Timeline of Seattle

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Seattle, Washington, USA.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Before the 19th century

• Native Americans explore and settle throughout the Puget Sound region which includes the Seattle area.

19th century

Main articles: History of Seattle before white settlement and History of Seattle before 1900

• 1851
  • September 14: The Collins Party led by Luther Collins finds a settlement in present-day Georgetown. Scouts from the Denny Party arrive at Alki shortly after.
  • November 13: The remainder of the Denny Party arrives at Alki Point to spend a rainy winter.
• 1852 – The Denny Party moves to present day Downtown Seattle in April.
• 1853 – Seattle becomes seat of King County, Washington Territory.
• 1854 – School opens.
• 1855 – Population: 300.
• 1858 – The arrival of Manuel Lopes, the city's first Black resident.
• 1861 – Washington Territorial University established.
• 1863 – Washington Gazette newspaper begins publication.
• 1864 – May 16: The Mercer Girls arrive.
• 1867 – Weekly Intelligencer newspaper begins publication.
• 1868 – The Seattle Library Association is founded.
• 1869 – Henry A. Atkins becomes mayor.
• 1870
  • Central School opens.
  • Church of Our Lady of Good Help founded.
  • Population: 1,107.
• 1873 – Seattle & Walla Walla Railroad organized.
• 1874 – Gas street lamps installed.
• 1875
  • San Francisco–Seattle steamship service begins.
  • Ms. Maynard's Reading Room opens.
• 1878 – Seattle Daily Post begins publication.
• 1879 – Squire opera house built.
• 1880
  • City chartered.
  • Frye opera house built.
  • Population: 3,533.
• 1883 – Telephone and Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad begin operating.
• 1885 – Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway organized.
• 1886 – February: Most Chinese were expelled by White mobs.
• 1888 – Rainier Club established.
• 1889
  • Seattle Federation of Women's Clubs organized.
  • June 6: Great Seattle Fire.
  • Seattle Fire Department established.
  • Electric streetcar begins operating.
  • City becomes part of the new U.S. State of Washington.
• 1890
  • Telegraph newspaper begins publication.
  • Country Club established.
  • Population: 42,837.
• 1891 – Seattle Public Library opens.
• 1892 – Pioneer Building constructed.
• 1893
  • Great Northern Railway begins operating.
  • Seattle Athletic Club organized.
  • Seattle Theatre opens.
  • Curtis & Guptil photographers in business.
• 1894 – The Argus newspaper begins publication.
  • The Seattle Republican daily newspaper beings publication
• 1895 – Seattle General Hospital established.
• 1898 – U.S. assay office opens.
• 1899
  • The Seattle Star newspaper begins publication.
  • Tlingit totem pole installed in Pioneer Place.
• 1900
  • Population: 80,671.
  • Seattle General Hospital re-opened in a new building.

20th century

1900s–1940s

Main article: History of Seattle 1900–40

• 1901 – Renton Hill Community Improvement Club organized.
• 1903
  • July 30: Semi-centennial of founding of Seattle.
  • City hires Olmsted Brothers to design public parks.
• 1905
  • South Seattle becomes part of city.
  • Seattle Fine Arts Society established.
• 1906
  • The Mountaineers (club) formed.
  • Public Library building opens.
  • King Street Station opens.
• 1907
  • City expands, annexing Atlantic City, Ballard, Columbia, Dunlap, Rainier Beach, Ravenna, South-East Seattle, South Park, and West Seattle.
  • Pike Place Market opens.
  • St. James Cathedral built.
• 1908
  • The Great White Fleet visits Seattle and Puget Sound area.
• 1909
  • June 1: Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition opens.
  • Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad begins operating.
• 1910
  • Georgetown becomes part of city.
  • Municipal League of Seattle founded.
  • Population: 237,194.
• 1911 – Port of Seattle established.
• 1913
  • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People branch established.
  • 20th Avenue NE Bridge opens.
• 1914 – Smith Tower built.
• 1916
  • Seattle Audubon Society established.
  • Coliseum Theater opens.
• 1918 – Bessaroth Synagogue dedicated.
• 1919 – February: Seattle General Strike.
• 1920 – Seattle Northwest Enterprise newspaper begins publication.
• 1922 – The first Miss Seattle is crowned.
• 1923
  • Seattle Goodwill Industries established.
  • Mountaineers Players (theatre troupe) active.
• 1924
  • September 28: First aerial circumnavigation of the world lands at Sand Point.
  • Seattle Camera Club founded.
• 1925
  • Sears, Roebuck store in business.
  • Eagles Auditorium Building constructed.
  • Seattle Planning Commission established.
• 1926 – U.S. Naval Air Station established at Sand Point.
• 1928 – Civic Auditorium and Paramount Theatre open.
• 1929 – Seattle Urban League founded.
• 1930
  • Pike Place Fish Market and Japanese American Citizen's League established.
  • Exchange Building constructed.
• 1932 – Grace Hospital established.
• 1933 – Seattle Art Museum opens.
• 1938 – Vedanta Society of Western Washington founded.
• 1940 – Population: 368,302.
  • April 28: Seattle trolleybus system opens.
• 1941
  • April 12: Last streetcar line closed.
• 1946 – Seattle Foundation established.
• 1947
  • Airport begins operating.
  • Memorial Stadium opens.
• 1949 – Free port opens.

1950s–1990s

Main article: History of Seattle since 1940

• 1950
  • Seattle Chinese Golf Club formed.
  • Population: 467,591.
• 1957 – Sister city relationship established with Kobe, Japan.
• 1959 – City joins Puget Sound Governmental Conference.
• 1960 – Population: 557,087.
• 1961
  • Space Needle erected.
  • American Institute of Architects Seattle chapter active.
• 1962
  • Alweg Monorail begins operating.
  • April 21 – Seattle World's Fair opens.
  • Congress of Racial Equality chapter established.
  • Blaine Memorial United Methodist Church built.
• 1963
  • Seattle Opera and Seattle Repertory Theatre founded.
  • Martin Cinerama opens.
• 1964
  • August 21: The Beatles perform at the Seattle Center Coliseum; they would do so once more just over two years later.
• 1965
  • April 29: The 6.7 M_w Puget Sound earthquake affected western Washington with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), causing seven deaths and $12.5–28 million in financial losses in the Puget Sound region.
  • ACT Theatre founded.
• 1967
  • November: Radical Women founded.Seattle Radical Women, one of first women's liberation groups in the United States, forms in November 1967.
  • Allied Arts of Seattle founded.
  • Sister city relationship established with Bergen, Norway.
• 1969
  • Little Bread Co. and Brasserie Pittsbourg in business.
  • Seafirst Building constructed. It becomes Seattle's tallest building for 16 years.
• 1970 – Seattle Marathon, and negative income tax program begin.
• 1971
  • Mayor's Arts Festival begins (later known as Bumbershoot).
  • Starbucks in business.
• 1972
  • Pacific Northwest Dance Association established.
  • Intiman Theatre Festival begins.
• 1973 – Sister city relationship established with Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
• 1974 – Seattle Seahawks franchise established, would begin play in 1976.
• 1975 – World's first "commercial software for personal computers" invented in Seattle.
• 1976 – Daybreak Star Cultural Center opens.
• 1977
  • Seattle Mariners baseball team formed.
  • Sister city relationship established with Beersheba, Israel.
• 1978 – Central Co-op established.
• 1979
  • P-Patch Advisory Council established.
  • Music Magazine The Rocket begins publishing.
  • June 1: Seattle SuperSonics basketball team wins NBA Finals.
  • Sister city relationship established with Mazatlán, Mexico.
• 1980
  • Subterranean Pop fanzine begins publication.
  • Sister city relationship established with Nantes, France.
  • The last Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad train leaves Seattle before abandonment.
• 1981 – Sister city relationships established with Christchurch, New Zealand; and Mombasa, Kenya.
• 1982 – Market Park landscaped.
• 1983 – Sister city relationship established with Chongqing, China.
• 1984
  • 911 Media Arts Center and Weird Science Salon founded.
  • Sister city relationship established with Limbe, Cameroon.
• 1985
  • Seattle Municipal Archives established.
  • The 76-story Columbia Seafirst Center is built and becomes the city's tallest building. In response, the Citizen Alternative Plan (CAP) advocates for height limits in Downtown.
• 1986 – Sister city relationships established with Galway, Ireland; and Reykjavík, Iceland.
• 1988
  • Washington State Convention Center and Telephone Museum open.
  • Nirvana releases its first album on Seattle's SubPop Records.
• 1989
  • Jim McDermott becomes U.S. representative for Washington's 7th congressional district.
  • Sister city relationship established with Daejeon, South Korea.
• 1990
  • September 15: Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel opens.
  • Norm Rice becomes mayor.
  • October: Pearl Jam plays its first concert ever in Seattle's Off Ramp Café.
  • Population: 516,259.
• 1991
  • Sustainable Seattle nonprofit established.
  • Washington Hemp Expo begins.
  • Seattle Art Museum rebuilt.
  • Sister city relationships established with Cebu, Philippines; and Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
• 1992 – Sister city relationship established with Pécs, Hungary; and Surabaya, Indonesia.
• 1993
  • Seattle Knights jousting acting troupe founded.
  • Fictional movie Sleepless in Seattle released.
  • Sister city relationships established with Gdynia, Poland; and Perugia, Italy.
• 1994
  • Amazon.com in business.
  • Seattle Asian Art Museum opens.
  • City Public Access Network online.
• 1996 – Sister city relationship established with Haiphong, Vietnam.
• 1997
  • Seattle Internet Exchange and Seattle Channel established.
  • Jet City Maven newspaper begins publication.
• 1998 – Paul Schell becomes mayor.
• 1999
  • November 30: Anti-globalization protest during World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference.
  • Town Hall Seattle opens.
  • Sister city relationship established with Sihanoukville, Cambodia.
• 2000
  • Experience Music Project opens.
  • Music Magazine The Rocket ends publishing.

21st century

• 2001
  • February 27: Seattle Mardi Gras Riots
  • February 28: Nisqually earthquake.
  • September: Boeing relocates its corporate headquarters to Chicago, Illinois.
• 2002
  • July 28: The first sporting event at Seahawks Stadium, a Seattle Sounders soccer match, is held.
• 2004
  • Seattle Central Library building opens.
  • Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project founded.
  • Rat City Rollergirls (rollerderby league) founded.
• 2006
  • Seattle Metropolitan begins publication.
  • Kavana Cooperative founded.
• 2007
  • December 12: South Lake Union Streetcar line opened.
• 2008
  • Tilted Thunder Rail Birds (rollerderby league) formed.
  • Seattle SuperSonics move to Oklahoma City
• 2009
  • July 18: Central Link light rail begins service between Westlake and Tukwila.
  • December 19: Central Link is extended to SeaTac Airport.
  • InvestigateWest news headquartered in Seattle.
  • Upping Technology for Underserved Neighbors and Jigsaw Renaissance founded.
  • CondoInternet in business.
• 2010
  • Northwest Chocolate Festival begins.
  • Michael McGinn becomes mayor.
  • Population: 608,660; metro 3,439,809.
• 2011
  • Seattle Shorts Film Fest begins.
  • Citizen University headquartered in city.
• 2012
  • Ban against plastic shopping bags in effect.
  • Chihuly Garden and Glass and Living Computer Museum open.
• 2013
  • Construction of the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel by the tunnel-boring machine Bertha begins.
  • Population: 652,405.
• 2014
  • January: Ed Murray becomes mayor.
  • February: Seattle Seahawks win Super Bowl football contest.
  • May: City minimum wage hike announced.
• 2015
  • May: A large kayak protest against Arctic oil drilling is held on Elliott Bay in response to a Shell oil platform arriving at the Port of Seattle.
  • September: School teacher labor strike.
• 2016
  • January 23: First Hill Streetcar line opens.
  • March 19: University Link Tunnel extends light rail to Capitol Hill and Husky Stadium.
• 2020
  • Beginning in March: During the week, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States across Washington (state), 3 counties in Seattle area issued directives for residents to shelter-in-place until at least April 7.
  • Beginning in May: George Floyd protests in Seattle begins.
• 2023
  • February 21: Seattle became the first city in the United States to ban discrimination based on caste.

See also

• History of Seattle
• Neighborhoods in Seattle
• List of mayors of Seattle
• Timelines of Seattle's sister cities: Bergen, Kobe, Mombasa, Nantes, Perugia, Reykjavík, Tashkent
• Timeline of Spokane, Washington
• Timeline of the Tri-Cities, Washington
• Timeline of Washington (state) history

Bibliography

See also: History of Seattle § Bibliography

Published in the 19th century

• "Seattle". Puget Sound Business Directory. Olympia: Murphy & Harned. 1872. hdl:2027/njp.32101079826390.
• Seattle City Directory for 1890. Seattle: Polk's Seattle Directory Co. hdl:2027/inu.30000096136753.
• John W. Dodge (1890), Wonderful City ... Seattle, Seattle: Lowman & Hanford Stationery and Printing Company, OCLC 18272367, OL 6945576M
• Washington the Evergreen state, and Seattle, its metropolis. Crawford & Conover. 1890. Archived from the original on 2013-12-31. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
• Frederic James Grant, ed. (1891). History of Seattle, Washington. New York. ISBN 9780598280718. Archived from the original on 2013-12-31. Retrieved 2016-10-20.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Seattle pioneer pocket guide, Seattle, Wash.: Arthur von Babo, 1891, OCLC 21128971

Published in the 20th century

• Polk's Seattle City Directory. Seattle. 1901. Archived from the original on 2013-12-31. Retrieved 2016-10-20.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Chamber of Commerce (1903). Semi-Centennial Celebration of the Founding of Seattle. Archived from the original on 2014-01-01. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
• "Seattle", United States (4th ed.), Leipzig: K. Baedeker, 1909, OCLC 02338437
• "Seattle" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). 1910. pp. 563–564.
• Seattle (Wash.). Municipal Plans Commission (1911), Plan of Seattle, Seattle: Lowman & Hanford Co., OCLC 1440455, OL 6540540M
• "King County: Seattle", Puget Sound and Western Washington, Seattle: Robert A. Reid, 1912, OCLC 3425016
• Raymer's Dictionary of Greater Seattle. Seattle: Raymer's Old Book Store. 1913. Archived from the original on 2013-10-23. Retrieved 2013-10-22.
• Clarence B. Bagley (1916), History of Seattle, Chicago: S.J. Clarke Publishing Company v.2
• "Points of Interest in Seattle, Wash.". Automobile Blue Book. New York. 1919. Archived from the original on 2014-01-01. Retrieved 2016-10-20.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Cornelius Hanford, Seattle and Enzirons, 1852–1924 (Seattle, 1924)
• Federal Writers' Project (1941), Washington: a Guide to the Evergreen State, American Guide Series, Portland, OR: Binfords & Mort, hdl:2027/uc1.b3624995 – via Hathi Trust
• "Seattle, City of Two Voices", National Geographic Magazine, vol. 117, Washington, D.C., 1960 – via Gale
• Roger Sale, Seattle: Past to Present (Seattle, 1976)
• Mansel G. Blackford (1980). "Civic Groups, Political Action, and City Planning in Seattle, 1892–1915". Pacific Historical Review. 49 (4): 557–580. doi:10.2307/3638967. JSTOR 3638967.
• Ory Mazar Nergal, ed. (1980), "Seattle", Encyclopedia of American Cities, New York: E.P. Dutton, OL 4120668M
• Richard C. Berner, Seattle in the 20th Century (Seattle: Charles Press, 1991)
• Quintard Taylor (1991). "Blacks and Asians in a White City: Japanese Americans and African Americans in Seattle, 1890–1940". Western Historical Quarterly. 22 (4): 401–429. doi:10.2307/970984. JSTOR 970984.
• Carl Abbott (1992). "Regional City and Network City: Portland and Seattle in the Twentieth Century". Western Historical Quarterly. 23 (3): 293–322. doi:10.2307/971508. JSTOR 971508. Archived from the original on 2020-09-26. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
• Bob Lane, Better Than Promised, An Informal History of the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle (Seattle: King County Department of Metropolitan Services, 1995)
• Richie Unterberger (1998), Seattle, Rough Guides, London, OL 24372137M{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Published in the 21st century

• Vince Kueter (November 13, 2001). "Seattle Through the Years". The Seattle Times. Archived from the original on October 23, 2013. Retrieved October 22, 2013.
• "150 Most Influential People in Seattle/King County History: Nominees", The Seattle Times, 2001, archived from the original on 2014-11-16
• Keiko Tanaka (2001). "Early Telephone Use in Seattle, 1880s–1920s". Pacific Northwest Quarterly. 92 (4): 190–202. JSTOR 40492685.
• Jeffrey Karl Ochsner; Dennis Alan Andersen (2002). "Meeting the Danger of Fire: Design and Construction in Seattle after 1889". Pacific Northwest Quarterly. 93 (3): 115–126. JSTOR 40492770.
• "Seattle in Focus: A Profile from Census 2000". Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution. 2003. Archived from the original on 2014-02-21. Retrieved 2014-02-10.
• John Putman (2004). "Racism and Temperance: The Politics of Class and Gender in Late 19th-Century Seattle". Pacific Northwest Quarterly. 95 (2): 70–81. JSTOR 40491731.
• Sohyun Park (2007). "Prescriptive Plans for a Healthy Central Business District: Seattle Downtown Design, 1956–1966". Pacific Northwest Quarterly. 98 (3): 107–114. JSTOR 40492027.
• Elenga, Maureen R. (2007). Seattle Architecture: A Walking Guide To Downtown. Seattle Architecture Foundation. ISBN 978-0-615-14129-9.
• Jyotsna Sreenivasan (2009). "Seattle/Denver Income Maintenance Experiments". Poverty and the Government in America: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 558+. ISBN 978-1-59884-168-8.
• Coll Thrush (2009). Native Seattle: histories from the crossing-over place. University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-98992-1.
• Susan P. Crawford; et al. (2014), Community Fiber in Washington, D.C., Seattle, WA, and San Francisco, CA: Developments and Lessons Learned, Berkman Center Research Publication, SSRN 2439429 – via Social Science Research Network
• Raj Chetty; Nathaniel Hendren (2015), City Rankings, Commuting Zones: Causal Effects of the 100 Largest Commuting Zones on Household Income in Adulthood, Equality of Opportunity Project, Harvard University, archived from the original on 2015-05-06, Rank #1: Seattle

External links

• "Broadband Failures of Seattle – Timeline". Seattle: Upping Technology for Underserved Neighbors.
• "Seattle Photographs". Digital Collections. University of Washington Libraries.
• Materials related to Seattle, various dates (via Library of Congress, Prints & Photos Division)
• Items related to Seattle, various dates (via Digital Public Library of America)
• Items related to Seattle, various dates (via Europeana)
• Various Seattle-related archived websites: "(Seattle)" – via Internet Archive, Archive-It.
• Seattle Municipal Archives. "Seattle Women's History Timeline". Women in City Government. Online Exhibits. City of Seattle.
• Seattle Municipal Archives. "Civil Rights Timeline". Seattle Open Housing Campaign. Online Exhibits. City of Seattle.
• "Seattle", American Geographical Society Library Digital Map Collection, USA – via University of Wisconsin, ca.1914–1949

Images

• 
  Seattle, circa 1870
• 
  Seattle, 1908
• 
  Atlantic Squadron parade, 1908
• 
  Map of Seattle and port, 1918
• 
  Reinstallation of Pioneer Square totem pole, 1940
• 
  Solstice Parade, 2013