Lakewood (Washington)

Pierce County

53-38038

Lakewood is a city in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a major suburb of Tacoma. The city also belongs Lake Steilacoom.

Sister city is Okinawa in Japan.

History

The area was inhabited by the tribe of the Nisqually, 1833 was the first settlement by white immigrants.

Built in 1849, the U.S. Army because of the Whitman massacre near the Lake Wyatchew the Fort Steilacoom, which served the 9th Infantry Regiment as a seat. 1853 built Andrew Byrd for operating a sawmill a dam in the Chambers Creek and thus transformed the small pond Lake Wyatchew in today's Lake Steilacoom, which covers 21 ha.

1854-5 defeated the 9th Infantry Regiment, the Nisqually in Puget Sound War, then the Indians were placed in a reserve. 1868 joined the U.S. military Fort Steilacoom as a military base. The building was since 1871 a new provision as a lunatic asylum, from which the Western State Hospital, the largest lunatic asylum in the USA west of the Mississippi developed.

1908 the Botanical Gardens Lakewood founded and built 1909/10 Thornewood. This property consists of three buildings, including Thornewood Castle, which consists of the imported stones one built in the 15th century in England and later dismantled house.

In 1996, from the previously unincorporated area out after a referendum the city Lakewood.

Pictures

Thornewood under construction in 1910

Fort Steilacoom