Gig Harbor is a city in Pierce County located on a picturesque Puget Sound bay — also called Gig Harbor — across Tacoma Narrows from Tacoma. For centuries, the Twa-Wal-Kut band of the Puyallup Tribe had a longhouse and permanent camp at the head of the harbor. Explorers from the Wilkes Expedition discovered the harbor’s well-hidden opening in 1841 and named it Gig Harbor because they had entered the bay in a small captain’s gig. In 1867, three white fishermen entered the harbor and decided to make it their home.
Over the next few decades, Gig Harbor grew into a bustling fishing village with distinctive Croatian and Scandinavian communities. Lumber mills and boat-building yards also sprang up. Boats and ferries continued to be the most practical form of transportation in Gig Harbor until the second Tacoma Narrows Bridge connected the Gig Harbor Peninsula to Tacoma in 1950.
Gig Harbor incorporated as a town in 1946 with a population of around 800, but because of its proximity to Tacoma it grew steadily. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 7,126. Tourism has replaced fishing as a main Gig Harbor industry, but the city’s fishing heritage is preserved in the 17 historic netsheds that line the waterfront.