Queen Anne Hill:
Queen Anne Hill is a Seattle neighborhood. The hill is the highest named hill in Seattle, Washington, with a maximum elevation of 456 feet (139 m), though the highest point in the city is the aptly named High Point in West Seattle, at 520 feet (158 m). Queen Anne is situated just north of Seattle Center and just south of Fremont across the Lake Washington Ship Canal. The hill early became a popular spot for the city's economic and cultural elite to build their mansions (the name derives from the architectural style, typical of so many of the early homes).
The Treat House on W. Highland Drive, one of the many mansions on Queen Anne Hill, is an official city landmark.
As a neighborhood toponym, Queen Anne can refer either to the entire hill or to the central residential and business district at the top of the hill. It is to be distinguished from Lower Queen Anne, also known as Uptown which refers to the area at the southern base of the hill, just north and west of Seattle Center.
Queen Anne is bounded on the north by the Fremont Cut of the Ship Canal, beyond which is Fremont; on the west by 15th Avenue W. and Elliott Avenue W., beyond which is Interbay, Magnolia, and Elliott Bay ; on the east by Aurora Avenue N. (State Route 99), beyond which is Westlake and Lake Union; and on the south by Denny Way, beyond which is Belltown. Seattle Pacific University is located on its north slope across from Fremont.
Its main thoroughfares are Gilman Drive W.; 15th, Elliott, 10th, 6th, and 3rd Avenues W.; and Queen Anne, 5th, Taylor, and Aurora Avenues N. (north- and southbound) and Denny Way; Mercer, Boston, W. McGraw, and W. Nickerson Streets; and Queen Anne Drive (east- and westbound). Portions of several of these streets reflect a comprehensive boulevard design by the Olmsted Brothers architectural firm, Queen Anne Boulevard, intended as a 3-mile loop around the crown of the hill. The design was never fully executed, but it remains part of the Seattle Parks System. Queen Anne can be reached from Interstate 5 by taking the Mercer Street Exit (Exit 167).
Filipino-American author and activist Carlos Bulosan is buried in the cemetery on the north side of the hill. Remains of the unknown dead of the 1906 SS Valencia disaster are also interred in the Queen Anne cemetery.
History
George Kinnear's home near Queen Anne Avenue N., 1900. Kinnear developed much of Queen Anne, and donated the land for Kinnear Park.
White settlement of Queen Anne stemmed from the arrival of the Denny Party at West Seattle's Alki Point in November 1851. The next year, David Denny staked a claim to the 320 acres (1.3 km²) of Lower Queen Anne land today bounded by Elliott Bay to the west, Lake Union to the east, Mercer Street to the north, and Denny Way to the south. Development of the hill, called at various times North Seattle, Galer Hill, and Eden Hill, was slow, but the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway (1883) and the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad (1887), the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, and the opening of three cable car lines to the top of the hill (1902), improved matters. The hill began to be called "Queen Anne" by 1885, after the Queen Anne style houses that dominated the area.
The first television broadcast in the Pacific Northwest originated from KRSC's facilities at 3rd Avenue N. at Galer Street in 1948. In 1949, KING-TV bought KRSC; this was the first such transaction in the country's history. Three years later, KOMO-TV installed its own tower, and KIRO followed suit in 1958.
In 1962, Lower Queen Anne became the site of the Century 21 Exposition, a World's Fair. The fairgrounds are now the campus of Seattle Center, home to the Space Needle, Pacific Science Center, Experience Music Project, Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, the north terminal of the Seattle monorail, and KeyArena, home of the Seattle SuperSonics (departing 2008), Seattle Storm, and Seattle Thunderbirds sports teams.
As late as 1964, the area had a large enough population of families with children to motivate opening McClure Middle School, but by 1981 a decline in such families led the school system to close Queen Anne High School, North Queen Anne Elementary School, and West Queen Anne Elementary School.[1]
Assistant United States Attorney Thomas C. Wales was shot in his home in the Queen Anne neighborhood on October 11, 2001, dying the next day of his wounds. The murder remains unsolved.
Downtown Seattle and the Space Needle, with Mt. Rainier in the background, from Kerry Park
Education
Queen Anne is served by Seattle Public Schools.
Schools in Queen Anne include:
- John Hay Elementary School (which has had three different buildings, all on Queen Anne Hill)
- Coe Elementary (which moved to Magnolia during a remodel)
- McClure Middle School
- The Center School
- Seattle Country Day School (private)
- Saint Anne School (private)
Two former schools on Queen Anne Hill are on the National Register of Historic Places; both are now condominium apartment buildings:
Magnolia:
Magnolia is the second largest neighborhood of Seattle, Washington by area. It occupies a hilly peninsula northwest of downtown. Magnolia is isolated from the rest of Seattle, connected by road to the rest of the city by only three bridges over the tracks of the BNSF Railway: W. Emerson Place in the north, W. Dravus Street in the center, and W. Garfield Street (the Magnolia Bridge) in the south. It has been a part of the city since 1891. A good portion of the peninsula is taken up by Discovery Park, formerly the U.S. Army's Fort Lawton.
Magnolia is bounded on the north by Salmon Bay and Shilshole Bay of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, across which is Ballard; on the west by Puget Sound and Elliott Bay; on the south by Elliott Bay and Smith Cove; and on the east by Thorndyke, 20th, and Gilman Avenues W., beyond which is Interbay.
Although magnolia trees do line W. McGraw Street in the neighborhood's commercial district, Magnolia's naming was actually a misnomer. While out at sea, Captain Vancouver saw the huge madrona trees atop the peninsula's southern bluffs but mistook them for magnolias and noted this the ship's log. Groups are actively working to save the remaining madronas on the bluff.
On Magnolia's south end is Magnolia Park, overlooking Puget Sound, Mount Rainier, and the city skyline. It features a picnic area and tennis courts across the street. Also in Magnolia are Smith Cove and its marina. Discovery Park, in the northwest, encompasses 534 acres (2.16 km2) and is Seattle's largest park. The park is home to eagles, herons, falcons, foxes, and beavers. Seven miles of trails provide visitors with a wilderness experience and views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains. Parts of Fort Lawton, such as the officer's homes and other historic buildings, remain in the park.
Adjacent to Discovery Park is West Point Lighthouse. It was built in 1881 and is the oldest lighthouse in the area. Walking trails descend from the park to two miles (3 km) of beach and the lighthouse.
Another highlight is the local branch of the Seattle Public Library, designed in 1964 by architects Paul Hayden Kirk and Richard Haag, who won top awards for design from the American Library Association. In the children's section is a statue of a young girl titled "Girl Holding Doves," designed by Ebba Rapp McLauchlan. Outside hangs a bronze wall sculpture titled "Activity of Thought," an abstract piece of art designed especially for the library by Glenn Alps. The library is furnished with solid walnut tables and chairs custom designed by George Nakashima.
Magnolia's business district, sometimes called "Magnolia Village" by locals, is home to many specialty stores and professional services, some of Seattle's top restaurants, and industrial and marine services.
Magnolia Audio Video, a regional electronics retailer now owned by Best Buy, was started in and named after the neighborhood.
Demographics
As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 19,156 people, 9,077 households, and 4,828 families residing in the neighborhood. There are 9,416 housing units. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 87.4% White, 5.8% Asian, 1.6% African American, 0.6% Native American, 0.3% Pacific Islander, 1.0% from other races, and 3.2% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.3% of the population.
There were 9,077 households out of which 20.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.2% were married couples living together, 5.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 46.8% were non-families. 34.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.10 and the average family size was 2.73.
In the neighborhood the population was spread out with 17.0% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 34.8% from 25 to 44, 26.7% from 45 to 64, and 15.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.5 years. For every 100 females there were 93.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.2 males.
The median income for a household in the neighborhood was $59,542, and the median income for a family was $79,842. Males had a median income of $51,561 versus $39,107 for females. The per capita income for the neighborhood was $37,754. About 2.3% of families and 5.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.3% of those under age 18 and 5.3% of those age 65 or over.
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