Kirkland (Washington)

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Kirkland
Nickname : The Little City That Could
Shores of Marina Park on Lake Washington in Kirkland
Shores of Marina Park on Lake Washington in Kirkland
Location in Washington
King County Washington Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Kirkland Highlighted.svg
Basic data
Foundation : 1888
State : United States
State : Washington
County : King County
Coordinates : 47 ° 41 ′  N , 122 ° 12 ′  W Coordinates: 47 ° 41 ′  N , 122 ° 12 ′  W
Time zone : Pacific ( UTC − 8 / −7 )
Residents : 48,787 (as of 2010)
Population density : 1,761.3 inhabitants per km 2
Area : 28.5 km 2  (approx. 11 mi 2 ) of
which 27.7 km 2  (approx. 11 mi 2 ) are land
Height : 152 m
Postcodes : 98033, 98034, 98083
Area code : +1 425
FIPS : 53-35940
GNIS ID : 1512352
Website : www.ci.kirkland.wa.us
Mayor : James L. Lauinger

Kirkland is a city in King County in the US state of Washington , USA . It is an eastern suburb of Seattle and separated from it by Lake Washington . The city has 48,787 inhabitants (as of 2010), its area is 28.5 km² .

Kirkland has a low old town that stretches along the lakefront with many restaurants and art galleries. She is known for many public parks, including urban beaches, and public art that encourage interaction. Residents of neighboring cities such as Seattle, Bellevue and Redmond often visit the famous Marina Bay Park on the shores of Lake Washington.

history

Steel entrepreneur Peter Kirk decided to expand into Washington State in 1886 after hearing of new iron ore discoveries in the Cascade Mountains . Other aggregates for smelting, such as limestone, were also available on site. There are also a few coal mines in Newcastle , a little east , and a railway line was already under construction. He also knew there were plans for a canal between Lake Washington and Puget Sound , the strait to the Pacific on which Seattle lies.

Kirk was aware that it is very beneficial to have plenty of fresh water available for further processing of steel, so that the location on a lake is well suited. The connection to the Pacific allowed sales to more distant regions. However, Kirk was not a US citizen and therefore could not buy land to realize his idea. This is where Leigh SJ Hunt, owner of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer , offered his help. Kirk and his partners soon began building a steel works called the Moss Bay Iron and Steel Works east of Seattle on Lake Washington. This was the cornerstone of the city of Kirkland in what Kirk envisioned as the Pittsburgh of the West .

The steelworks was completed in late 1892, but financial problems arose before it actually went into operation, and the panic of 1893 (due to a wave of bankruptcies among railroad and steel companies) closed the steelworks before it had even produced steel. Nevertheless, in 1905 the settlement received municipal rights for the 400 inhabitants. Subsequently, wool processing and shipbuilding developed into the main industrial branches.

For a long time, Kirkland was just a quiet dormitory for Seattle. Kirkland was connected to Seattle by ferries across Lake Washington from 1900 to 1950. However, the construction of a bridge on floating pontoons in 1940 made the ferry service unprofitable, so it was later discontinued. The connection was later strengthened by the Route 520 freeway bridge, which provided a direct link to Seattle in 1963, and the construction of Interstate 405 in the 1960s.

In the course of the 1920s, the population rose to a few thousand, mostly working in Seattle. With the outbreak of the Second World War, the resident Anderson Steamship Company became the Lake Washington Shipyard. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the armaments treaties allowed a quadrupling - with a workforce of 8,000 in the shipyard alone. The Kirkland-Houghton region became an industrial metropolis almost overnight with an estimated 13,000 to 14,000 inhabitants.

However, industrial production caused severe damage to natural resources, the banks were polluted and wildlife disappeared. After the shipyard closed in late 1946, Houghton reserved the waterline for residential use only. In the following decades, Kirkland-Houghton systematically pursued the goal of creating a continuous public shoreline. This was partly achieved through various purchases, transfers and donations - and the well-tended grounds on the shores of Lake Washington are now an attraction for the residents of the surrounding cities.

Over time, Kirkland grew, as did the other cities in the region. Kirkland united with the neighboring Houghton in 1968 , other settlements were incorporated, including North Rose Hill and South Juanita in 1968, and Totem Lake in 1974. The industrial share in the city is low - it is, as before, mainly the residence for the employees in neighboring Cities. In the second half of the 20th century, this also applied to the cities further east with modern industry, including Microsoft in neighboring Redmond.

Population development

year Residents¹
1980 18,785
1990 40,052
2000 45.054
2010 48,787

¹ 1980-2010 : census results

politics

Kirkland is governed by a city ​​council of seven councilors who are elected by direct public election and serve four years each. The councilors appoint the head of administration and, from among their number, a council chairman who holds the position of mayor but otherwise has no extended rights. Since 2006 Jim Lauinger has been the mayor and David Ramsay has been the head of administration.

Town twinning

Kirkland maintains the following cities twinning :

Daughters and sons of the city

Kirkland Associates

  • Mike O'Hearn (* 1969), bodybuilder, grew up in Kirkland
  • Emre "Kabaji" Dincer, professional twitch streamer, settled in Kirkland

Web links

Commons : Kirkland, Washington  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Kirkland Municipal Codes, December 2004 Revision, Kirkland, WA / US
  2. ↑ David DeCastro. Retrieved January 26, 2017 (English).