Kapowsin is an CDP

Census-designated place

A census-designated place is a concentration of population identified by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes. CDPs are delineated for each decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places such as cities, towns and villages...

 located approximately 25 miles (38 kilometers) south east of Tacoma

Tacoma, Washington

Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...

 in Pierce County

Pierce County, Washington

right|thumb|[[Tacoma, Washington|Tacoma]] - Seat of Pierce CountyPierce County is the second most populous county in the U.S. state of Washington. Formed out of Thurston County on December 22, 1852, by the legislature of Oregon Territory...

, Washington, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The 2010 Census placed the population at 333.

Kapowsin was founded in 1901 when the Kapowsin Lumber Company built a sawmill at the community's present site. Located on the north end of Kapowsin Lake, the community was a thriving lumber

Lumber

Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....

 town in the early part of the 20th century, with a high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

, shops, and trades, and a population

Population

A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...

 of about 10,000. After a decline in the timber industry, the town diminished in size into a neighborhood center, with a store, tavern, post office (USA Zip Code

ZIP Code

ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

 98344), fire station

Fire station

A fire station is a structure or other area set aside for storage of firefighting apparatus , personal protective equipment, fire hose, fire extinguishers, and other fire extinguishing equipment...

 and grange hall. Kapowsin High School was abandoned in 1949 after being damaged in an earthquake

1949 Olympia Earthquake

The 1949 Olympia earthquake occurred on April 13, 1949 at 19:55 UTC , and is the largest recorded earthquake to occur in the Puget Sound region of Washington, with a magnitude of 7.1....

.

Kapowsin is located in the Bethel School District, and Kapowsin Elementary School is located nearby. Secondary students attend Frontier Junior High and Graham-Kapowsin High School, which opened in 2005. Tacoma Rail's freight line to Morton, Washington

Morton, Washington

Morton is a city in Lewis County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,126 at the 2010 census.-History:Morton was first settled in 1871 by James Fletcher. It was later named after Benjamin Harrison's Vice President, Levi P. Morton, in 1889. Morton was officially incorporated on January...

, runs through the town.