Seattle

 

Basic Information

 

Population 2021:733,919

95.2% of the populution has a HS or higher education
There are 344,299 housing units in the city
19.4% of the residents were born abroad

Median Household Income:$97,184

10.2% of the Residents Live below the poverty line

Total Area 8,791.8 Sq Miles

26,211 of the city residents are veterans

 

 

 

 

Seattle Armored Cruiser 11

Seattle AO3

 

History of Seattle

Each city around the nation has a distinct history with interesting tales from the locals. Seattle is no different. From the tunnel under Queen Anne to the nuclear fallout shelter that’s found under Interstate 5, there are historical facts about each city that sometimes sound too strange to be true. Seattle has a lot of these facts. But the history of this northwest coastal city is something that many people know nothing about. So here is a brief history of the city we now call Seattle.

A Long History of Commerce in Seattle
Seattle has been known as a great place for businesses since it was settled by Europeans in the 1800s. As a waterfront city, it has access to ports to transport materials up and down the coast. When the city was officially settled by Europeans in the 1850s, those first families were quickly known to sell and barter meat and other goods. The timber industry took hold as loggers came to mill wood to transport to other cities like San Francisco which was also growing at the same time.
As the years went on and more people came to the region, Seattle grew to be a burgeoning city with farming communities on the outskirts and shops and merchants making and selling their wares on the city streets. Even though these were the early years, Seattle continues to be a great place for businesses. People intentionally come to Seattle to build a business.
This includes the titans of industry that are household names, such as Amazon and Costco, and on-the-rise companies like Canna-Pet, which sells organic CBD treats for dogs, and Geocaching HQ, the home of the world's largest treasure-hunting game. The diversity in business today is because of the entrepreneurial spirit of settlers in the past. And it's likely this tradition will continue for generations to come.

Starting in the 1700s
While Seattle has been inhabited off and on for thousands of years, the real wave of settlers to the region came after the first European came to visit the area in 1792. While Seattle wasn’t considered settled until the 1850s, George Vancouver’s expedition to the region brought more interest in the Northwest part of the United States. At that time there were villages there that were abandoned by around 1800 for unknown reasons.

What Happened in the Mid-1800s
When the Denny party came to the area in 1851, the families all worked together to build a small community. Most historians will say that this is when the city of Seattle began, as we know it today. Seattle was once covered in trees that were 400+ feet high, but the logging industry soon saw value in milling and selling the timber as well as selling whole logs. These trees were often sold to San Francisco and transported by boat.
Those early communities relied on the income generated through logging. The first church was established in 1867 by a priest named Francis Xavier Prefontaine, with the opening of the first Catholic Church coming a couple of years later. Before the late 1800s, the railway came to Tacoma instead of Seattle, but the new form of transportation meant more people and more opportunities in the region.
But with all this progress, there were fights with the Native tribes, racial tensions with Chinese immigrants, and more. The white settlers were known to exploit other people groups for labor and other big projects. While these projects included things like the railroad system, sewage systems, and more, it was done at a high price. Then in 1889, the Great Fire destroyed 29 blocks of the city of Seattle. Most of these buildings were made primarily of wood and that allowed massive destruction and death to come as a result.

The Start of the 20th Century in Seattle
The gold rush was the start of a new wave of settlers to the region. With the hopes of striking it rich, people came from all over to start mining and panning for gold. The early 1900s brought with it another boom in population especially once Seattle got its own major rail passenger terminal in 1906. The school system grew as well. Much like the rest of the nation, Seattle was impacted by World War I and World War II.
The war effort meant that many industries in Seattle focused on creating items needed for the battles. After the war was over, tens of thousands of people were out of jobs. However, this period led to new innovations, like Boeing passenger planes that helped to create new forms of transportation all over the world.
Innovation continues to be a hallmark of Seattle’s culture. Business and industry thrive there and draw in new people from all over the world to work with some of the most notable companies around.