Tukwila is a suburban city in King County, Washington, United States, located immediately to the south of Seattle. Take a look below for 20 fascinating and amazing facts about Tukwila, Washington, United States.

1. The population was 19,107 at the 2010 census and an estimated 20,347 in 2019.

2. Tukwila is a community of communities, with residents of many diverse origins living in the city.

3. A large commercial center draws workers and consumers to the city daily; industry thrives with the confluence of rivers, freeways, railroads, and Seattle–Tacoma International Airport.

4. The earliest people in Tukwila were the Duwamish, who made their homes along the Black and Duwamish rivers.

5. The name “Tukwila” is the Chinook Jargon word for “nut” or “hazelnut”, referring to the hazelnut trees that grew in the area.

6. The Duwamish lived in cedar longhouses, hunted and fished, picked wild berries, and used the river for trade with neighboring peoples.

7. In 1853, the first white settler was Joseph Foster, a Canadian pioneer who had traveled to the Pacific Northwest from Wisconsin.

8. Foster would become known as the “Father of Tukwila” and represented King County in the Washington Territorial Assembly for 22 years.

9. Today, the site of Foster’s home on the banks of the Duwamish River is part of Fort Dent Park, which also served as a military base during the 1850s Indian Wars.

10. Foster’s name is memorialized in the Foster neighborhood of Tukwila, where Foster High School is located.

11. In the early years, the small village grew into an agricultural center and remained a trading point in the upper Duwamish River Valley. Population began to grow and industry followed, largely farm-oriented commerce.

12. Early electric trains traveled along Interurban Avenue in Tukwila, connecting to Renton and a line to Tacoma.

13. The Interurban Railroad operated a commuter line from 1902 to 1928, making it possible to travel from Seattle to Tacoma in less than an hour.

14. The first macadam paved road in Washington state was in Tukwila and bears the name of this new method of street paving. One of the earliest paved military roads is located in the city.

15. Tukwila was incorporated as a city in 1908. The city’s first mayor was Joel Shomaker, a newspaperman.

16. Among the city’s first council members was Del Adelphia, a famous magician.

17. Tukwila’s location at the confluence of rivers, freeways and railroads has made it an important center of commerce. Approximately 45,000 people work in Tukwila today. Westfield Southcenter (formerly Southcenter Mall), Puget Sound’s largest shopping complex, is located in the city, as well as a number of Boeing corporation facilities.

18. Tukwila is also the location of several Internet and Corporate datacenters, including Microsoft, Internap, the University of Washington, Savvis, AboveNet, digital.forest, HopOne, and Fortress Colocation.

19. The city of Tukwila leans overwhelmingly Democratic like its neighbor Seattle and King County as a whole. It cast nearly three-quarters of its ballots for Joe Biden in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

20. In the 1990s and 2000s, “visiting Tukwila” was used as a euphemism for marital intercourse by Seattle Times columnist Erik Lacitis.