Tukwila ( tuk-WIL-ə) is a suburban city in King County, Washington, United States, located unexpectedly to the south of Seattle. The population was 19,107 at the 2010 census and an estimated 20,347 in 2019.

Tukwila is a community of communities, with residents of many diverse origins busy in the city. A large commercial center draws workers and consumers to the city daily; industry thrives afterward the confluence of rivers, freeways, railroads, and Seattle–Tacoma International Airport.

The earliest people in Tukwila were the Duwamish, who made their homes along the Black and Duwamish rivers. The name “Tukwila” is the Chinook Jargon word for “nut” or “hazelnut”, referring to the hazelnut trees that grew in the area. The Duwamish lived in cedar longhouses, hunted and fished, picked wild berries, and used the river for trade with next to peoples.

In 1853, the first white settler was Joseph Foster, a Canadian swashbuckler who had traveled to the Pacific Northwest from Wisconsin. Foster would become known as the “Father of Tukwila” and represented King County in the Washington Territorial Assembly for 22 years. Today, the site of Foster’s house on the banks of the Duwamish River is allocation of Fort Dent Park, which then served as a military base during the 1850s Indian Wars. Foster’s publish is memorialized in the Foster neighborhood of Tukwila, where Foster High School is located.

In the yet to be years, the little village grew into an agricultural center and remained a trading dwindling in the upper Duwamish River Valley. Population began to amass and industry followed, largely farm-oriented commerce. Early electric trains traveled along Interurban Avenue in Tukwila, connecting to Renton and a line to Tacoma. The Interurban Railroad operated a commuter line from 1902 to 1928, making it realizable to travel from Seattle to Tacoma in less than an hour. The first macadam paved road in Washington acknowledge was in Tukwila and bears the publicize of this extra method of street paving. One of the primordial paved military roads is located in the city.