Fort Steilacoom Park

Fort Steilacoom Park features include an expansive trail system, baseball, softball, and soccer fields, a state-of-the-art playground, a permanent orienteering course, a radio-controlled aircraft area for hobbyists, an off-leash dog park, two picnic shelters, and year-round restrooms. We even have a dedicated 5k route through our trails and walkers can follow the Discovery Trail markers around our nearly 1-mile long paved Waughop Lake Trail loop.

In 2018 the City, in partnership with the Rotary Club of Lakewood, built an enclosed Pavilion at the park, perfect for summer concerts with outdoor grass seating or for the public to rent for receptions or as a meeting space.

With all its amenities, Fort Steilacoom Park has become a regional draw boasting more than 1 million visitors annually. It is also rich in history. The park, and surrounding land that is now developed, was used by the Nisqually and Steilacoom Indian tribes as a food source and gathering place before settlers and fur traders moved into the region.

Subsequent uses included its transformation to a military fort that hosted a number of Army lieutenants and captains who went on to hold key roles in the Civil War — and one who even became President of the United States. Other uses of the property over the years include a farm maintained by patients at Western State Hospital.

Owned by the state of Washington but maintained by the City of Lakewood, in 2018 the State Legislature agreed to transfer ownership of the park to the City so that it could continue its longstanding tradition of maintaining and improving the beloved park.