One of a number of interpretive displays at the Museum of Flight and inside the T. Evans Wyckoff Memorial Bridge reads:
Mount Rainier
A National Park
Mount Rainier is an active volcano located 54 miles (87 km) southeast of Seattle, and it is visible from East Marginal Way South beyond the Museum.
Mount Rainier is the highest peak in the Cascade Range and the fifth highest mountain in the contiguous United States at 14,410 feet (4,392 m) above sea level.
The mountain and the surrounding area are part of Mount Rainier National Park, created on March 2, 1899 by President William McKinley as the nation's fifth national park.
Naming the Mountain
Mount Rainier was first known by local Native Americans as Tacobet, Tahoma, or Tacoma, from the words for "mother of waters" or "snow-covered mountain."
However, English explorer Captain George Vancouver (1758-1798)
renamed the mountain after his friend Rear Admiral Peter Rainier.
In 1890, the United States Board on Geographic Names declared that the mountain would be known as Rainier, even though the Rear Admiral never saw the mountain.
On clear days, Mount Rainier can be seen from as far away as Portland, Oregon, and Victoria, British Columbia. Because of its scenic dominance, Seattle-Tacoma-area residents sometimes refer to it simply as "the Mountain."