In the early days the local area was a patchwork collection of small school districts located around mining, lumber, and railroad towns, including Taylor, Hobart, Maple Valley, and Ravensdale. The consolidation of many districts into one occurred over half a century.
The Tahoma school district, centered in Maple Valley, came to dominate as the smaller surrounding communities either disappeared (Taylor) or saw steep declines in population (Ravensdale). The original name TaHoMa was invented by George Williams (Class of 1929) by taking the first two letters of the three primary towns: Taylor, Hobart, and Maple Valley. The name also reflected what Native American tribes historically called Mount Rainier, sometimes pronounced “Tacoma” or alternately “Tahoma.” In time the capitalized spelling of TaHoMa, was replaced by the more conventional Tahoma.
The name was originally coined for the new high school built in 1926 at the intersection of S.E. 216th Street and 244th Avenue S.E. That high school later became the Junior High and then Tahoma Middle School, but will soon be recommissioned as Tahoma Elementary. This photo shows the TaHoMa Boys’ Basketball team of 1926, as coached by Earl Bonham. One of the boys has been identified: Mike Lazor (2nd row middle).
The story which details the naming of TaHoMa’s was told by Dorothy Iverson, THS Class of 1929 and appears in the 2005 Tahoma Yearbook. This photo comes courtesy of the Maple Valley Historical Society.
