Roy, WA

At the 2020 census, Roy was a Pierce County city of 816 people on the open, wooded plains of the Nisqually Basin, where farmland meets Joint Base Lewis-McChord. James McNaught and Dr. S.A. Warren founded the town in 1884, and it incorporated in 1908. Before that, the Northern Pacific line called the settlement Media because it sat midway between Tacoma and Tenino. Rail traffic gave Roy a water stop for steam trains, and the surrounding mills sent lumber toward Tacoma. Hops were once another local crop, sold to Rainier and Olympia breweries.

Today, Roy’s main industries are farming and cattle raising, with Wilcox Farms and Silvaseed among the employers named by the city. The old water tower still marks the railroad past, and the general store and other early-1900s buildings keep the town from feeling like a brand-new exurb. The Roy Pioneer Rodeo Association puts on two rodeos a year, drawing riders and spectators from around the region, Canada, and beyond. Roy is small inside its city limits, but the mailing-area community around it is much larger, which is why local maps can make it look both tiny and central at once.