The Tacoma Tideflats host a diversity of specialties in craft and fabrication. Entire product life cycles can be followed throughout the site with each step requiring unique skill sets and processes for converting raw materials into products. The Tideflats, themselves, have also been crafted and fabricated from the same materials and processes found throughout the site.
Shipbuilders, millworkers, smelter workers, machinists, and paper millers are only a few examples of past or present Tideflats workers who have specialized in processing materials such as metals and wood. Many products we use everyday – ranging in scale from paper to boats – have been manufactured and crafted on the Tideflats.