History of Seattle through the 1980s
Seattle was first settled by Europeans in the 1850s by the Denny Party, a small group of explorers who settled the city's land, then covered by a dense, mature pine forest, and turned it into a logging town. The Town of Seattle was twice incorporated in the 1860s, as the town's charter was voided due to corrupt dealings that led to its initial ratification. The 1880s were when the small town of Seattle rapidly became a city. In 1884, The Great Western Railroad came to Seattle. A few years later, in 1889, the Great Seattle Fire burned much of the city and the rebuilding of the city's buildings created thousands of new jobs. Due to these events, a population explosion occurred and the small town grew 1,112.5% in population from having 3,533 people in 1880 to a city home to 42,837 people in 1890.
Logging, manufacturing, and exporting dominated Seattle's economy between the 1890s and World War II, and Seattle's population grew from 42,837 in 1890 to 237,194 in 1910 thanks to rapid economic growth and prospertiy and also thanks to the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896. Due to its manufacturing history, Seattle's early politcs were dominated by organized labor.
World War I brought wartime manufacturing to Seattle, which helped launch a small company called Boeing. Seattle's population subsequently grew by 78,000 between 1910 and 1920 to 315,312. However, the end of the war brought a period of economic decline to Seattle thanks to a lack of demand for the wartime manufacturing industry it developed in the 1910s. However, Seattle began to develop its now-vibrant artistic history in the 1920s. The city grew modestly from 1920 to 1930 largely thanks to Boeing's gradual growth, but the city only grew by 3,000 people from 1930 until 1940.
World War II brought more wartime manufaturing and helped turn Boeing into a large and successful company. Seattle's population grew 27% to 467,591 from 1940 until 1950, and experienced a post-war economic boom from 1950 until 1960 when it grew 19.1% to 557,087.
The 1950s brought I-5 and I-90 to Seattle, with I-5 running north to south through the city and to its north and south, and I-90 connecting Seattle to the rural land east of it over Lake Washington via Mercer Island. In the process, I-5 helped develop Seattle's northern and southern suburbs in the 1950s and 60s. Seattle and its suburbs experienced a housing boom, with many of the residents of its wealthy northern half moving to affluent northern suburbs like Shoreline and many of its working class residents from the city's southern half moving to industrial suburbs to the south of the city such as Bryn Mawr, Burien, and Renton.
The post-war boom was Seattle's last period of rapid growth. With much of the city's population spilling over into the new suburbs, Seattle's population slightly shrunk in the 60s. The recession of 1969, right as Boeing had incurred $2 billion in debt developing its 747 aircraft model, forced Seattle's economy to diversify. The 1970s was, subsequently, a quiet period in Seattle's history, although Starbucks and Microsoft were both founded in Seattle in that period.
The 1980s and its tech boom turned the Seattle area around, economically. The early 80s was when Nordstrom truly grew into a national chain, the mid-80s was when Microsoft really took off into becoming the computer giant it is today, and the late 80s was when Starbucks begun to expand nationwide.
The Growth and Communities of the Eastside
The 70s and 80s in Seattle not only spawned Seattle's tech and commercial sector, but also caused a great deal of growth east of the city. The land east of Seattle across from Lake Washington offered gorgeous views of Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish, rolling hills, pine forests, and, most importantly, undeveloped land.
Mercer Island, in the middle of Lake Washington, grew in the 1950s and 1960s into one of Seattle's most elite suburbs, as did the clustered communities of Clyde Hill, Yarrow Point, Hunts Point, and Medina to Bellevue's northwest. These areas (known as the Gold Coast), along with parts of North Seattle, became home to Seattle's wealthiest people. Mercer Island, Yarrow Point, Hunts Point, and Medina all offered pristine shoreline properties with stunning views of either Seattle or Bellevue (in Mercer Island's case). For years, as is the case today, Mercer Island has had a very large Jewish population.
Much of Seattle's wealthy population, especially those employed downtown, stayed within city limits. Broadmoor, an gated community built in 1924 around a golf club in North Seattle, still leans Republican today and still is home to many of Seattle's wealthiest people. Other neighborhoods, particularly those with views of Lake Washington, also are home to some of Seattle's wealthiest people with some of Seattle's oldest money. Still, some "old money" families and plenty of "new money" businessmen and lawyers moved out to the Eastside.
While there had been some—largely upscale—population east of Lake Washington before the 1960s, especially on Mercer Island and in Hunts Point, Medina, Clyde Hill, and Yarrow Point, the 1960s began the Eastside's rapid growth and the tech boom in the 70s and 80s continued it, particularly in Bellevue, Kirkland, and Redmond. Kirkland and Bellevue provided largely undeveloped waterfront properties, which are at a premium in metro Seattle.
Bellevue, bordered by Lake Washington to its west and Lake Sammamish to its east, had long been a farming community with coal mines in its southern end. After the second of its floating bridges connecting it to Seattle across Lake Washington was completed in 1963, Bellevue's population took off in the 1960s and its population grew from 12,803 in 1960 to 61,102 in 1970. The emerging city's population then grew 21.6% to 73,903 in 1980, 17.6% to 86,847, and 26.1% to 109,569 in 2000. Bellevue emerged as a large, upper-middle class suburb between 1960 and 2000, and its 200 square acre downtown is the second largest urban center in Washington today. Bellevue has become a city in its own right, with many Eastside residents commuting to it for work. The tiny, incorporated town of Beaux Arts Village is surrounded by Bellevue and Lake Washington, and Newcastle, much like southern Bellevue, lies to the south of Bellevue. Newcastle's population was 7,737 in 2000, and much of it was annexed by Bellevue in the 1990s after only some of the then-CDP of Newcastle incorporated into a city in 1994.
The neighboring, upper-middle class communities of Kirkland and Redmond grew together in this time period as well. Redmond grew from having 8,541 people in 1960 to 45,256 in 2000, with its population nearly doubling between 1970 and 1980 from 11,031 to 23,318 and doubling again from 1980 to 2000 from 23,318 to 45,256. Redmond's growth largely centered around Microsoft, which built its Kirkland headquarters in 1985. Nintendo USA is also headquartered in Redmond. Kirkland, like Redmond, effectively doubled its population from 8,541 to 15,249 from 1960 to 1970. It also, like Redmond, doubled its population again, although this doubling only took one decade unlike Redmond's two when it grew from 18,779 in 1970 to 40,052 in 1980. Costco's first store was opened in Seattle in 1983, but it was headquartered in Kirkland. This gave Kirkland another similarity to Redmond. Kirkland's 2000 population sat at 45,054, almost identical to Redmond's population of 45,256.
On Lake Sammamish's eastern shore lies Sammamish, and to its southern shore lies Issaquah. Sammamish, largely upper-middle class, grew in the 70s and 80s as a commuter town to Bellevue and Redmond and its 2000 population sat at 34,104. Upscale Issaquah's population grew from 1,870 in 1960 to 11,212 in 2000, and this growth was onny furthered by Costco's move of its headquarters from Kirkland to Issaquah.
The Eastside Communities' 2000 Borders
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