DuPont, Washington
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DuPont is a city in Pierce County,
Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...
, United States. The population was 10,151 at the 2020 census. Originally a
company town A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...
, the city is named after the
DuPont Dupont, DuPont, Du Pont, duPont, or du Pont may refer to: People * Dupont (surname) Dupont, also spelled as DuPont, duPont, Du Pont, or du Pont is a French surname meaning "of the bridge", historically indicating that the holder of the surname re ...
chemical company which operated an explosives manufacturing plant in the area from 1909 to 1975.


History

There was a Native American presence in the area for the last 10,000 years. At the time of contact the
Nisqually Tribe The Nisqually are a Lushootseed-speaking Native American tribe in western Washington state in the United States. They are a Southern Coast Salish people. They are federally recognized as the Nisqually Indian Tribe, formerly known as the Nisqua ...
lived in relative peace and prosperity in their aboriginal homeland of about two million acres (810,000 ha) near the present-day towns of Olympia, Tenino, and DuPont, and extending to Mount Rainier. Tribal life changed radically with the advent of Euro-American settlement about 150 years ago. Forced to compromise its interests and rights over the years, the Tribe always sought to maintain its integrity and dignity. Subsisting on shellfish from the beaches and salmon from
Sequalitchew Creek Sequalitchew Creek, located in DuPont, Washington emanates from Sequalitchew Lake, Fort Lewis (Washington), Fort Lewis, Washington, was the location of the original Fort Nisqually trading post established in 1833 by the Hudson's Bay Company. The ...
. Captain
George Vancouver Captain (Royal Navy), Captain George Vancouver (; 22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer best known for leading the Vancouver Expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern West Coast of the Uni ...
mapped the area in 1792, and in 1833, the
Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...
established a fur trading post at
Fort Nisqually Fort Nisqually was an important fur trade, fur trading and farming post of the Hudson's Bay Company in the Puget Sound area, part of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia Department. It was located in what is now DuPont, Washington. Today it is a ...
as a halfway point between Ft. Vancouver and Ft. Langley. The fort was relocated upstream in 1843.Hudson's Bay Company Era, DuPont Museum
It was relocated to expand on the fort to house more workers and to have better access to fresh water. Charles Wilkes of the United States Exploring Expedition held the first American Independence Day celebration west of the Mississippi River in the present-day DuPont area on July 5, 1841. The first school in the area was the Nisqually Methodist Mission school, which operated from 1840 through 1842. Chloe A. Clark was appointed teacher at the school. The first public school was established in 1852. By 1869, the Hudson Bay Company had to sell the land to the U.S. government for $650,000. The Oregon Treaty of 1846 gave the land of the Oregon Territory to the U.S. but still allowed the HBC to continue operating in the area. American farmers in the area resented this decision and pushed out the company by establishing their own market place and squatting on company land. By 1865, there were about 150 illegal squatters on company property who would harass the livestock of the Hudson's Bay Company. A few of the farmers urged Congress to remove the fort as well as the Puget Sound Agricultural Company from the
Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...
. These conditions made it hard to continue operations in the region so the fort was closed. The land was up for grabs once Hudson's Bay Company left and many farmers bought the land. In 1906, the
DuPont Dupont, DuPont, Du Pont, duPont, or du Pont may refer to: People * Dupont (surname) Dupont, also spelled as DuPont, duPont, Du Pont, or du Pont is a French surname meaning "of the bridge", historically indicating that the holder of the surname re ...
chemical company purchased a area from the farmers for construction of an explosives plant, as the company was in the midst of expanding into the west. The plant was built on the initial 1833 Ft. Nisqually site and was completed in 1909. During its nearly 70-year history, the plant produced dynamite for the U.S. military as well as for the construction of various civilian projects including the
Grand Coulee Dam Grand Coulee Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation water. Constructed between 1933 and 1942, Grand Coulee originally had two powerhous ...
, the Alcan Highway, and the
Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...
. A
company town A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...
was set up about a mile east of the explosives manufacturing facility. By 1909, the village had two houses for the plant managers and 58 houses for the workers, which increased to over 100 houses by the end of 1917.The DuPont Era, DuPont Museum
The village was re-designated as the town of DuPont on March 26, 1912, but it was not officially incorporated as a town until 1951, when the company started selling the houses to the employees. The original company town, roughly bounded by Santa Cruz St, Penniman St, Brandywine Ave, and DuPont Ave, was added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
as the DuPont Village Historic District in 1987. The dynamite plant was shut down in 1975 and the land was subsequently purchased by the
Weyerhaeuser The Weyerhaeuser Company ( ) is an American timberland company which owns nearly of timberlands in the U.S., and manages an additional of timberlands under long-term licenses in Canada. The company has manufactured wood products for over a c ...
company for $12 million. The initial plan was to use the of land to construct a lumber export plant, but the company eventually decided to further develop the town under a
New Urbanism New Urbanism is an urban design movement that promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating Walkability, walkable neighbourhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has ...
model. DuPont, Weyerhaeuser, and the state Department of Ecology began decontamination of the original explosives plant site in 1991, with a golf course being built on the former location of the plant. In recent years, DuPont has undergone a transformation with the realization of the modern planned community of "Northwest Landing". The city is expected to have a built-out population of more than 12,000. In 1975, the
midden A midden is an old dump for domestic waste. It may consist of animal bones, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human oc ...
for the Sequalitchew Archeological site was added to the National Register of Historic Places, it being the oldest known midden in Washington.


Present day

DuPont remains a growing community. The
elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
in DuPont, Chloe Clark Elementary (which hosted
kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...
through
fifth grade Fifth grade (also 5th Grade or Grade 5) is the fifth or sixth year of formal or compulsory education. In the United States, this is mostly the last grade of primary school, but for some states, it could be the first year of middle school. Primary ...
), reached capacity in the 2007–2008 school year. As a result, starting from the following school year,
Steilacoom Historical School District Steilacoom Historical School District No. 1 is a public school district in Steilacoom, Washington, United States. It serves the city of Steilacoom, the communities of DuPont and Anderson Island, and portions of Lakewood and unincorporated Pi ...
realigned all three elementary schools. Chloe Clark Elementary and Cherrydale Primary in Steilacoom now only have students from grades K-3. Saltar's Point Elementary in Steilacoom now serves 4th and 5th grades. Pioneer Middle School relocated from Steilacoom to DuPont in August 2008. The new school received the LEED award for its "Green" Design elements. DuPont is divided into several subdivisions, each with its own design style and/or building contractors. Northwest Landing is the most visible due to a sign along the freeway drawing attention to it. Several businesses have opened in the downtown area, but development has slowed in recent years. Hoffman Hill is the largest in area, and houses about 60% of the total population. The Historic Village, a residential area which is on the registry of historic places, is the only part of DuPont that is not a modern planned community. Bell Hill is considered the most expensive area of the city. DuPont features trails and green belts throughout, and is about 95% built-out according to the master plan. On December 18, 2017, an
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
train derailed near DuPont, killing three people and injuring more than 100 others.


Geography

According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.


Sequalitchew Creek trail and beach

Within the city limits of DuPont, next to the city hall, lies the
Sequalitchew Creek Sequalitchew Creek, located in DuPont, Washington emanates from Sequalitchew Lake, Fort Lewis (Washington), Fort Lewis, Washington, was the location of the original Fort Nisqually trading post established in 1833 by the Hudson's Bay Company. The ...
trail which can be accessed by the old narrow gauge railway roadbed which ran from the old Powderworks plant to
Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ; ) is a complex estuary, estuarine system of interconnected Marine habitat, marine waterways and basins located on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As a part of the Salish Sea, the sound ...
. The trail leads to Sequalitchew Beach. The creek corridor hosts hundreds of species, including
bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche ...
s, hawks,
McKay's bunting McKay's bunting (''Plectrophenax hyperboreus'') is a passerine bird in the longspur family Calcariidae. It is most closely related to the snow bunting (''P. nivalis''). Hybrids between the two species have been observed, leading some authorities ...
, song birds, herons, ducks, owls, frogs, salamanders, snakes, beaver, raccoons, coyotes, deer, and rabbits. The waters off Sequalitchew Beach are inhabited by
harbor seal The harbor (or harbour) seal (''Phoca vitulina''), also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. The most widely distributed species of pinniped (walruses, eared sea ...
s,
marbled murrelet The marbled murrelet (''Brachyramphus marmoratus'') is a small seabird from the North Pacific. It is a member of the family Alcidae, which includes auklets, guillemots, murres and puffins. It nests in old-growth forests or on the ground at hig ...
and
gray whale The gray whale (''Eschrichtius robustus''), also known as the grey whale,Britannica Micro.: v. IV, p. 693. is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and breeding grounds yearly. It reaches a length of , a weight of up to and lives between ...
s.Weyerhaueser Export Facility Plan, Final Environmental Impact Statement
/ref>


Other trails and wildlife areas

DuPont's other trails and its parks offer similar access to wildlife and exceptional opportunities for outdoor activity. The trail and greenbelt system provides a wide cross-section of DuPont's geographic and natural environments, while maintaining an urban feel. Full maps can be obtained from the visitor center, city hall, and the history museum.


Demographics


2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 8,199 people, 3,023 households, and 2,185 families residing in the city. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was . There were 3,241 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 68.7%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 8.1%
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.5% Native American, 10.2% Asian, 1.1%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 2.6% from other races, and 8.9% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race were 9.7% of the population. There were 3,023 households, of which 47.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.0% were
married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 11.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 2.7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 27.7% were non-families. 24.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.71 and the average family size was 3.27. The median age in the city was 32 years. 33.4% of residents were under the age of 18; 5.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 37.1% were from 25 to 44; 17.2% were from 45 to 64; and 7.1% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 47.2% male and 52.8% female.


2000 census

As of the 2000 census, there were 2,452 people, 936 households, and 670 families residing in the city. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was . There were 977 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 74.63%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 8.20%
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.82% Native American, 7.34% Asian, 0.69%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 2.24% from other races, and 6.08% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race were 6.36% of the population. There were 936 households, out of which 40.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.8% were
married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 6.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.4% were non-families. 23.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.12. In the city, the population was spread out, with 29.9% under the age of 18, 5.0% from 18 to 24, 40.8% from 25 to 44, 17.8% from 45 to 64, and 6.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.2 males. The median income for a household in the city was $52,969, and the median income for a family was $57,202. Males had a median income of $42,946 versus $36,741 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the city was $22,742. About 2.2% of families and 4.6% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 3.5% of those under age 18 and 2.5% of those age 65 or over.


Education

The city is in the
Steilacoom Historical School District Steilacoom Historical School District No. 1 is a public school district in Steilacoom, Washington, United States. It serves the city of Steilacoom, the communities of DuPont and Anderson Island, and portions of Lakewood and unincorporated Pi ...
.
Steilacoom High School Steilacoom High School (or SHS) is a public high school in Steilacoom, Washington, United States and is part of the Steilacoom Historical School District. It is the oldest, and to date the only, high school in the school district. Prior to its ...
is the district's comprehensive high school.


References


External links


City of DuPont

History of DuPont
at
HistoryLink HistoryLink is an online encyclopedia of Washington (state), Washington state history. The site has more than 8,100 entries and attracts 23,000 weekly visitors. It has 500 biographies and more than 14,000 images. The non-profit historical organi ...

DuPont Museum

DuPont Visitor Information


{{DEFAULTSORT:Dupont, Washington Cities in Washington (state) Cities in Pierce County, Washington Cities in the Seattle metropolitan area Company towns in Washington (state) DuPont 1912 establishments in Washington (state)