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Seattle)
| City of Seattle |
|
|
|
|
| Nickname(s): The Emerald City |
Location of Seattle in
King County and Washington |
Coordinates:  47°36′35″N 122°19′59″W / 47.60972, -122.33306 |
| Country |
United States |
| State |
Washington |
| County |
King |
| Incorporated |
December 2, 1869 |
| Government |
| - Type |
Mayor–council |
| - Mayor |
Greg Nickels (D) |
| Area |
| - City |
142.5 sq mi (369.2 km²) |
| - Land |
83.87 sq mi (217.2 km²) |
| - Water |
58.67 sq mi (152.0 km²) |
| - Metro |
8,186 sq mi (21,202 km²) |
| Elevation |
0–520 ft (0–158 m) |
| Population (July 1, 2007)[1][2] |
| - City |
594,210 |
| - Density |
6,901/sq mi (2,665/km²) |
| - Urban |
2,712,205 |
| - Metro |
4,038,741 |
| Time zone |
PST (UTC-8) |
| - Summer (DST) |
PDT (UTC-7) |
| ZIP codes |
98101, 98102, 98103, 98104, 98105, 98106, 98107, 98108, 98109, 98110[3],
98111, 98112, 98113, 98114, 98115, 98116, 98117, 98118, 98119, 98121,
98122, 98124, 98125, 98126, 98127, 98129, 98131, 98132, 98133, 98134,
98136, 98138, 98139, 98141, 98144, 98145, 98146, 98148, 98151, 98154,
98155, 98158, 98160, 98161, 98164, 98165, 98166, 98168, 98170, 98171,
98174, 98175, 98177, 98178, 98181, 98184, 98185, 98188, 98190, 98191,
98194, 98195, 98198, 98199 |
| Area code(s) |
206 |
| FIPS code |
53-63000[4] |
| GNIS feature ID |
1512650[5] |
| Website: www.seattle.gov |
Seattle (pronounced /siˈætl ̩/) is a coastal port city and the largest city in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located in the state of Washington between an arm of the Pacific Ocean called Puget Sound and Lake Washington, about 96 miles (154 km) south of the Canada – United States border in King County, of which it is the county seat.
The Seattle area has been inhabited for at least 4,000 years,[6] but European settlement began only in the mid-19th century. The first permanent white settlers—Arthur A. Denny and those subsequently known as the Denny Party—arrived November 13, 1851. Early settlements in the area were called "New York-Alki" ("Alki" meaning "by and by" in the local Chinook Jargon) and "Duwamps". In 1853, Doc Maynard suggested that the main settlement be renamed "Seattle", an anglicized rendition of the name of Sealth, the chief of the two local tribes.
According to the Washington State Office of Financial Management's April 1, 2008 estimate, the city has a municipal population of 592,800,[7] and a metro population of 4,038,741.
From 1869 until 1982, Seattle was known as the "Queen City".[8] Seattle's current official nickname is the "Emerald City", the result of a contest held in the early 1980s;[9]
the reference is to the lush evergreen trees in the surrounding area.
Seattle is also referred to informally as the "Gateway to Alaska",
"Rain City",[10] "Coffee Town",[11] and "Jet City", the latter from the local influence of Boeing. Seattle residents are known as Seattleites.
Seattle is the birthplace of grunge music[12] and has a reputation for heavy coffee consumption;[13] coffee companies founded or based in Seattle include Starbucks,[14] Seattle's Best Coffee,[15] and Tully's.[16] There are also many successful independent artisanal espresso roasters and cafes.[13] Researchers at Central Connecticut State University ranked Seattle the most literate city of America's sixty-nine largest cities in 2005 and 2006 and second most literate in 2007.[17]
Moreover, analysis conducted in 2004 by the United States Census Bureau
of 2002 survey data indicated that Seattle was the most educated large
city in the U.S. with 48.8 percent of residents 25 and older having at
least bachelor degrees.[18] Based on per capita income, in 2006 the Seattle metropolitan area ranked 17th out of 363 metropolitan areas in a study by the Census Bureau.[19]
History
-
Founding
What is now Seattle has been inhabited since the end of the last ice age. Archaeological excavations at West Point in Discovery Park, Magnolia, confirm that the Seattle area has been inhabited by humans for at least 4,000 years.[6] tohl-AHL-too ("herring house") and later hah-AH-poos ("where there are horse clams") at the mouth of the Duwamish River in what is now the Industrial District has been inhabited since the 6th century BC.[20] By the time the first European settlers arrived in the area, the Dkhw'Duw'Absh and Xachua'Bsh people (now called the Duwamish Tribe) occupied at least seventeen villages in the areas around Elliott Bay.[21]
The first Europeans to attempt settlement in the area were the
Collins Party, who filed legal claim to land at the mouth of the
Duwamish River on September 14, 1851.[22]
Thirteen days later, members of the Collins Party were on the way to
their claim when they passed the scouts of the group of settlers that
would eventually found Seattle, the Denny Party.[23] The scouts for the Denny Party, Terry Lee, David Denny, and John Low, would lay claim to land on Alki Point on September 28, 1851, with Terry Low returning to Portland, Oregon carrying a message from David Denny telling his brother, Arthur Denny, to "Come at once."[24]
Following the instructions of David Denny, the rest of the Denny Party
set sail from Portland and landed on Alki during a rainstorm on November 13, 1851. The landing party's first sight of their new homestead was the roofless cabin that David had been unable to complete because of a fever.[24]
After spending a winter of frequent rainstorms and high winds on
Alki Point, most of the Denny Party moved across Elliott Bay and
settled on land where present day Pioneer Square is located and established the village of "Dewamps" or "Duwamps."[24]
The only members of the party that did not migrate to the eastern shore
of Elliott Bay were Charles Terry and John Low, who remained at the
original landing location and established a village they initially
called "New York," after Terry's hometown, until April 1853 when they
renamed it "Alki," a Chinook word meaning, roughly, by and by or someday.[25]
The villages of New York-Alki and Duwamps would compete for dominance
in the area for the next few years, but in time Alki was abandoned and
its residents moved across the bay to join the rest of the settlers.[26]
David Swinson ("Doc") Maynard, one of the village's founders, was
the primary advocate for renaming the village to "Seattle" after Chief Sealth (si'áb Si'ahl) of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes.[27] Doc Maynard's advocacy bore fruit, because when the first plats for village were filed on May 23, 1853,
it was for the Town of Seattle. In 1855, nominal legal land settlement
were established and the city was incorporated in 1865 and again in
1869, after having existed as an unincorporated town from 1867 to 1869.[24][28]
The Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition had just over 3.7 million visitors during its 138-day run
[29]
Major events
Major events in Seattle's history include:
Economic history
Seattle has a history of boom and bust cycles, common to cities near
large areas of natural and mineral resources. Seattle has several times
risen as a company town
or through economic specialization, then gone into precipitous decline,
but it has typically used those periods to successfully rebuild
infrastructure.[38]
The Seattle Central Library, designed by
OMA
The first such boom, covering the early years of the city, was
fueled by the lumber industry. (During this period the road now known
as Yesler Way was nicknamed "Skid Road"[39] after the timber skidding down the hill to Henry Yesler's sawmill. The term later entered the wider American vocabulary as Skid Row.) This boom was followed by the construction of an Olmsted-designed park system.[38]
The second and most dramatic boom was the direct result of the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896, which ended (for Seattle) the national depression that had begun with the Panic of 1893. On July 14, 1897, the S.S. Portland docked with its famed "ton of gold", and Seattle became the main transport and supply point for those heading north.[40]
The boom lasted well into the early part of the 20th century and funded
many new Seattle companies and products. Finance company Washington
Mutual was founded in 1889, in an attempt to save Seattle's economy
after the Great Seattle fire. In 1907, 19-year-old James E. Casey borrowed $100 from a friend and founded the American Messenger Company (later UPS). Other Seattle companies founded during this period include Nordstrom and Eddie Bauer.[41]
Next came the shipbuilding boom in the early part of the 20th century, followed by the unused city development plan of Virgil Bogue. Seattle was the major point of departure during World War II for troops heading to the North Pacific, and Boeing manufactured many of the war's bombers.
The local economy dipped after the war, but rose again with the
expansion of Boeing, fueled by the growth of the commercial aviation
industry.[42]
When this particular cycle went into a major downturn in the late 1960s
and early 1970s, many left the area to look for work elsewhere, and two
local real estate agents put up a billboard reading "Will the last
person leaving Seattle – Turn out the lights."[43]
Westlake Center, a Downtown mall and southern terminus of the Seattle Center Monorail
Seattle remained the corporate headquarters of Boeing until 2001,
when the company announced a desire to separate its headquarters from
its major production facilities. Following a bidding war among a number
of major cities, Boeing moved its corporate headquarters to Chicago.[44] The Seattle area is still home to Boeing's Renton narrow-body plant (where the 707, 720, 727, and 757 were assembled, and the 737 is assembled today) and Everett wide-body plant (assembly plant for the 747, 767, 777 and the upcoming 787 Dreamliner), as well as
Classical
from 
