Tenino, Washington

How Tenino is governed

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0 of 14 positions listed. Gray dashed boxes are placeholders waiting for a name.

• Mayor

  Executive

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  The city's chief elected official. Presides over the executive branch, proposes the budget and represents the city.

  • City Manager / Administrator

    Executive

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    The professional administrator who runs day-to-day operations (in some cities appointed by the council instead of the mayor).

    • Police Chief

      Administration & departments

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      Leads the police department.

    • Fire Chief

      Administration & departments

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      Leads the fire and emergency services department.

    • Public Works Director

      Administration & departments

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      Streets, water, sewer, and city buildings.

    • Finance Director

      Administration & departments

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      The budget, taxes, and city accounts.

    • Planning & Zoning Director

      Administration & departments

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      Land use, zoning, building permits.

    • Parks & Recreation Director

      Administration & departments

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      Parks, programs, and public facilities.

• City Council

  Legislative

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  The elected body that passes ordinances, sets the tax rate and approves the budget.

  • City Clerk

    Administration & departments

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    Keeps the official records, runs meeting agendas and, often, local elections.

  • City Attorney

    Administration & departments

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    The city's lawyer; advises officials and prosecutes ordinance violations.

  • Boards & Commissions

    Legislative

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    Citizen advisory bodies, such as planning, zoning appeals and library boards.

• Municipal Court

  Judicial

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  Hears traffic, ordinance and other minor cases.

  • Municipal Judge

    Judicial

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    Presides over the municipal court.

Website

ci.tenino.wa.us

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Population over time

From 1,695 in 2010 to 1,870 in 2020 (+10.3%).

History

19th-century beginnings

The city was officially incorporated on July 24, 1906, but Tenino existed as a rural community since the mid-19th century, the area containing a population of approximately 170 people by 1870 and the site fully platted in 1873. Initially, American settlers were attracted to the open prairies created and maintained by local natives through controlled burns to cultivate camas root, a staple food source. Records indicate the initial settlers' community centered on the prairie approximately 1⁄2 a mile (0.80 km) south of the present town. Early residents named their first post office and school "Coal Bank", in the 1860s, a reference to a nearby coal outcropping. It was later renamed Tenino.

The railroad ended at Tenino for a time after Northern Pacific underwent financial difficulties, making the town the final passenger and freight stop on the line to Olympia. Timber production and manufacturing, as well as agriculture and mining, were early economic factors in Tenino, contributing to the community's growth. The largest part of the local economy was the quarrying of sandstone. Numerous buildings in Tenino's early days of formation were built of sandstone.

The area was rich in sandstone and part of a geologic layer known as the McIntosh Formation. By the late 19th century, a number of sandstone quarrying companies began shipping the stone as a construction material for large buildings on the West Coast. Buildings that used Tenino sandstone withstood two catastrophic events, the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, leading to the increase and popularity of the material. Eventually, Tenino sandstone was used in the construction of the Old Capitol Building and the old Thurston County Courthouse in Olympia, the rebuilt Seattle public library, the Mason County Courthouse in Shelton, the First Congregational Church, developed by Cameron Stone, in Tacoma, Denny Hall and the Theodore Jacobson Observatory at the University of Washington, the Pittock Mansion and the Pioneer Courthouse in Portland, Oregon, the Calvary Presbyterian Church of San Francisco and several US post office buildings, including at The Dalles, Oregon. Additional buildings constructed with Tenio sandstone include the Portland Public Library and the Science Hall at Washington State University. The US Government also used stone from these quarries to construct jetties at Westport, Washington and elsewhere.

20th century

The quarries declined in the early 20th century when many builders switched to concrete. Logging, saw mills, and coal mining remained as well established industries in the area. However, as the timber played out and railroads switched to diesel in the mid-20th century, these industries also declined.

During the late 1940s and early 1950s, before the construction of Interstate 5, a notorious stretch along U.S. Route 99 through Tenino gained a reputation as the "Speed Trap of the West". Many motorists considered it a speed trap because of the strict enforcement by police of the abruptly reduced speed limit through town.

Since the mid-1970s, the US Army has used a geographical map of Tenino as a training aid in map reading, because of the variety of symbols represented on the map.

On July 29, 1990, the Town of Tenino was reorganized as a Non-Charter Code City following a referendum, resulting in the name being changed to the City of Tenino.

21st century

While Tenino retains its historic downtown, now a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the town serves largely as a "bedroom community", many of its citizens commuting by car to larger cities such as Olympia and Tacoma for work.

Protests were held in the city in 2023 to voice opposition to the creation of a state contracted transitional facility for sex offenders that would have been located next to Tenino's City Park. The facility operator cancelled the project after a few weeks of objections from the community. Due to the dissent, several bills were proposed in the state legislature that would add stricter requirements and better communication policies regarding sex offender housing.

A sesquicentennial jubilee celebrating Tenino's 150 years as a recognized community was held in July 2023. The day-long event hosted a parade and vendor markets, with the highlight of a "birthday card" written in chalk by artists on a closed intersection in the city. The city's U.S. House of Representative at the time, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, bestowed Tenino with a Congressional Record copy of a floor speech she gave honoring the community and its achievement. In December, a bill was introduced at the state legislature that would declare Tenino sandstone as the state rock.

Due to ongoing "budget misreporting issues" since 2021, the city council announced in May 2026 the dissolution of the Tenino Police Department. Tenino could no longer afford a police department due to an outstanding $1.6 million debt within the city's budget. The debt was partly due to a lack of hiring consistency at the clerk-treasurer position since 2020, which led to state auditing issues and the non-sanctioned use of unrestricted funds for other budget items and projects. Required by state laws, a retroactive and more expansive interfund loan was created and is scheduled to be paid off in ten years. A temporary, "policing services" contract was authorized between Tenino and the Thurston County Sherriff's Office.

Wooden money

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Other cities in Washington

• Seattle 737,015
• Spokane 228,989
• Tacoma 219,346
• Vancouver 190,915
• Bellevue 151,854
• Kent 136,588
• Everett 110,629
• Renton 106,785

All Washington cities →