History

Founding

What is now Seattle has been inhabited since the end of the last glacial period (c. 8,000 B.C.—10,000 years ago). 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.^[6] tohl-AHL-too ("herring house") and later hah-AH-poos ("where there are horse clams") at the then-mouth of the Duwamish River in what is now the Industrial District had been inhabited since the 6th century BC.^[7] The Dkhw'Duw'Absh and Xachua'Bsh people (now called the Duwamish Tribe) occupied at least 17 villages in the mid-1850s,^[8] 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.^[9]

Most of the Denny Party, the most prominent of the area's early Caucasian settlers (and historians), arrived at Alki Point on November 13, 1851. They called the spot "New York" at first to reflect their aspirations to create a great trading port, later appending Alki, a Chinook Jargon word meaning, roughly, by and by or someday, literally or ironically. They relocated their settlement to Elliott Bay in April 1852. The first plats for the Town of Seattle were filed on May 23, 1853. Nominal legal land settlement was established in 1855. The city was incorporated in 1865 and again in 1869, after having existed as an unincorporated town from 1867 to 1869.^[10]

Seattle was named after Chief Sealth, (si'áb Si'ahl, Noah Sealth), "high-status man" (appointed chief by the territorial governor) of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes.^[11] David Swinson ("Doc") Maynard, one of the city founders, was the primary advocate for naming the city after Chief Seattle. The name "Duwamish" is an Anglicization of Dkh^w'Duw'Absh, "the People of the Inside", and a variation of that name is preserved in the name of the Duwamish River. Previously, the city had been known as Duwamps (or Duwumps), an earlier name settlers used for the river.^[12]

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);^[13] 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;^[14] the Seattle General Strike of 1919, the first general strike in the country;^[15] the 1962 Century 21 Exposition, a World's Fair;^[16] the 1990 Goodwill Games;^[17] WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999, marked by street protests and a series of riots.^[18]. A feature film, titled Battle in Seattle, is based on the riots and will be released at the end of 2007. The Major League Baseball All-star game was held at Safeco Field in Seattle during the 2001 season.

On February 28, 2001, a state of emergency was declared after the Nisqually Earthquake, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake, rocked the region. Damage was moderate, but served as a reminder that the coastal Pacific Northwest — and the area around the Seattle Fault, in particular — is under a constant threat of earthquakes.^[19]

Seattle suffered its worst mass-killing since the 1983 Wah Mee massacre when a 28-year-old man named Kyle Aaron Huff committed the Capitol Hill massacre on March 25, 2006, followed later that year by an attempted spree killing by Naveed Afzal Haq that left one dead at the Jewish Federation building in July. Both were unusual, given that Seattle is relatively safe for a city its size. Its murder rate peaked in 1994 with 69 homicides. In 2004, Seattle's murder rate hit a 40-year low with 24 homicides. Seattle's crime rate has seen an increase in 2006, as have the crime rates in Tacoma and Lakewood, Washington. In December 2006, the Hanukkah Eve Wind Storm

Economic history

Seattle has a history of boom and bust cycles historically common in cities of its size. Seattle has been sent into precipitous decline by the aftermaths of its worst periods as a company town, but has typically used those periods to successfully rebuild infrastructure.

The first such boom, covering the early years of the city, was fueled by the lumber[21] after the timber skidding down the street to Henry Yesler's sawmill. The term later entered the wider American vocabulary as Skid Roww.) This boom was followed by the construction of an Olmsted-designed park system.

The second and largest 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. The boom lasted well into the early part of the 20th century and funded the start-up of many new companies and products. In 1907, 19-year-old James E. Casey founded the American Messenger Company in Seattle with $100 borrowed from a friend which later became UPS. Other Seattle companies founded during this time period include Nordstrom and Eddie Bauer.

Next came the shipbuilding Virgil Bogue. Seattle was the major point of departure during World War III for troops heading to the north Pacific, and Boeing manufactured many of the fighters and bombers.

After the war, the local economy dipped but rose again with the expansion of Boeing, fueled by the growth of the commercial aviation industry.^[23] 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."^[24][25]

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. 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.

Beginning in the mid 1990s, Seattle was one of the centers for the dot-com bubble centered around the development of software technology. Microsoft; companies involved with Internet development, telecommunications Amazon.com, RealNetworks, McCaw Communications (later acquired by AT&T Corp. and renamed AT&T Wireless and then again acquired by Cingular Wireless, Cingular, then returning to AT&T Wireless), and VoiceStream (later acquired by Deutsche Telekom and renamed T-Mobile USA), and biomedical corporations such as Philips, Boston Scientific, ZymoGenetics and Amgen found homes in Seattle and its suburbs. Even locally-headquartered Starbucks held investments in numerous Internet and software interests. This success brought an influx of new citizens^{[verification needed]} and saw Seattle's real estate become some of the most expensive in the country,^{[verification needed]} along with that of San Francisco, New York City, and Los Angeles. Many of these companies remain relatively strong, but the frenzied boom years ended in early 2001.^{[citation needed]}