Downtown Seattle is composed of a tightly-packed financial district along with residential areas and a panoramic
waterfront.
Seattle (IPA: /siːˈæːtəl/) is the
largest city in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located in the U.S. state of Washington between Puget Sound and Lake Washington, about 96 miles (155 km) south of the United States–Canadian border in King
County, of which it is the county seat.
Seattle was first settled by Europeans on November 13, 1851, by Arthur A. Denny and his crew, which would subsequently become
known as the Denny party. Early settlements in the area were called New York-Alki and Duwamps. In 1853, Doc Maynard suggested that the main settlement be renamed
"Seattle," which was an anglicized rendition of the name of Noah Sealth, the collective
chief of the two indigenous tribes. As of 2006, the city had an estimated population of
582,174[1] and an estimated
metropolitan area population of approximately 3.3
million.[2] Seattle is the
hub of the Greater Puget Sound region, which also includes Tacoma, Bellevue, and Everett. Seattle's official nickname is the "Emerald City," the result of a contest held in the
early 1980s to designate a new nickname for the city;[3] the reference is to the lush evergreen trees in the surrounding area. It is also
referred to informally as the "Gateway to Alaska," "Queen City," and "Jet City," the latter due to the local influence of
Boeing. Seattle residents are known as Seattleites.
Seattle is often regarded as the birthplace of grunge music,[citation needed] and has a reputation for heavy
coffee consumption;[4] coffee companies
founded or based in Seattle include Starbucks,[5] Seattle's Best Coffee,[6] and Tully's.[citation needed] There are also many successful
independent artisanal espresso roasters and cafes.[4] Seattle was the site of the 1999
meeting of the World Trade Organization, and the attendant demonstrations by anti-globalization activists. Researchers at Central Connecticut State University ranked Seattle the most literate city in
America in 2005.[7]
Moreover, analysis conducted in 2004 by the United States Census Bureau of 2002 survey data indicated that Seattle was the most
educated city in the U.S. with 48.8 percent of residents 25 and older having at least bachelor degrees.[8] Based on
per capita income, in 2006 the Seattle metropolitan area ranked 17th out 363
metropolitan areas in a study by the Census Bureau.[9]
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, and probably much longer.[10] 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.[11] The Dkhw'Duw'Absh and
Xachua'Bsh people (now called the Duwamish Tribe) occupied at least 17 villages
in the mid-1850s,[12] living in some 93 permanent
longhouses (khwaac'ál'al) along Elliott
Bay, Salmon Bay, Portage Bay, Lake Washington,
Lake Sammamish, and the lower Duwamish, Black, and Cedar Rivers.[13]
The first whites 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.[14] 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.[15] 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."[16] 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 due to a
fever.[16]
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."[16] 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.[17] 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.[18]
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.[19] 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.[16][20]
Major events
Major events in Seattle's history include the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, which
destroyed the central business district (but took no lives);[21] the anti-Chinese riots of
1885–1886;[22] the Klondike gold rush, which made Seattle a major transportation center; the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909, which is largely responsible for the layout of
the University of Washington campus;[23] the Seattle General Strike of
1919, the first general strike in the country;[24] the 1962 Century 21 Exposition, a World's Fair;[25] the 1990 Goodwill Games;[26] the APEC leaders conference in 1993,
and the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999, marked by street protests and a series of riots.[27]
Economic history
Seattle has a history of boom and bust cycles, common in cities of its size. 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.[28]
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"[29] after the timber skidding down the street 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.[28]
The second and most dramatic boom was the direct result of the Klondike Gold Rush
of 1896, which ended 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.[30] The boom lasted well into the early part of the 20th century and funded the
start-up of many new Seattle companies and products. 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.[31]
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.[32] 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."[33]
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.[34] 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); and BECU, formerly the Boeing Employees Credit Union.
Next, technology companies, including Microsoft, Google,
Amazon.com, RealNetworks, McCaw Cellular (now
AT&T Wireless), VoiceStream (now T-Mobile
USA), and biomedical corporations such as Philips, Boston Scientific, ZymoGenetics and Amgen, found homes in Seattle and its suburbs. Even locally-headquartered coffee company
Starbucks held investments in numerous Internet and software interests. This success brought an influx of new citizens with a
population increase within city limits of almost fifty thousand between the 1990 and 2000 Census[35] and saw Seattle's real estate become some of the most expensive in the country,[36] along with that of San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles, and Boston. Many of these companies
remain relatively strong, but the frenzied dot-com boom years ended in early
2001.[37][38]
Geography
Topography
- See also: List of Seattle parks,
Bodies of water of Seattle, and Seven hills of Seattle
Seattle is located between Puget Sound--an inlet of the Pacific Ocean--and Lake Washington. West beyond the Sound are the
Kitsap Peninsula and Olympic Mountains; east beyond Lake Washington and the
Eastside suburbs are Lake
Sammamish and the Cascade Range. The rivers, forests, lakes, and fields were once rich enough to support one of the
world's few sedentary (or semi-sedentary) hunter-gatherer societies.[39][40] Opportunities for
sailing, skiing, bicycling, camping, and hiking are nearby and accessible almost all the year.
The city itself, somewhat like San Francisco, is hilly, though not uniformly so.[41] Like Rome, the city is said to lie on seven hills; the lists vary, but typically include Capitol Hill, First Hill, West Seattle, Beacon
Hill, Queen Anne, and the former Denny Hill. Many of the hilliest areas are near the city center, with Capitol Hill, First Hill,
and Beacon Hill collectively constituting something of a ridge along an isthmus between the
chief harbor, Elliott Bay (an inlet of Puget Sound) and Lake Washington. The topography of Downtown has been reshaped by
regrading projects, a seawall, and the construction of an artificial
island, Harbor Island (completed 1909), at the mouth of the city's industrial
Duwamish Waterway.
The man-made Lake Washington Ship Canal incorporates four natural bodies
of water: Lake Union, Salmon Bay, Portage Bay, and Union Bay, connecting Puget Sound to Lake Washington.
Seattle is in an earthquake zone and has experienced a number of significant quakes, most recently (as of 2007) the
magnitude 6.8 Nisqually
Earthquake, February 28, 2001, which did significant
architectural damage, especially in the Pioneer Square area (built on landfill, as are the
Industrial District and part of Downtown), but caused no fatalities.[42] Other strong quakes occurred on December 14
1872 (estimated at 7.3 or 7.4 magnitude),[42] April 13 1949 (7.1),[43] and April
29, 1965 (6.5).[44] The 1949 quake caused 8 known deaths, all in Seattle;[43] the 1965 quake caused three deaths in Seattle directly, and one more by
heart failure.[44] Although the Seattle Fault passes just south of
downtown, neither it[45] nor the Cascadia Subduction Zone has caused an earthquake since the city’s founding. The Cascadia
subduction zone poses the threat of an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 or greater, capable of seriously damaging the city and
collapsing many buildings, especially in zones built on fill.[46]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area
of 369.2 km² (142.5 mi²),1 217.2 km² (83.9 mi²) of which is land and 152.0
km² (58.7 mi²) water. The total area is 41.16% water.
Climate
Downtown Seattle is bounded by Elliott Bay and the Alaskan Way Viaduct (lower left) and
I-5 (from upper left to lower right)
Seattle's mild climate is usually classified as Marine west coast (Cfb).[47] However, its wet-winter dry-summer pattern shows some
characteristics of a Mediterranean climate (Csb), and it is sometimes classified
this way.[48] Temperature extremes are moderated by
adjacent Puget Sound and Lake Washington as well as the more distant Pacific Ocean. The region is partially protected from
Pacific storms by the Olympic Mountains and from Arctic air by the Cascade Range. Despite
being on the margin of the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains, the city has a reputation
for frequent rain.[49] In reality, the
so-called "rainy city" receives an unremarkable inches ( cm) of precipitation a year,[50] which is much less than New York City,
Atlanta, and Houston and most cities of the
Eastern Seaboard of the United States. Seattle's worldwide reputation
for rain derives from the fact that it is cloudy (not rainy) an average of 226 days per year (vs. 132 in New York City). Most of
the precipitation falls as drizzle or light rain, with only occasional downpours. The spring, late fall, and winter are filled
with days when it does not rain but looks as if it may because of cloudy, overcast skies. As for temperature, winters are cool
and wet with average lows around 35–40°F (2–4°C) on winter nights. Colder weather can occur, but seldom lasts more than a few
days. Summers are dry and warm, with average daytime highs around 73–80°F (22.2–26.7°C). Hotter weather usually occurs only
during a few summer days. Seattle's hottest official recorded temperature was °F ( °C) on July 20 1994; the coldest recorded temperature was 0°F (-18°C) on January 31, 1950.[50]
To the west 80 miles (130 km), the Hoh Rain Forest, in Olympic National Park on the western flank of the Olympic Mountains, receives an annual average
rainfall of inches ( cm), and the state capital, Olympia, south of the rain shadow, receives an annual average
rainfall of 52 inches (132 cm). Snowfall is very infrequent, especially at lower altitudes and near the coast, and is usually
light and fleeting, lasting only a few days. Average annual snowfall, as measured at Sea-Tac Airport, is 13 inches (33
cm).[51] Seattle's record
snowfall was inches ( cm) on January 13, 1950.[52] Sunnier
and drier "California weather" typically dominates from mid-July to mid-September.
An average of inches ( cm) of rain falls in July and an average of inch ( cm) in August. Although the
summer climate in the Seattle area is considerably drier and less humid than areas with humid continental climates, a slight
dampness can be occasionally felt, usually when temperatures reach above °F ( °C). This dampness is typically more
noticeable during the evening when the temperatures have dropped. Because of this, Seattle experiences occasional summer
thunderstorms.[53]
Seattle on a sunny afternoon.
The Puget Sound Convergence Zone is an important feature of Seattle's
weather. In the convergence zone, air arriving in the area from the north meets air flowing in from the south. Both streams of
air originate over the Pacific Ocean; airflow is split by the Olympic Mountains to Seattle's west, then reunited by the Cascade
Mountains to the east. When the air currents meet, they are forced upward, resulting in convection.[54]
Thunderstorms caused by this activity can occur north and south of town, but Seattle itself rarely receives worse weather than
occasional thunder and ice pellet showers. Nonetheless, the Hanukkah Eve Wind
Storm in December 2006 brought heavy rain and winds gusting up to mph ( km/h). One Seattleite drowned in her
collapsed and flooded basement; power failures were widespread, with some left without power for up to eleven days.[55]
An exception to Seattle's dampness often occurs in El Niño years, when
the marine weather systems track as far south as California and little precipitation falls in the Puget Sound area. Since the
region's water comes from mountain snowpacks during the drier summer months, El Niño winters can not only produce substandard
skiing but can result in water rationing and a shortage of hydro-electric power the following summer.
| Weather averages for Seattle, Washington |
| Month |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Year |
| Record high °F (°C) |
67 (19) |
70 (21) |
78 (26) |
87 (31) |
93 (34) |
98 (37) |
100 (38) |
99 (37) |
98 (37) |
89 (32) |
74 (23) |
65 (18) |
() |
| Average high °F (°C) |
46 (8) |
50 (10) |
53 (12) |
58 (14) |
64 (18) |
70 (21) |
75 (24) |
76 (24) |
70 (21) |
60 (16) |
51 (11) |
46 (8) |
() |
| Average low °F (°C) |
36 (2) |
37 (3) |
39 (4) |
42 (6) |
47 (8) |
52 (11) |
55 (13) |
56 (13) |
52 (11) |
46 (8) |
40 (4) |
36 (2) |
() |
| Record low °F (°C) |
0 (-18) |
1 (-17) |
11 (-12) |
29 (-2) |
16 (-9) |
38 (3) |
25 (-4) |
44 (7) |
35 (2) |
19 (-7) |
0 (-18) |
6 (-14) |
() |
| Precipitation inch (mm) |
5.1 (129.5) |
4.2 (106.7) |
3.8 (96.5) |
2.6 (66) |
1.8 (45.7) |
1.5 (38.1) |
0.8 (20.3) |
1.0 (25.4) |
1.6 (40.6) |
3.2 (81.3) |
5.9 (149.9) |
5.6 (142.2) |
() |
| Source: Weather.com [50] July 2007 |
Neighborhoods
- Further information: List of Seattle neighborhoods
Seattle mayor Greg Nickels is among those who have called Seattle "a city of neighborhoods,"[56][57]
[58] although the boundaries (and even
names) of those neighborhoods are often open to dispute. For example, a Department of Neighborhoods spokeswoman reported that her
own neighborhood has gone from "the 'CD' to 'Madrona' to 'Greater Madison Valley' and now 'Madrona Park.'"[58]
Over a dozen Seattle neighborhoods have Neighborhood Service Centers, originally known in 1972 as "Little City Halls".[59] At least twenty of these neighborhoods have one or more
annual street fairs, parades, etc.[60] The largest of the
street fairs feature hundreds of craft and food booths and multiple stages with live entertainment, and draw more than 100,000
people over the course of a weekend.[61] In addition, at
least half a dozen neighborhoods have weekly farmers' markets, some with as many as fifty vendors.[62]
Seattle has grown through a series of annexations of smaller neighboring communities, many of which now constitute prominent
neighborhoods:
In November 2007, the residents of the unincorporated North Highline neighborhood will vote on whether they will be annexed by
Seattle or Burien and in 2009, the community will be incorporated.[68]
Cityscape
Among Seattle's notable buildings are:
- The Columbia Center, the tallest building in Seattle. With 76 stories,[69] it has a greater number of floors than any other building
west of the Mississippi River.
- The Space Needle, perhaps the most iconic building in Seattle, built for the Century 21
Exposition, a World's Fair.
- The Smith Tower, the tallest building on the West Coast from its completion in 1914
until the Space Needle overtook it in 1962.[70]
- The Washington Mutual Tower, the second tallest building on the Seattle
skyline and the former headquarters of Washington Mutual.
- The Chapel of St. Ignatius at Seattle University, designed by Steven Holl.[71]
- The Seattle Central Library, designed by Office for Metropolitan Architecture.[72]
- The Starbucks Center, just south of Downtown, is the largest building in Seattle by volume,
at just over square feet ( m²). The building, once Sears'
Northwest catalog distribution center, now serves as Starbucks headquarters as well as containing Sears and OfficeMax stores.[73]
Landmarks
Seattle Center as seen from Kerry Park
The Space Needle is Seattle's most recognizable landmark, having been featured in the logo of the television show
Frasier and the backgrounds of the television series Grey's Anatomy, not to mention several films. "The Needle" dates from the 1962 Century 21 Exposition. Contrary to popular belief, the Space Needle is neither the tallest
structure in Seattle nor is it in Downtown. This misconception results from the Space
Needle often being photographed from Kerry Park on Queen Anne Hill, where it is closer to the viewer than are the downtown skyscrapers. The
fairgrounds surrounding the Needle have been converted into Seattle Center, which remains
the site of many local civic and cultural events, such as Bumbershoot, Folklife, and
the Bite of Seattle. Seattle Center shares a combination of roles within the city,
ranging from a public fair grounds to a civic center, though recent economic losses have called its viability and future into
question.[citation needed] The Seattle Center Monorail runs from Seattle Center to Westlake
Center, a downtown shopping mall: a distance of a little over a mile.
Other notable Seattle landmarks include the Smith Tower, Pike Place Market, the
Fremont Troll, the Experience Music
Project (at Seattle Center), the Seattle Central Library, the Washington Mutual Tower, and the Columbia Center, which is the fourth tallest skyscraper west of the
Mississippi River and the seventeenth tallest in the nation. (On June 16 2004, the 9/11 Commission reported that the original plan for the
September 11, 2001 attacks included the Columbia Center as one of ten
targeted buildings.)[74]
Starbucks Coffee has been at Pike Place Market since the coffee company was founded there
in 1971. The first store is still operating a block south of its original location.[75]
Street layout
-
- See also: Seattle
neighborhoods
Seattle's streets are laid out in a cardinal-direction grid pattern, except in the central business district:
early city leaders Arthur Denny and Carson Boren
insisted on orienting their plats relative to the shoreline rather than to
