN |year=1888 |page=frontispiece |no-pp=true }}</ref>]]
[[File:Commencement Bay, Tacoma, Washington, ca 1900 (HESTER 43).jpeg|thumb|right|Commencement Bay from Tacoma, circa 1900]]
[[File:Commencement Bay.jpg|right|thumb|Commencement Bay from downtown Tacoma]]

Lieutenant [[Charles Wilkes]] of the [[United States Exploring Expedition]] 
named Commencement Bay in 1841, commemorating the place where he started his survey of southern Puget Sound.<ref>{{cite book |last= Phillips |first= James W. |title= Washington State Place Names |url= https://archive.org/details/washingtonstatep00phil |url-access= registration |year= 1971 |publisher= University of Washington Press |isbn= 0-295-95158-3 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/washingtonstatep00phil/page/30 30]}}</ref>

The first Euro-American habitation on Commencement Bay was by Swede Nicolas Delin (b. ca. 1817). He built a water-powered sawmill in 1852 where a creek entered the head of the bay. A small community grew up around the operation, but the settlers evacuated during the [[Puget Sound War]] of 1855–56 and did not return.{{Citation needed|date=December 2007}}

In 1873 the [[Northern Pacific Railway]], the first [[transcontinental railroad]] in the northern United States, announced it would locate its terminus at Commencement Bay. When the railroad reached the bay in 1883 it caused a boom of development in Tacoma. The railroad facilities were located near the extensive tide flats by the mouth of the Puyallup River, about a mile from the original site of Tacoma. Not only did the tide flats provide level ground compared to the steep slopes surrounding the rest of the bay, but dredging work would quickly provide deep water access to the railyards and warehouses. A new town, called New Tacoma, quickly grew up by the railroad hub. "Old town" Tacoma and New Tacoma soon merged. Large land grants were provided to the Northern Pacific, including a significant part of the coast of Commencement Bay. Over time the city of Tacoma bought up this land.<ref>{{cite book |last= Dorpat |first= Paul |author2=Genevieve McCoy |title= Building Washington: A History of Washington State Public Works |year= 1998 |publisher= Tartu Publications |isbn= 0-9614357-9-8 |pages= 45–46}}</ref>

Originally the boundary between Pierce and King counties ran east from the mouth of the Puyallup River, splitting Commencement Bay between the two counties. In 1901 the border was changed, giving Pierce County the entire bay.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/statepages/Washington.html |title= Washington - Atlas of Historical County Boundaries |publisher= [[Newberry Library]] |access-date= 30 May 2011}}</ref>

''[[Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation|Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding]]'' operated out of the bay during World War 2 producing escort carriers and auxiliaries as one of the yards belonging to the [[Todd Shipyards|Todd Corporation]], which included a nearby yard on [[Harbor Island, Seattle]].