SPANAWAY REAL ESTATE
Spanaway: Originally called Lake Park, present day Spanaway was located at the southern terminus of the Tacoma Railway and Power Company electric line, 10 miles south of Tacoma. In the days before the modern Mountain Highway, sightseers to Mr. Rainier rode the streetcar to Spanaway and then took the Eatonville-Ashford stagecoach to the mountain.Spanaway became an important destination in its own right back in the early 1900s when Spanaway Lake became Tacoma’s number-one recreation spot. Tacoma residents who wanted to escape the city, paid 10 cents for the 40-minute ride on “Old Betsy,” the streetcar. In its heyday, Spanaway Lake boasted a boathouse, an outdoor dancing pavilion, a shooting gallery and a beach.
Lake Park, as it was then known, opened its first post office, and began publishing its first newspaper, the Spanaway Sentinel, in 1890. The name Spanaway replaced Lake Park at the turn of the 20th century. In describing the town’s advantages for “laborers and businessmen” the Sentinel went so far as to assert that “ The hand of destiny unwaveringly points to it as a city of mills and factories.” While Spanaway hasn’t become an industrial center, it is an important and growing community here in Pierce County.
Located on the southwestern side of McChord Air Force, Spanaway is still home to its famous lake where swimming, boating, sunbathing and picnicking remain popular pastimes. The electric streetcar is gone now, but wooded Spanaway Park includes a bathing beach and a boat launch on the northeast shore of the lake. Some of Spanaway’s most elegant homes are located on the lake’s west shore.
Just north of Spanaway Park and Spanaway Lake lies Pierce County’s Sprinker Recreation Center. The center is open to the public and offers tennis, basketball, soccer, racquetball and volleyball. The center includes indoor and outdoor tennis skating pro shops and professional instruction. Across the street to the south is the Lake Spanaway Golf Course, also open to the public.
For the historically inclined, The Exchange Tavern is Spanaway’s oldest continually operating business, founded in 1890. During Prohibition the tavern stopped serving beer with lunch, but today you can get a beer with your sandwich or pizza and take in the historical photos of Spanaway and surrounding areas on the walls. The Prairie House Museum offers another glimpse of early Spanaway, including a blacksmith shop, milk house, early schoolroom, historical agricultural equipment and baseball memorabilia. Operated by the Spanaway Historical Society, visits can be arranged through the Fir Lane Memorial Park.
Spotlight on Spanaway: Combined population Parkland and Spanaway (according to Chamber of Commerce in 2002): 82,000