Chapter 11 Washington State History:  

In the Beginning

In 1853, the Washington Territory was formed from part of the Oregon Territory. Named in honor of George Washington, Washington was the 42nd state to join the Union, in 1889. Its coastal location and Puget Sound harbors give it a leading role in trade with Alaska, Canada, and the Pacific Rim. 

Washington has two major mountain ranges--the 7,000-foot Olympic Mountains surrounded by temperate rain forest on the peninsula west of Puget Sound, and the more majestic Cascade Range, which boasts the 14,410-foot Mount Rainier and the volcanic Mount St. Helens, which erupted twice in the 1980s. Although the capital is Olympia, most people live in the metropolitan areas of Seattle-Everett and Tacoma. The state tree of the "Evergreen State" is the western hemlock, and the flower is the western rhododendron.

1. The state of Washington is the only state to be named after a United States president. With a population of 7,170,351 in 2017 and 3,798,902 in the city of Seattle.
2. Seattle is home to the first revolving restaurant in the 48 contiguous United States (and the second revolving restaurant in the world). Located atop the Space Needle, at a height of 500 feet above sea level, the restaurant was opened in 1961.
3. Washington state produces more apples than any other state in the union.
4. Washington state has more glaciers than the other 47 contiguous states combined.
5. Washington state's capitol building was the last state capitol building to be built with a rotunda.
6. Everett is the site of the world's largest building, Boeing's final assembly plant
7. Medina is the home to Microsoft's Bill Gates and Amazon's Jeff Bezos
8. The Northwestern most point in the contiguous U.S. is Cape Flattery on Washington's Olympic Peninsula.
9. King county the largest county in Washington was originally named after William R. King, Vice President under Franklin Pierce; it was renamed in 1986, after civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
10. Microsoft Corporation is located in Redmond.
11. Before it became a state, the territory was called Columbia (named after the Columbia River). When it was granted statehood, the name was changed to Washington, supposedly so people wouldn't confuse it with The District of Columbia.
12. The highest point in Washington is Mount Rainier. It was named after Peter Rainier, a British soldier who fought against the Americans in the Revolutionary War. The Northwest Native American/indigenous people originally named it Mt. Tahoma and there is a movement towards returning the mountain's name to Mt. Tahoma. 
13. The Governor Albert D. Rosellini Bridge at Evergreen Point is the longest floating bridge in the world. The bridge connects Seattle and Medina across Lake Washington.
14. Washington is the birthplace of both Jimi Hendrix (Seattle) and Bing Crosby (Tacoma).
15. Washington's state insect is the green darner dragonfly.
16. Starbucks, the biggest coffee chain in the world, was founded in Seattle.
17. Spokane was the smallest city in size to host a World's Fair in 1974.
18. The state capital is Olympia, and the largest city is Seattle.
19. Residents are called "Washingtonians" (emphasis on the third syllable, pronounced as tone).
20. Washington is bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west; Oregon to the south (the Columbia River forming most of this border); Idaho to the east and British Columbia, Canada to the north.
21. Puget Sound's many islands are served by the largest ferry fleet in the United States.
22. The forests of the Olympic Peninsula are among the rainiest places in the world and the only rainforests (such as the Hoh Rain Forest) in the continental United States
23. The first European record of a landing on the Washington coast was by Spanish Captain Don Bruno de Heceta in 1775, on board the Santiago, part of a two-ship flotilla with the Sonora.
24. The Lewis and Clark expedition entered the state on October 10, 1805.
25. The first settlement in Washington was New Market (now known as Tumwater) in 1846.
26. In 1853, Washington Territory was formed from part of Oregon Territory.
27. Washington became the 42nd state in the United States on November 11, 1889.
28. Early prominent industries in the state included agriculture, lumber, shipping, fishing, salmon canning and mining.
29. By the turn of the 20th century, Aberdeen had the distinction of being "the roughest town west of the Mississippi" because of excessive gambling, violence, extreme drug use and prostitution (the city remained off-limits to military personnel into the early 1980s).
30. The region around eastern Puget Sound developed heavy industry during World War I and World War II, and the Boeing company became an established icon in the area.
31. During the Great Depression, a series of hydroelectric dams were constructed along the Columbia river as part of a project to increase the production of electricity. This culminated in 1941 with the completion of the Grand Coulee Dam, the largest dam in the United States.
32. During World War II, Seattle was the point of departure for many soldiers in the Pacific, a number of which were quartered at Golden Gardens Park.
33. In eastern Washington the Hanford Works atomic energy plant was opened in 1943 and played a major role in the construction of the nation's atomic bombs.
34. On May 18th, 1980, the northeast face of Mount St. Helens exploded outward, destroying a large part of the top of the volcano.
35. Washington is home to many innovative Internet companies, including Amazon.com, Classmates.com, Whitepages.com, and Marchex.
36. The state of Washington is one of only a handful of  states that does not levy a personal income tax.