Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the largest city in the state of Washington, and in the northwestern United States. It is situated between Puget Sound and Lake Washington, about 180 kilometers south of the Canadian border, in King County, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 563,374. The first white settlers arrived in 1851 at Alki Point, and the first plats for the Town of Seattle were filed in 1853. The city was incorporated in 1869, after having existed as an incorporated town from 1865 to 1867.

Seattle is named after Noah Sealth, chief of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes, better known as Chief Seattle.

Seattle is home to many institutions of higher learning, including the University of Washington, Seattle University, Seattle Pacific University, Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle Bible College, The Art Institute of Seattle, Antioch University Seattle, and North Seattle, Seattle Central, and South Seattle Community Colleges.

The Space Needle is possibly Seattle's most famous landmark, featuring in the logo of the television show Frasier, and dates from the 1962 Century 21 Exposition, a World's fair.

In sports, Seattle is home to the Seattle Seahawks National Football League team, the Seattle Supersonics National Basketball Association team, the Seattle Storm WNBA team, the Seattle Thunderbirds[?] Western Hockey League team, the Seattle Sounders[?] Major League Soccer team, and the Seattle Mariners Major League Baseball team.

Until 2001, Seattle was also home to Boeing. Following a bidding war in which several cities offered huge tax breaks, Boeing moved its corporate headquarters to Chicago. The Seattle area is still home to Boeing's commercial airplanes division and several Boeing plants. Major companies whose headquarters still remain in the Seattle area include:

• Airborne Express
• Alaska Airlines[?]
• Amazon.com
• AT&T Wireless[?]
• Costco[?]
• Eddie Bauer[?]
• Expedia.com[?]
• Microsoft
• Nordstrom
• PACCAR[?]
• RealNetworks
• R.E.I.[?]
• Safeco Corporation
• Starbucks
• T-Mobile USA[?]
• Washington Mutual
• Washington Federal Savings
• Weyerhaeuser[?]

Seattle is sometimes referred to as the "rainy city." Although it gets less rain than many other US cities, Seattle has more cloudy and rainy days, with few heavy downpours. Other nicknames are Emerald City, due to its being very green all year round, and Jet City, due to the heavy influence of Boeing.

Seattle is known as the home of grunge music, has a reputation for heavy coffee consumption, and was the site of the 1999 meeting of the World Trade Organization shut down by anti-capitalist demonstrators.

Table of contents 1 Government 2 Geography 3 Demographics 4 Official Flower, Slogan, and Song 5 Annexed Towns 6 Seattle Metro Area 7 Major Highways 8 See also 9 External links

Government Mayor:
Greg Nickels
City Council:
Judy Nicastro, Richard Conlin, Peter Steinbrueck, Jan Drago, Margaret Pageler, Nick Licata, Heidi Wills, Richard McIver, Jim Compton

Bertha Knight Landes[?] was mayor from 1926 to 1928. She was the first woman mayor of a major American city.

Geography Seattle is located at 47°37'35" North, 122°19'59" West (47.626353, -122.333144)¹.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 369.2 km² (142.5 mi²). 217.2 km² (83.9 mi²) of it is land and 152.0 km² (58.7 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 41.16% water.

Bodies of water: Lake Washington, Union Bay[?], Montlake Cut[?], Portage Bay[?], Lake Union, Fremont Cut[?], Salmon Bay[?], Shilshole Bay[?], Lake Washington Ship Canal, Puget Sound, Elliott Bay[?], Duwamish River, Green Lake[?], Haller Lake[?], Bitter Lake[?], University Slough[?], Ravenna Creek[?], Thornton Creek[?], Piper's Creek[?], Arboretum Creek[?], Longfellow Creek[?], Fauntleroy Creek[?], Smith Cove[?]

Demographics As of the census of 2000, there are 563,374 people, 258,499 households, and 113,481 families residing in the city. The population density is 2,593.5/km² (6,717.0/mi²). There are 270,524 housing units at an average density of 1,245.4/km² (3,225.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 70.09% White, 8.44% African American, 1.00% Native American, 13.12% Asian, 0.50% Pacific Islander, 2.38% from other races, and 4.46% from two or more races. 5.28% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 258,499 households out of which 17.9% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 32.7% are married couples living together, 8.1% have a female householder with no husband present, and 56.1% are non-families. 40.8% of all households are made up of individuals and 9.3% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.08 and the average family size is 2.87.

In the city the population is spread out with 15.6% under the age of 18, 11.9% from 18 to 24, 38.6% from 25 to 44, 21.9% from 45 to 64, and 12.0% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 35 years. For every 100 females there are 99.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 98.8 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $45,736, and the median income for a family is $62,195. Males have a median income of $40,929 versus $35,134 for females. The per capita income for the city is $30,306. 11.8% of the population and 6.9% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 13.8% are under the age of 18 and 10.2% are 65 or older.

Official Flower, Slogan, and Song

• Flower: Dahlia (1913)
• Slogans: "The City of Flowers" (1942); "The City of Goodwill" (1990) (for the Goodwill Games[?] held that year in Seattle)
• Song: "Seattle the Peerless City" (1909)
  

Annexed Towns

• South Seattle, 1905-1905
• West Seattle, 1902-1907
• Ballard, 1890-1907
• Columbia City, 1893-1907
• Ravenna, 1906-1907
• Southeast Seattle, 1906-1907
• Georgetown, 1904-1910

Seattle Metro Area

The Seattle metro area is made up of some or all of the following counties:

• King County, Washington - Seattle and immediate vicinity
• Snohomish County, Washington - north of Seattle
• Pierce County, Washington - south of Seattle
• Kitsap County, Washington - west of Seattle, separated from the city by Puget Sound

Complete listings of the cities in the immediate area are above. The following list is a subset of the full list:

• Bellevue
• Mercer Island
• Issaquah
• Seatac
• Bremerton
• Federal Way
• Redmond
• Renton
• Kent
• Des Moines

Major Highways

• Interstate 5 (north to Everett, Bellingham, and Vancouver, British Columbia; south to Tacoma, Olympia, and Portland, Oregon)
• Interstate 90 (east to Ellensburg, Spokane, and Billings, Montana
• Washington State Route 520
• Washington State Route 99 (formerly United States Highway 99[?])
• Washington State Route 522

See also

• Sleepless in Seattle (movie)
• Music of Washington, especially grunge music

External links

City of Seattle website: http://www.seattle.gov

History of Seattle/King County: http://www.HistoryLink.org (http://www.historylink.org/milestones)

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Other uses of the term "Seattle" include: Chief Seattle