Gig Harbor, Washington Gig Harbor, Washington Location of Gig Harbor, Washington Location of Gig Harbor, Washington Gig Harbor is the name of both a bay on Puget Sound and a town/city on its shore in Pierce County, Washington, United States.
Gig Harbor is one of a several cities and suburbs that claim to be "the gateway to the Olympic Peninsula".
Gig Harbor is positioned along State Route 16, about six miles (10 km) from its origin at Interstate 5, over the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
Based on per capita income, Gig Harbor rates 49th of 522 areas in the state of Washington to be ranked.
During a heavy storm in 1840, Captain Charles Wilkes brought the Captain's gig (small boat) into the harbor for protection.
Later, with the printed announcement of Wilkes 1841 map of the Oregon Territory, he titled the sheltered bay Gig Harbor.
1867 brought fisherman Samuel Jerisich to the Gig Harbor area, along with many other immigrants from Sweden, Norway and Croatia.
Gig Harbor was officially incorporated on July 12, 1946.
Until then, the major health of transit between Gig Harbor and the economic center of close-by Tacoma was by steamship.
Gig Harbor, isolated from Tacoma and Seattle by Puget Sound and the Tacoma Narrows, could not be reached by automobile or horseback except via a very long and arduous trip south around Puget Sound and Hammersly Inlet.
Between the time when the first bridge collapsed and when the second bridge was completed, a state run ferry service bringed drivers directly into downtown Gig Harbor.
After the culmination of the replacement bridge in 1950, Gig Harbor and the encircling area quickly began to precarious as a suburb of neighboring Tacoma.
First the region saw substantial residentiary evolution as families retreated from Tacoma in favor of the tree-lined neighborhoods and coastline lots available on the Gig Harbor Peninsula.
The 1980s and 1990s saw substantial retail evolution near State Route 16 to service the burgeoning residentiary population, shifting the economic center of Gig Harbor out of downtown.
Ultimately, the town/city decided to aggressively annex the encircling rural areas and convert them into high-density commercial and housing districts, forever changing the non-urban character of the region but assuring that little new evolution happens in the historic downtown area, preserving its history and charm.
By the 1970s, small-town merchants had begun actively promoting the downtown region for its historic value, and tourism became prominent on the list of economic engines in Gig Harbor.
Today, downtown Gig Harbor is a very active place for tourists with shopping, dining and recreation on every block.
Today, despite a long history of boat building, very little manufacturing exists in Gig Harbor.
The only remaining boatbuilder is Gig Harbor Boatworks, which builds rowing and sailing dinghies in classic style using undivided materials.
The Glein/Eddon/Gig Harbor boatyard was recently purchased by the town/city after spending many years sitting idle.
Commercial fishing is still of great cultural, if somewhat lesser economic, importance to Gig Harbor, and many commercial fishing boats make it their home port.
Gig Harbor's fishing fleet still gathers the first weekend in June (during the Maritime Gig Festival) in the center of the bay for the annual Blessing of the Fleet ceremony.
With it will come new economic challenges and benefits for the town/city of Gig Harbor and the encircling community.
Boats in Gig Harbor F/V Shenandoah-being restored as a exhibition piece for the Harbor History Museum F/V Emancipator-Serves as tender vessel in Friday Harbor for San Juan Island salmon seining Entering Gig Harbor According to the United States Enumeration Bureau, the town/city has a total region of 5.96 square miles (15.44 km2), of which, 5.95 square miles (15.41 km2) is territory and 0.01 square miles (0.03 km2) is water. Gig Harbor has a marine west coast climate.
Gig Harbor The Peninsula School District is the precinct covering the town/city of Gig Harbor and the Peninsula.
Gig Harbor High School As of the census of 2010, there were 7,126 citizens , 3,291 homeholds, and 1,937 families living in the city.
There were 3,291 homeholds of which 22.2% had kids under the age of 18 residing with them, 46.7% were married couples residing together, 9.0% had a female homeholder with no husband present, 3.1% had a male homeholder with no wife present, and 41.1% were non-families.
As of the census of 2000, there were 6,465 citizens , 2,880 homeholds, and 1,765 families living in the city.
There were 2,880 homeholds out of which 25.1% had kids under the age of 18 residing with them, 50.0% were married couples residing together, 9.0% had a female homeholder with no husband present, and 38.7% were non-families.
In the city, the populace was spread out with 20.3% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 23.5% from 25 to 44, 25.7% from 45 to 64, and 23.4% who were 65 years of age or older.
At the state level, Gig Harbor is part of the 26th Legislative District - which runs from the Tacoma Narrows in the south to Bremerton in the north.
It is represented in the Washington State Legislature by Senator Jan Angel (R - Port Orchard), Representative Jesse Young (R - Gig Harbor) and Representative Michelle Caldier (R - Port Orchard).
At the congressional level, Gig Harbor is part of Washington's 6th Congressional District.
Gig Harbor hosts many Charitable organizations , among them the Ducere Group, the Group Action For Peninsula People (GAPP), the Cars For Breast Cancer, the Gig Harbor-key Peninsulas Emergency Preparedness Committee Inc, the Gig Harbor Peninsula Firefighters Association and the Gig Harbor Quilters.
A list of Nonprofit Organizations operating in Gig Harbor is also available in the internet. The Men They Couldn't Hang recorded "Grave-Robbing in Gig Harbor" on their album The Domino Club.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Season 12 episode 13, "Tressed to Kill", contains a flashback tracing a fictional character called "the Gig Harbor killer" near Seattle.
Reference to the Gig Harbor killer and the CSI team's involvement in trying to solve the case pops up again in Season 13 Episode 22 "Skin in the Game".
United States Enumeration Bureau.
"Charities For Gig Harbor Washington".
"Secretary of State Charities Program Group Action For Peninsula People (GAPP)".
"Nonprofits in Gig Harbor, Washington".
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gig Harbor, Washington.
Gig Harbor travel guide from Wikivoyage City of Gig Harbor's Official Visitor Website Gig Harbor - Peninsula Area Chamber of Commerce
Categories:
Cities in Pierce County, Washington - Cities in the Seattle urbane region - Cities in Washington (state)Populated places on Puget Sound - Gig Harbor, Washington
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