Thomas King County, Washington

Name: Thomas
Address: Washington

Mapped Location

Thomas: The mapped location is an approximation and should not be used for navigation or wayfinding.

Information

General information on Thomas

Feature Type: Place

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for Thomas

A brief list of names that this geographic feature has been named

Name	Description
Thomas	Official

Origin Notes and History of Thomas

References to Thomas that document the origin of its place name

THOMAS, a small town in the southwestern part of King County, was named for John M. Thomas, earliest pioneer settler in the White River Valley. He was born in Nicholas County, Kentucky, on July 8, 1829. He crossed the plains in 1852 and in July, 1853, he came to the White River Valley. He participated in the Indian war of 1855-1856. He served as County Commissioner for the years 1857-8-9. (History of the Pacific Northwest: Oregon and Washington, Volume II., page 602.)

Edmond S. Meany in Origin of Washington Geographic Names

Meany, Edmond S., Origin of Washington Geographic Names, 1923 University of Washington, pp 308 | Origin of Washington Geographic Names

A Selected Bibliography of Thomas, King County, Washington

A compilation of essential readings detailing the history, geography, and culture of the region.

Farmlands the story of Thomas, a small agricultural community in King County, Washington by Stan Flewelling

Stan Flewelling’s Farmlands: The Story of Thomas, a Small Agricultural Community in King County, Washington chronicles the agrarian development, immigrant labor history, and spatial transformation of an unincorporated farming hamlet situated in the fertile White River Valley between Kent and Auburn. The narrative traces how late nineteenth-century pioneer homesteads, commercial hop yards, and dairy parcels were systematically superimposed over the rich alluvial floodplains, seasonal fisheries, and prairie openings traditionally stewarded by Southern Lushootseed-speaking peoples, particularly the ancestral Muckleshoot and Duwamish communities. Flewelling details the demanding logistical mechanics of valley farming, illustrating how annual river inundations, subsequent river channelization, and the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad and Puget Sound Electric Railway (Interurban) enabled immigrant cultivators—most notably Japanese Issei and Nisei families—to establish highly productive truck-farming and berry operations despite discriminatory Alien Land Laws. Ultimately, the work captures the socio-economic evolution of the Puget Sound lowlands, demonstrating how intensive immigrant agrarian labor and regional rail infrastructure permanently reshaped an Indigenous riparian ecology into a market breadbasket before its eventual conversion into modern suburban and industrial distribution corridors.

137 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Non-circulating [ 1 ]

History · 1st Edition · Erick Sanders Historical Society, Auburn, WA, 1990
Related Catalog Items: Thomas · King County

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Last updated: 2024-06-03