Bremerton
| Bremerton | |
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 View of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton |
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| Bremerton in Kitsap County | |
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| Basic data | |
| Foundation : | 1891 |
| State : | United States |
| State : | Washington |
| County : | Kitsap County |
| Coordinates : | 47 ° 34 ′ N , 122 ° 39 ′ W |
| Time zone : | Pacific ( UTC − 8 / −7 ) |
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Inhabitants : - Metropolitan Area : |
40,500 (as of 2016) 264,811 (as of 2016) |
| Population density : | 689.9 inhabitants per km 2 |
| Area : | 67.5 km 2 (approx. 26 mi 2 ) of which 58.7 km 2 (approx. 23 mi 2 ) are land |
| Height : | 12 m |
| Postcodes : | 98300-98399 |
| Area code : | +1 360 |
| FIPS : | 53-07695 |
| GNIS ID : | 1512028 |
| Website : | www.ci.bremerton.wa.us |
| Mayor : | Cary Bozeman |
 The map shows the proximity to Seattle |
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Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County in the US state of Washington . 40,500 people live in Bremerton on an area of 67.5 km² (as of 2016). Bremerton is on the Kitsap Peninsula north of Sinclair Inlet and west of Port Orchard . The city is divided by the Port Washington Narrows , but connected by two bridges.
Bremerton is the Naval Shipyard Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and a branch of the Naval Base Kitsap . The city is connected to the Metropolis Seattle by a ferry connection (approx. 50 min. Travel time).
history
The founding of Bremerton goes back to the German immigrant and entrepreneur William Bremer , whom the US Navy encouraged in 1891 to buy 190 acres (0.77 km²) of land for a new shipyard . Bremer and his son-in-law and business partner Henry Hensel realized that a shipyard would create many jobs that would attract people and thus create a great demand for real estate in the area and bought the land previously earmarked for a naval base from Point Turner at the speculatively inflated price of 200 $ per acre from the state. In April 1891, Bremer sold 190 acres of it back to the US Navy for only $ 50 per acre. This area became the nucleus of the marine shipyard that still exists today. The shipyard Bremerton's Puget Sound Naval Shipyard today 8,000 civilian employees.
Bremerton was promoted to town on October 15, 1901, and Alvyn Croxton was its first mayor . In 1902 the navy relocated its base for repair work to California and intense internal power struggles plunged the small town into a political crisis. In 1910 the city had 2,693 inhabitants, but only had its own high school since 1908 . During the First World War , the shipyards employed around 4,000 people. Manette was incorporated. In 1920 the city had 8,693 inhabitants and Charleston in the south was incorporated in 1927. A 479 m long bridge has been connecting Bremerton with Manette since 1930, saving travelers the huge detour by land to Seattle and making the ferry connection unnecessary. The wooden bridge was replaced by a steel bridge in 1949. In 1933 the 76 m high crane, the Hammerhead Crane No. 28 .
During the Second World War , the city grew to 80,000 inhabitants, of which 40,000 were employed in war production. By 1950, however, the city had shrunk again to 27,678 inhabitants. In 1946, today's Olympic College opened its doors to 575 students. The number of students increased in the following years. From 1958 a new bridge spanned the Port Washington Narrows.
Meanwhile, the inner city of Bremerton fell into disrepair because the city founder's last heir, Edward Bremer , no longer cared about it, and the Navy withdrew numerous jobs. With his death in 1987 the Olympic College took over the supervision of this area. Meanwhile, the city had fallen behind its neighborly competition, especially Silverdale . The college was overwhelmed with the task of city administration and failed to do business properly. In addition to the typical problems of American cities, Bremerton suffered further setbacks. The decommissioned USS Missouri (BB-63) did not stay in the city as a museum ship , but was towed to Pearl Harbor . A year earlier, in 1997, 185 units burned down in Kona Village .
A revitalization of downtown began in 1991 . It all started with a promenade in 1992. The Bremerton Historic Ships Association succeeded in making an old warship , the USS Turner Joy , accessible for touristic tours, and further expansions followed. In 2000, 37,259 people lived in the city again. But the income structure is very unbalanced and poverty is still widespread. Bill Gates' father grew up in this milieu.
On December 19, 2007, the city decided on the so-called Downtown Sub Area Plan , from 2009 the Pacific Avenue region is to be restored.
Population development
| year | Residents¹ |
|---|---|
| 1980 | 36.208 |
| 1990 | 38,142 |
| 2000 | 37,259 |
| 2010 | 37,729 |
- ¹ 1980-2010: census results
Personalities
sons and daughters of the town
- William H. Gates Sen. (* 1925), father of Bill Gates , began his career as a lawyer in Bremerton (syndic of Merrill Wallace)
- A. Daniel O'Neal (1936–2017), Government Official and Manager
- George T. Babbitt junior (born 1942), General in the US Air Force
- Mike Enzi (* 1944), US Senator for Wyoming
- Jill Banner (1946–1982), actress
- Steven Holl (* 1947), architect
- Ben Gibbard (* 1976), musician
- Bree Schaaf Boyer (* 1980), skeleton pilot
- Joe Pichler (born 1987), actor
- Nathan Adrian (* 1988), freestyle swimmer and 2012 Olympic champion
Associated with Bremerton
- Jazz musician Quincy Jones moved here when he was ten. As a teenager, he met Ray Charles here .
- Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard lived here in the late 1930s and early 1940s. He attended Union High School.
- Mike Herrera, Tom Wisniewski and Yuri Ruley, members of the punk rock band MxPx, met in Bremerton, founded their band there and still live in Bremerton today. In 2006 they received the “Key for Bremerton” from the mayor as an award for their commitment to the city.
