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132-586: The Port of Seattle acquired the right of way of the former Woodinville Subdivision from BNSF Railway through purchase and donation in 2008. On December 10, 2012, the King County Council approved purchase of 15.6 miles (25.1 km) of the right-of-way from Port of Seattle. A portion of the central corridor, named the Cross Kirkland Corridor , is owned by the City of Kirkland ; a spur to Redmond, named

264-568: A Supreme Court order to stop selling low-priced ice to fishermen, stood firm on the "closed shop" policy, and opposed U.S. entry into the War to the extent that he forbade Port employees from participating in a 1916 Preparedness Parade. Up until shortly before U.S. entry into the War, he generally got his way, but in March 1917 several proposals of his were defeated at the polls. Remsberg was defeated for reelection in 1918, and Bridges found himself distinctly in

396-455: A state senator and later as mayor of Seattle. Even before the Port was established, the latter two scored several victories simply by devising plans (a tunnel through Downtown; a uniform alignment of piers) that made enough sense that the railroads and others adopted them more or less voluntarily. Additionally, Cotterill as a state senator led a state-level effort to authorize port districts, though he

528-399: A "state of emergency" and ordering Seattle police to open port operations by force. The result was a violent and deadly confrontation known as the " Battle of Smith Cove ", followed by federal arbitration that gave the longshoremen almost everything they had initially asked for, and made Seattle a "union port", which it has remained ever since. However, this and further labor confrontations in

660-525: A 2009 study that the Port commissioned from Herbert Engineering showed a significantly lower carbon footprint for shipping from Asia through Puget Sound and then by rail to the Midwest than for shipping to other West Coast ports or through the Panama Canal. However, increased container and cruise traffic has increased community concerns, just as the new runway did. In 2012, port commissioners began outreach on

792-507: A Booz Allen recommendation to get the Commission out of day-to-day operations, instead establishing separate, professionally-run departments for Planning and Research, Data Processing, Real Estate, Trade Development, and Public Relations. The 1960 Mechanization and Modernization Agreement (M&M) put the ports and labor unions of the West Coast of North America, including Seattle, firmly on

924-580: A general decline in international trade, revenues declined even further, and a series of elections between 1932 and 1934 swept in an entirely new Commission whose campaign pledges of austerity ultimately amounted to smaller changes than might have been imagined: decreasing direct operations and leasing out more Port facilities. Around this time, the Port was rocked by scandal: it turned out that since 1920, Port Auditor Matt Gormley, Cotterill's brother-in-law, had been making small, informal loans of Port funds to Port employees. Gormley, who killed himself as soon as

1056-473: A high-water mark that would not be matched again until 1965. Shipbuilding boomed as well, notably the short-lived but dramatic success of Skinner & Eddy . Still, this was a period in which American politics were not moving in the direction of Progressivism. As president of the Port Commission once Chittenden stepped down in 1915, Robert Bridges staked out a series of rather radical positions: he defied

1188-406: A lack of leadership vision and several other factors to make for lackluster post-war performance by the Port, extending into the early 1960s. At best, despite the greatly expanded U.S. economy, the Port managed a level of shipping comparable to the 1920s. This led to a series of reforms. The early 1960s saw an expanded Port Commission, but in more of a policy-setting role, with day-to-day operations in

1320-554: A larger margin for the Democrats than that seen in any previous election up to that point in time. Slightly more than 29% of Washington state's population reside in King County, making it a significant factor for the Democrats in a few recent close statewide elections. In the 2000 Senate election , King County's margin of victory pushed Maria Cantwell 's total over that of incumbent Republican Slade Gorton , defeating and unseating him in

1452-479: A mix of straight-out public ownership of some facilities and a major facility on Harbor Island along the lines of New York City's Bush Terminal , the latter set a high bar for the Pacific Terminal Company to issue performance bonds . That organization never succeeded in raising the required US$ 310,000, and voters assented to a proposal that shifted the "Bush Terminal" money to publicly owned facilities on

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1584-728: A more permanent Seattle facility; Terminal 30 reverted to use as a container terminal as a part of an expanded Terminal 28. In the wake of the September 11 attacks , security became a major priority. Besides the well-known measures at airports, there was also a major increase in seaport security, though it remains the case that the vast majority of containers ship without their contents ever being inspected. Another round of West Coast maritime labor disputes in September 2022 ultimately worked in Seattle and Tacoma's favor, when they cleared their backups from

1716-462: A new chief of the port police, the organization began to regain its footing, only to be thrust in the spotlight again when former CEO Mic Dinsmore claimed that a sizable severance had been authorized by the commission. The organization refused to pay and the claim was dropped, though the situation led to an attempted recall of one commissioner. In December that year, the State Auditor's Office issued

1848-402: A new grain elevator at South Hanford Street. U.S. entry into the war brought on further changes: effectively, the entire harbor on Elliott Bay became a U.S. military port for the duration. The Pacific Steamship Company piers south of Downtown were reworked into a Port of Embarkation (part of which now constitutes Coast Guard Station Seattle , the rest of which is part of Terminal 46). One of

1980-470: A one day summit about transforming the 28 miles (45 km) Eastside Rail Corridor into a multi-use trail. Prior to the meeting, planning and construction of various corridor segments had been underway for years. The group envisioned a partnership of established and reputable regional and national nonprofits to collectively advocate for the trail. The Alliance would initially be co-led by Cascade Bicycle Club and The Trust for Public Land. Cities through which

2112-503: A peninsular independence movement; King County lost what is now Kitsap County but preserved its entertainment industry. Coal was discovered in 1853 by M. Bigelow along the Black River , and in subsequent decades several companies formed to mine coal around Lake Washington and deliver it to Seattle. The Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad started servicing the Renton coal fields in 1877, and

2244-631: A political football. While it was conceived in no small part as a counterweight to powerful corporations, those very corporations have a strong interest in trying to dominate the Port and make it serve their ends. From the outset, the railroads, the city's two leading newspapers ( The Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer ), and the city's Chamber of Commerce, urged that the Port use its powers of taxation, bonding, and condemnation in support of what would now be called public–private partnerships . The initial three-man Port Commission

2376-619: A portfolio of properties ranging from parks and waterfront real estate, to one of the largest airports and container terminals on the West Coast , the Port of Seattle is one of the Pacific Northwest 's leading economic engines. Its creation was approved by the voters of King County on September 5, 1911, and authorized by the Port District Act . The Port of Seattle is managed by a five-member Port Commission who are elected at large by

2508-480: A prominent activist and leader during the civil rights movement . The change was approved by the state government in 2005. It is one of three Washington counties that are included in the Seattle – Tacoma – Bellevue metropolitan statistical area along with Snohomish County to the north and Pierce County to the south. About two-thirds of King County's population lives in Seattle's suburbs , which largely developed in

2640-469: A report critical of the Port's contracting practices (particularly those related to construction of the third runway). The audit report sparked an investigation by the Department of Justice , but the investigation was closed without action. Newly elected commissioners and CEO Yoshitani implemented a series of reforms, including increased commission oversight of port construction projects and consolidation of

2772-473: A rooftop park, solarium, and pool were added in 1915. "but by the 1920s, the park had developed an unsavory reputation and was closed." Other early Port projects included cold storage facilities at Bell Street Terminal for local fishermen and on the East Waterway at South Spokane Street for Eastern Washington farmers, as well as two massive piers at Smith Cove. Pier A, later Pier 40 and (since 1944) Pier 90

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2904-471: A series of reports highly critical of the Port, including two that the Port itself commissioned, one from the University of Washington's Bureau of Business Research in 1956, and another from Booz Allen Hamilton in 1958 A 1959 KIRO-TV documentary Lost Cargo put the matter squarely before the public, In a city nearly half of whose GDP came from harbor-related activities, and where the Port controlled 21 of

3036-580: A temporary cruise berths at Terminal 30. It was estimated in 2011 that each home port ship call puts US$ 2 million into the Seattle economy. However, there are significant adverse environmental effects. These have been somewhat, though not entirely, mitigated by a ban on discharge of untreated sewage by cruise ships, and by an arrangement with Seattle City Light to provide shore power to the ships so that they do not need to run their engines while in port. The Smith Cove Cruise Terminal opened at Pier 91 in 2009, providing Holland America Line and Princess Cruises with

3168-418: A total of $ 123 million was spent on homelessness services by local governments in King County, including cities and the regional authority. The regional authority's five-year plan, released in 2023, estimates that $ 8 billion in capital costs would be required to build and staff 18,205 new units of temporary and transitional housing to address the homelessness crisis. The King County Executive heads

3300-530: A vote of the people of the Port District held on that date in accordance with the Port District Act of March 14, 1911. The work of the commission for the first six months was confined almost entirely to the preparation of projects which were duly approved by the people at a special election held on March 5, 1912." From the first, the Port of Seattle was faced with the fact that most of the key properties on

3432-529: Is connected to West Seattle at Fauntleroy and also has service to Southworth in Kitsap County. The county government's Marine Division operates the King County Water Taxi , a passenger ferry service that connects Downtown Seattle to West Seattle and Vashon Island . The passenger-only Kitsap Fast Ferries system operated by Kitsap Transit connects a terminal near Colman Dock to communities on

3564-522: Is home two federally-recognized tribes, the Muckleshoot tribe and the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe tribe, and other unrecognized groups. The Muckleshoot Indian Reservation is located southeast of Auburn and is home to a resident population of 3,606 as of the 2000 census. The Snoqualmie tribe's casino property was federally recognized as their reservation in 2006, however few tribe members live near

3696-521: Is now the Port-owned 11-acre (4.5 ha) Centennial Park . Patricia "Pat" Davis (elected 1986) and Paige Miller (elected 1988), were the first women ever elected to the Port Commission. Both arrived in their roles as seasoned community activists, and both influenced the Port to take on broader concerns than just commerce. They influenced the Port to engage more with affected communities and to concern itself more with shoreline environmental issues and with

3828-608: Is used in the flag. Martin Luther King Jr. had visited King County once, for three days in November 1961. According to the United States Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 2,307 square miles (5,980 km ), of which 2,116 square miles (5,480 km ) is land and 191 square miles (490 km ) (8.3%) is water. King County has nearly twice the land area of the state of Rhode Island . The highest point in

3960-738: Is vested in the King County Superior Court and the King County District Court . Seattle houses the King County Courthouse . The county government manages elections, records, licensing, parks, wastewater treatment, and public health, among other duties. It also handles the criminal legal and incarceration system for all cities and unincorporated areas within King County. It has a sheriff's department that also provides basic policing to unincorporated areas. The Department of Local Services, established in 2019, serves as

4092-458: The 8th district includes areas east of Lake Sammamish and the immediate Green River Valley; and the 9th district comprises the southern areas of the county from Federal Way to Seattle, Mercer Island, and part of Bellevue. In the state legislature , the county has 17 districts that each elect two House members and one senator . The majority of state legislators from King County are Democrats; only four House members and two senators are from

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4224-749: The American Hawaiian Steamship Company to be the new general manager of the Port. He emerged as the effective leader of the Port with projects such as expanding the grain terminal at South Hanford Street, building the massive Shilshole Bay Marina in Ballard , purchasing the Ames Terminal (which became Terminal 5) in West Seattle on the West Waterway of the Duwamish, and purchasing Pier 28 from

4356-580: The American Midwest , although this number decreased in the following recession . In 2007, Tay Yoshitani joined the organization as CEO. Soon after the start of his tenure, major scandals broke about the Port. It came out that there had been a significant problem with racist and pornographic emails among the Port of Seattle police, and the Port Commissioners declared that a prior investigation had been "poorly conducted on all levels." After hiring

4488-529: The Century 21 Exposition (a World's Fair), the Port announced a US$ 30 million plan to build a major new container port on the Duwamish Waterway. They also "undert[ook] a six-year program to develop marginal lands and sell them to private industry" to expand the Seattle economy. Two years later, Sea-Land chose the Port's new Terminal 5 (on the site of the former Ames Terminal ) as its West Coast headquarters. By

4620-729: The Columbia River to Portland, Oregon . Another project begun in 1913, the Bell Street Terminal, the Port's new headquarters near the north end of the Central Waterfront, loaded its first cargo October 28, 1913 while the warehouse facilities were still under construction, and by 1914 served much of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet and provided easy access for farmers around Puget Sound to bring their produce to Pike Place Market . A viaduct to Pike Place Market and

4752-616: The Kitsap Peninsula . The center of population of the state of Washington in 2010 was located in eastern King County ( 47°19′51″N 121°37′12″W  /  47.330750°N 121.619994°W  / 47.330750; -121.619994  ( Washington center of population, 2010 ) ). King County's own center of population was located on Mercer Island ( 47°32′54″N 122°13′48″W  /  47.548320°N 122.229983°W  / 47.548320; -122.229983  ( King County center of population, 2010 ) ). As of

4884-549: The Milwaukee Road , which filled in a gap in Port-owned land on the mainland side of the East Waterway and paved the way for modernization of that portion of the waterfront. By 1956, foreign commerce shipping tonnage had recovered to levels not seen since the 1920s. A further proposal to dredge a 350-foot (110 m) wide, 4-mile (6.4 km) channel up the Duwamish River failed to come to fruition due to numerous lawsuits and

5016-627: The Muckleshoot tribal groups. In the first winter after the Denny Party landed at Alki Point , the settlement at the point consisted of a few dozen settlers and over a thousand Native Americans. The local tribes provided the settlers with construction labor, domestic service, and help with subsistence activities. On December 22, 1852, the Oregon Territory legislature formed King County out of territory from within Thurston County . The county

5148-583: The Newcastle fields in 1878. By 1880, King County produced 22% of the coal mined on the West Coast, most of that coal being found within the Renton Formation 's Muldoon coal seam. On February 24, 1986, the King County Council approved a motion to rename the county to honor civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (no relation to William R. King), preserving the name "King County" while changing its namesake. The motion stated, among other reasons for

5280-617: The Pierce Transit of Pierce County also operate routes that serve portions of King County. Most transit modes in the county use the ORCA card , a smart fare card system introduced in 2009. The county is home to three major ferry terminals that are served by Washington State Ferries , a state-run passenger and automobile ferry system. Colman Dock in Downtown Seattle is served by routes from Bainbridge Island and Bremerton ; Vashon Island

5412-484: The Redmond Central Connector , is owned by the City of Redmond ; a portion in downtown Bellevue was purchased by Sound Transit , and a northern portion of the corridor remains Port property for dual use as a trail and freight line. Some state residents brought suit against the Port of Seattle because the purchase was not used for freight in its entirety. In 2016, Snohomish County acquired the right of way from

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5544-542: The Seattle–Tacoma International Airport , and helped to generate increasing economic activity in the area. Although the Second World War halted much of the global shipping trade and negatively impacted the economy, Seattle again became a major port after the war. At the time of the creation of the Port of Seattle as an institution, Seattle was already a major port. However, its Central Waterfront

5676-566: The U.S. state of Washington . The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census , making it the most populous county in Washington , and the 12th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle , also the state's most populous city . Originally named after US representative, senator, and then vice president-elect William R. King in 1852, the county government amended its designation in 1986 to honor Martin Luther King Jr. ,

5808-609: The United States Senate . In 2004, King County gave a lead to Democrat Christine Gregoire in her 2004 victory gubernatorial election , pushing her ahead of Republican Dino Rossi , who led by 261 votes after the initial count. Rossi resided in the county at the time of the election, in Sammamish . In the 2020 presidential election , Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump by earning 75% of King County votes. Governor Jay Inslee also defeated Republican challenger Loren Culp with 74% of

5940-496: The World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999 to Seattle, which met with massive protests . The resulting confrontation led to Norm Stamper 's resignation as police chief of Seattle, and may have been a factor in mayor and former Port Commissioner Paul Schell 's defeat in the 2001 mayoral primary election. King County, Washington King County is a county located in

6072-407: The city streetcar system . Metro was the seventh-largest transit bus agency in the United States by ridership in 2019, with 121.3 million annual passenger trips and 400,000 per weekday. Sound Transit manages Link light rail , Sounder commuter rail , and Sound Transit Express buses in King County that provide connections to adjacent counties. The Community Transit of Snohomish County and

6204-622: The point-in-time count system, estimates 14,149 people in the county have experienced homelessness; the King County Regional Homelessness Authority (KCRHA) adopted a different methodology based on the number of people seeking services and estimated that 53,532 people in the county had been homeless at some point in 2022. According to a survey collected by service providers for the county government, 68.5 percent of respondents said they last had stable housing in King County and 10.8 percent had lived elsewhere in

6336-597: The Bell Street Pier (renumbered as Pier 66 in 1944). The Port acquired nearby Pier 69, built in 1900 for the Roslyn Coal & Coke Company and used for many decades by the American Can Company . They refurbished that building and in 1993 moved into it as their new headquarters. (Pier 69 is also the Seattle terminal for Clipper Navigation 's Victoria Clipper hydrofoil service. ) This move freed up Pier 66, which

6468-647: The Central Waterfront on Elliott Bay were already in the hands of the railroads and other vested interests. This meant that most Port-owned facilities would be in more peripheral areas: to the south, the newly dredged East Waterway of the Duwamish between the newly filled mainland Industrial District and the newly created Harbor Island ; to the north, where the Great Northern Railway occupied only part of Smith Cove ; and 6 miles (9.7 km) north in Ballard , newly annexed to Seattle, where Salmon Bay would form

6600-524: The Century Agenda, a strategic plan for the port's next 25 years. That same year, the Port became one of the most vocal opponents of the proposal to build a new arena in the Stadium District, which they said would cause issues for its operations. The City of Seattle studied the port's concerns at length and found them to be lacking in factual data or extensive studies. The possibility of merging

6732-521: The King County vote in the concurrent gubernatorial election . These were the largest margins by any candidate in a presidential race and a gubernatorial race since the county's creation. In 2004, voters passed a referendum reducing the size of the County Council from 13 members to 9. This resulted in all council seats ending up on the 2005 ballot. Some residents of eastern King County have long desired to secede and form their own county. This movement

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6864-787: The King–Snohomish County line at Woodinville north to the city of Snohomish. In January, 2015, the 5.75-mile (9.25 km) Kirkland portion of the Eastside Rail Corridor, with compacted gravel surfacing, opened for pedestrians and bicyclists. The Kirkland–Bellevue section was opened in July 2018, connecting State Route 520 (and its bike trail) to the Spring District . It was christened as Eastrail on July 20, 2019. In January 2016, community leaders gathered in Bellevue, Washington , for

6996-458: The North Pacific fishing fleet and the largest homeport for fishermen in the U.S. West Coast; four container ship terminals; two cruise ship terminals; the largest grain export terminal in the U.S. Pacific Northwest; three public marinas ; 22 public parks; and nearly 5,000 acres of industrial lands in the Ballard - Interbay and Lower Duwamish industrial centers . The King County Council

7128-686: The Port facilities truly unionized again. The commission's conservative politics through the 1920s turned in a more mixed direction in the first years of the Depression. It favored pay cuts over layoffs, increased its advertising in the American Midwest and in Asia, and for a time maintained labor peace by continuing to pay union scale to stevedores and longshoremen. Still, once the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act triggered retaliation by other countries and

7260-467: The Port of Seattle and other port authorities around the state exceptional powers to pursue defense-related projects without requiring the public to vote on the bond issues, which enabled the port to purchase additional land on the Harbor Island side of the East Waterway and to pursue major projects on the mainland side: Pier 42 (now part of Terminal 46), with its pilings as high as 70 feet (21 m), and

7392-562: The Port played a large part in Nintendo of America 's move from New York City to Redmond , an Eastside suburb of Seattle. In its early years, the Port had to contend with the fact that the most desirable properties on the Central Waterfront were already occupied by piers, mostly in the hands of the railroads. 70 years later, with the Port's container facilities now completely dominating Seattle's maritime trade, they were confronted with

7524-528: The Port's increased capacity for intermodal transport , with containers transferring between ships and trucks, but especially between ships and rail. Although some carriers shifted operations from Seattle to Tacoma, this was more than compensated by acquisition of new business and the growth of shipping by some of the carriers who remained. Among the new arrivals: toy company Hasbro made Seattle's expanded Terminal 106 its national distribution center and its sole port of entry for container shipments from Asia, and

7656-499: The Ports of Seattle and Tacoma was seriously entertained as early as the 1980s, when Sea-Land abandoned Seattle for Tacoma, followed by K Line and Evergreen Marine Corporation . While Tacoma was clearly the winner in these particular transactions, both port systems were aware that they were being played off against one another. On October 7, 2014, the Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma announced an agreement to "jointly market and operate

7788-733: The Republican Party. The people of King County voted on September 5, 1911, to create a Port District. King County's Port of Seattle was established as the first Port District in Washington State. The Port of Seattle is King County's only Port District. It is governed by five Port Commissioners, who are elected countywide and serve four-year terms. The Port of Seattle owns and operates many properties on behalf of King County's citizens, including Sea-Tac International Airport ; many seaport facilities around Elliott Bay , including its original property, publicly owned Fishermen's Terminal , home to

7920-481: The Soviet Union newly an ally, Seattle became a base for trans-oceanic shipping to Siberia . The Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation (Todd Pacific) on Harbor Island scored contracts to build 45 destroyers , which put it in a tie with Bethlehem Steel San Francisco for largest purely military ship production on the U.S. West Coast. The U.S. Navy took over the massive Smith Cove piers. The state legislature granted

8052-457: The Surface Transportation Board was the proper forum for adjudicating Ballard's claims. On August 1, 2013, the Surface Transportation Board denied the request by Ballard Terminal Railroad Company to block rail removal along the Cross Kirkland Corridor. Port of Seattle The Port of Seattle is a public agency that is in King County, Washington . It oversees the seaport of Seattle as well as Seattle–Tacoma International Airport . With

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8184-559: The U.S. from East Asia, Seattle, in the relatively sparsely populated Pacific Northwest would always have a disadvantage in competing with the Port of Long Beach and of Los Angeles in populous Southern California . But, in general, the Port continued to expand. The TOTE loss spurred the Port to acquire and stockpile more land along the Duwamish. The Port built a container facility at Terminal 25 for American President Lines (APL), and an assembly facility for foreign cars at Terminal 115. Terminal 28 (later incorporated into Terminal 30)

8316-430: The U.S., the plan bought some property outright, and provided noise insulation for many other houses. Nonetheless, some neighbors remained unsatisfied. Two decades later, an even heftier controversy arose over adding a third runway at Sea-Tac. While the Port ultimately got its way, that happened only after a lengthy legal battle with the governments of nearly all the communities surrounding the airport. Also controversial

8448-495: The annexation of some of the relevant area by Tukwila, Washington , a south-side suburb. Despite Burke's best efforts, federal changes that introduced a sliding scale to maritime shipping rates in the early 1950s had taken away much of the historic value of Seattle's being the closest major U.S. port to Asia. In 1954, this rate differential had helped San Francisco to outstrip Seattle even in shipping Eastern Washington apples, shipping 78,000 boxes to Seattle's 5,480. The decade saw

8580-431: The basic fact that this "avenue" along the Central Waterfront was 150 feet (46 m) wide, built over water, difficult to traverse, and separated Downtown from the piers. To further complicate matters, tracks were owned by three separate private corporations, the Great Northern Railway , the Northern Pacific Railroad , and the Pacific Coast Company , which operated the Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad . Furthermore,

8712-462: The basis for the local economy were being depleted. The salmon catch was down below a tenth of what it had been in the peak year, 1913, and timber production was also significantly down even before the national economy began to tumble. By October 1931, low-rent housing in Seattle was oversaturated, and a Hooverville began to form in the abandoned Skinner & Eddy land along Elliott Bay, site of present-day (2023) Terminal 46. In its first few months it

8844-420: The benefits offered in the M&M bringing the unions largely on board, the path was clear. Precisely because the Port of Seattle was doing poorly coming into this era, it had more reason than most to make a full-scale embrace of the new technology. In contrast, in particular, to Portland, the Port threw in its lot heavily for the new technology. In the summer of 1962, with the world's eyes on Seattle as host of

8976-409: The change, that " William Rufus DeVane King was a slaveowner " who "earned income and maintained his lifestyle by oppressing and exploiting other human beings," while Martin Luther King's "contributions are well-documented and celebrated by millions throughout this nation and the world, and embody the attributes for which the citizens of King County can be proud, and claim as their own." Because only

9108-428: The city of Seattle. According to data from the KCRHA, since late 2022 over 90 percent of shelter beds have been occupied on a consistent basis. Additional shelters, parking lots, and encampment sites are operated by charity organizations and churches in the area; during severe weather events such as heat waves and cold snaps, local governments open additional shelter spaces, but these often reach capacity. In 2021,

9240-455: The city's 88 piers and terminals, this was no small thing. A pair of 1960 ballot measures passed by broad margins. One expanded the Port Commission from three members to five, with the two new members elected at large rather than on the longstanding three-district basis. The other allocated US$ 10 million in bonds to fund modernization. The state government followed this up in 1961 by giving the Port expanded taxing authority, while also following

9372-445: The context of Seattle's and the Port's relatively weak post-war economy, the start of the Cold War , a generally conservative Port Commission, and the even more hardline WEA, the Seattle longshoremen walked out on September 1, 1948, as did their co-workers up and down the West Coast . Despite red-baiting and the relatively anti-labor Taft–Hartley Act , the ILWU won their fight. Seattle's Griffiths and & Sprague Stevedoring Company

9504-553: The corridor passes include: If constructed as proposed by King County, these other trails would or could link to the Eastside Rail Corridor: BNSF sold the running rights to Tom Payne, GNP Railway, between Woodinville and Snohomish in conjunction with the sale to the Port of Seattle. GNP's partner, Ballard Terminal Railroad , took over freight operations from BNSF Railway in January 2010. By 2011 Ballard Terminal Railroad

9636-612: The county is Mount Daniel at 7,959 feet (2,426 meters) above sea level. King County borders Snohomish County to the north, Kitsap County to the west, Kittitas County to the east, and Pierce County to the south. It also shares a small border with Chelan County to the northeast. King County includes Vashon Island and Maury Island in Puget Sound . The county has 760 lakes and 3,000 miles (4,800 km) of streams and rivers. King County has been identified as vulnerable to higher risks of flooding caused by climate change due to

9768-476: The county was 56.1% White (54.2% Non-Hispanic White ), 6.7% African American (6.5% Non-Hispanic Black), 19.9% Asian (19.8% Non-Hispanic Asian), 0.9% Pacific Islander (0.8% Non-Hispanic Pacific Islander), 0.5% Native American , 5.2% from other races, and 10.4% from two or more races . Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 10.7% of the population. As of the 2010 census , there were 1,931,249 people, 789,232 households, and 461,510 families residing in

9900-535: The county's executive branch; the position has been held by Dow Constantine since 2009. The King County Prosecuting Attorney ( Leesa Manion since 2023), Elections Director, and the King County Assessor are elected executive positions. The King County Sheriff is appointed by the county executive and approved by the county council. It was previously an elected position from 1996 until 2020 and has been held by Patti Cole-Tindall since 2022. Judicial power

10032-513: The county's logo from an imperial crown to an image of Martin Luther King Jr. On March 12, 2007, the new logo was unveiled. The new logo design was developed by the Gable Design Group and the specific image was selected by a committee consisting of King County Executive Ron Sims , Council Chair Larry Gossett, Prosecutor Norm Maleng , Sheriff Sue Rahr, District Court Judge Corrina Harn, and Superior Court Judge Michael Trickey. The same logo

10164-460: The county. The population density was 912.9 inhabitants per square mile (352.5/km ). There were 851,261 housing units at an average density of 402.4 per square mile (155.4/km ). The racial makeup of the county was 68.7% White (64.8% Non-Hispanic White ), 6.2% African American , 14.6% Asian , 0.8% Pacific Islander , 0.8% Native American , 3.9% from other races, and 5.0% from two or more races . Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 8.9% of

10296-399: The creation of a home port for Puget Sound fishermen; Fishermen's Terminal on Salmon Bay was completed in 1914 and has been the U.S. Northern Pacific Fishing Fleet's home for operations, provisioning and repairs ever since. Work also began that year on a grain terminal at South Hanford Street on the East Waterway, intended to give Washington growers an alternative to shipping their grain down

10428-525: The end of the 1960s, Seattle was the West Coast's second-busiest port. When Seattle's economy was slammed by the Boeing Bust around the turn of the decade, the previously moribund port was one of its few bright lights. The Port ended up buying the 25-acre (10-hectare) Boeing Plant 1 site along the Duwamish, which was developed into another modern container facility, Terminal 115, as was the old grain elevator site at South Hanford Street. That grain elevator

10560-447: The facility, but it almost certainly turned out to be a money-loser over the next few decades. FTZ status was vastly expanded in 1989, encompassing virtually all of the Port's seaport and airport acreage, a much better proposition than the single small facility. By 1952, it was clear that Seattle's maritime sector had not made a post-war recovery commensurate with other U.S. ports. Many companies were wary of doing business in Seattle in

10692-495: The first ship from the People's Republic of China ever to visit a U.S. port. Years later, the Port invested in a major cold storage facility and Pier 91, which paid off handsomely when Japan dropped a 1971 ban on fruit imports from Washington. Pier 91 became the chief export point for Washington apples to Japan. The Port further expanded in the 1980s, with the growth of the China trade and

10824-510: The first time ever, it was outdone even by its neighbor to the south, the far smaller city of Tacoma. While the Port of Seattle had launched what was to prove a very successful airport, wartime use of the Elliott Bay and Duwamish River waterfront had not established a particularly good basis for a peacetime port. When the military's new piers reverted to civilian use, they took business away from existing older facilities and, consequently, away from

10956-446: The following years left Seattle with a "reputation in business circles as the least cooperative port on the coast"; sending the port into decline until the coming of World War II. The war led to a common cause among management and labor, but the militant International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), which had broken away from the ILA in 1937, still harbored strong memories of 1934. In

11088-588: The formation of port districts. The Port of Seattle was created by the state of Washington in 1911. Under the Port District Act, the port's construction plan had to be presented and voted upon before construction could start. One of the biggest factors that swayed the votes in favor of creating the port was the prospect of economic growth, especially given the impending 1914 completion of the Panama Canal . The first Commission Report for 1912 records that: "The Port of Seattle came into existence on September 5, 1911, by

11220-452: The fourth quarter of 2021, the median home value in King County was $ 817,547, an increase of 19.6% from the prior year. In 2021 King County experienced its first population decline in 50 years. As of the 2020 census , there were 2,269,675 people, 917,764 households, and 537,466 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,073.0 inhabitants per square mile (414.3/km ) There were 969,234 housing units. The racial makeup of

11352-517: The hands of an increasingly professionalize bureaucracy. Like any other government entity, the Port was affected by the realignment of American politics: the rising anti-war movement, the civil rights and women's movements, but above all the environmental movement. The Sea-Tac Communities plan, developed over a period of three years and adopted in 1976, established a comprehensive framework to compensate homeowners and other property owners affected by airport noise. The first large-scale plan of its kind in

11484-614: The heart of town. Further, it had been over a decade since the Port had run a major national and international publicity campaign. And there were labor troubles (see following section Politics and the Port ). The Port was not entirely without a strategy. On the shore of the area around Pioneer Square and immediately south, they purchased and modernized Piers 43 and 45 through 49 from the Pacific Coast Company Piers 43, 45, 46, and 47 were eventually incorporated into present-day Terminal 46. Fishermen's Terminal at Salmon Bay

11616-489: The late 20th century and early 21st century as bedroom communities before becoming job centers for the technology industry . When Europeans arrived in the region that would become King County, it was inhabited by several Coast Salish groups. Villages around the site that would become Seattle were primarily populated by the Duwamish people . The Snoqualmie Indian Tribe occupied the area that would become eastern King County. The Green River and White River were home for

11748-560: The local government for populated unincorporated areas. King County is part of four congressional districts that each elect a member of the United States House of Representatives ; the boundaries are redrawn every 10 years based on the results of the decennial census. The 1st district comprises the Eastside cities north of Bellevue ; the 7th district includes northern Seattle, West Seattle, Burien, Normandy Park, and Vashon Island;

11880-492: The longest-lasting legacies of the war years was the comprehensive May 1, 1944 renumbering of all of Seattle's Elliott Bay piers into a single system encompassing the bay. While the War years were a boom time for Seattle and its port, the immediate postwar years were not. Wartime production had made Seattle-based Boeing the region's largest employer; peace resulted in 70,000 Boeing layoffs. Nor did Seattle's port get its expected share of post-war commercial shipping traffic: for

12012-419: The mainland side of the East Waterway. Owning and operating facilities themselves allowed the Port to set rates so as to promote trade, rather than to maximize their own profits. It also let them set up a " closed shop ": in this era, and as long as Robert Bridges remained on the commission, all Port facilities were unionized . Naturally, these policies did not sit well with the established interests. Still,

12144-502: The marine terminals of both ports as a single entity," though they were not merging. Joint operations began with the formation of the Northwest Seaport Alliance on August 4, 2015, creating the third-largest cargo gateway in the United States; by the end of the year, it reported more than 3.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units handled by the two ports, an increase of 4 percent. The Port of Seattle has been something of

12276-484: The minority on an increasingly conservative Commission. He resigned his seat in August 1919. His continued activist career (including a run for governor) was cut short by his death on December 21, 1921. The new commissioners—W.S. Lincoln, George B. Lamping, and now-former mayor Cotterill —took the Port in a very different direction: wharf rates were raised to the same range as the private dock companies, port land

12408-548: The number of waterways in the area. The county's oceanic ecosystems are predicted to face harmful chemical changes, while the mountainous ecosystems could experience a decrease in ice and snow. Since the mid-2000s, the county government has adopted policies to mitigate the effects of climate change and reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the region. The King County Metro serves the county with local routes, paratransit , vanpools , and rideshare in select areas. It also operates an electric trolleybus network in Seattle as well as

12540-470: The opposite problem: much of the Central Waterfront, especially the portion north of Pier 59 (the Seattle Aquarium since 1977 ) had fallen into dereliction. The Port took a leading role in trying to remedy this, with Pat Davis and Paige Miller, the first two women on the Port Commission, taking a particularly large role. One of the deteriorating properties in question was the Port's own headquarters at

12672-574: The organization's procurement activities into one division to afford better control. Yoshitani also increased commitment to environmental practices. The port has many environmental programs, including shore power for cruise ships and a plan to clean up the Lower Duwamish Waterway (in partnership with Boeing, King County, and the City of Seattle). The Ports of Seattle and Tacoma have been able to turn certain environmental concerns to their advantage, as

12804-424: The outbreak of World War I brought even more traffic to the Port than the expected opening of the Panama Canal, and the recent investments meant Seattle had the most modern port facilities on the U.S. West Coast, while providing the lowest port costs, which stilled criticism for the moment. In the second quarter of 1915, Seattle alone saw more foreign trade than the entire state of California ; its 1918 tonnage set

12936-470: The outlet of the new Lake Washington Ship Canal connecting Lake Washington and Lake Union to salt water. The Port commissioned the first automobile ferry in Western Washington, Leschi , which launched December 6, 1913. The Leschi operated on Lake Washington , providing service from Leschi Park to two locations on the east side of the lake. Earlier that year, Port construction began with

13068-428: The path away from break-bulk cargo toward containerization . Alaska Steamship Company had experimented with containerization as early as 1949, and Sea-Land had begun the move toward international standardization when it shared its patents in 1956, but the unions had initially opposed moving in this direction because of the inevitable loss in jobs from what was, as much as anything, a labor-saving technology. With

13200-626: The planned trail. The Ballard Terminal Railroad wanted to keep the tracks intact for future rail freight use. On May 3, 2013, Federal District Court Judge Marsha Pechman granted the City of Kirkland's motion to dismiss the case filed by Ballard Terminal Railroad Company seeking to prevent rail salvage on the Cross Kirkland Corridor. In her oral ruling, Judge Pechman stated the Federal District Court did not have jurisdiction to consider Ballard's temporary restraining order (TRO) and that

13332-498: The population was claimed as members by religious congregations, although members of historically African-American denominations were underrepresented due to incomplete information. In 2014, King County had 944 religious organizations, the 8th most out of all US counties. King County has the third largest population of homeless or unsheltered people in the United States according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The agency's January 2023 report, based on

13464-445: The population. In terms of ancestry, 17.1% were German , 11.6% were English , 11.1% were Irish , 5.5% were Norwegian , and 2.9% were American . Of the 789,232 households, 29.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.3% were married couples living together, 9.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 41.5% were non-families, and 31.0% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size

13596-602: The prior decade, and the Port of Tacoma in particular undercut Seattle on prices. A price war through the 1920s resulted in a 1929 agreement through the American Association of Port Authorities to set uniform wharf rates. Seattle and the state of Washington were not well-positioned coming into the Great Depression that began in 1929. Due to over-fishing and excessive logging, the natural resources that had provided much of

13728-597: The railroad companies owned the piers and warehouses where the rails and ships came together, inevitably creating an anti-competitive effect for other businesses wishing to ship through Seattle. As early as 1890, Virgil Bogue had proposed public ownership not only of the Seattle port, but of all ports in the then newly formed state. As part of gaining statehood, Washington had gained control over its own coastal waters, previously under direct federal control. Initially, it looked like Bogue might prevail, at least with respect to Seattle, but Thomas Burke and others representing

13860-492: The railroad interests managed to stall the initial Harbor Lines Commission plan into oblivion through a series of legal actions. Still, Bogue continued to win allies among populists, progressives, the labor movement, and even some of the railroads (though not the Great Northern). Among the more prominent allies were City Engineer Reginald H. Thomson and his one-time assistant George F. Cotterill . Cotterill went on to serve as

13992-709: The reservation. In 2010 statistics, the largest religious group in King County was the Archdiocese of Seattle , with 278,340 Catholics worshipping at 71 parishes, followed by 95,218 non-denominational adherents with 159 congregations, 56,985 LDS Mormons with 110 congregations, 25,937 AoG Pentecostals with 63 congregations, 25,789 ELCA Lutherans with 68 congregations, 24,909 PC-USA Presbyterians with 54 congregations, 18,185 Mahayana Buddhists with 39 congregations, 18,161 UMC Methodists with 50 congregations, 14,971 TEC Episcopalians with 35 congregations, and 12,531 ABCUSA Baptists with 42 congregations. Altogether, 37.6% of

14124-444: The scandal broke, appears never to have personally profited from these schemes, although some other Port officials almost certainly did, and Gormley had juggled the books to cover for US$ 70,000 of loans that were never repaid. Cotterill, already voted out of office, and a " lame duck " at the time the scandal broke, had apparently received at least one loan for $ 190; it is unclear whether he had paid it back. This scandal coincided with

14256-590: The start of the 1934 West Coast waterfront strike , a particularly complicated situation in Seattle. Not only was the ILA faced off against the Waterfront Employers Association (WEA), but the Port and the Teamsters' Union both wavered in between, and newly elected Seattle mayor Charles L. Smith outflanked the Employers Association, undercutting a tentative agreement with the ILA by declaring

14388-483: The state can charter counties, the change was not made official until April 19, 2005, when Governor Christine Gregoire signed into law Senate Bill 5332, which provided that "King county is renamed in honor of the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr." effective July 24, 2005. The County Council voted on February 27, 2006, to adopt the proposal sponsored by Councilmember Larry Gossett to change

14520-472: The state. Approximately 57 percent of the homeless population counted by HUD in King County was classified as unsheltered, either living in vehicles, encampments in public spaces, or other places. The number of unsheltered individuals increased significantly in the late 2010s, leading to clearing of encampments and other structures by local governments. The county has 5,115 emergency shelter beds and tiny house villages, of which 67 percent are in

14652-441: The street is Seattle's World Trade Center, completed 1998. The Bell Street Pier Cruise Terminal opened in 2000, bringing heavy cruise ships to Seattle for the first time in decades, with Seattle as home port for ships from Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean International . A second portion of the terminal opened the following year, and by 2003 Holland America Line and Princess Cruises were running cruises to Alaska from

14784-550: The strike much more rapidly than the Southern California ports. Some of the shipping traffic that was diverted to the Puget Sound ports at that time led to continued business in the years after. In the first decade of the 21st Century, the Port of Seattle had several record-setting years for both container traffic and grain shipments. As of 2008, the grain terminal at Pier 86 handled 6.4 million metric tons of grain, mostly from

14916-463: The then-decrepit state of some parts of Seattle's waterfront, particularly areas that were not owned by the Port. Conversely, Mic Dinsmore, a key figure in the Port bureaucracy beginning in 1985 and its longest-serving executive director (1992–2007) was often criticized as a "aggressive" or "domineering"., In the Dinsmore years, the Port was a strong supporter of NAFTA and was a key player in bringing

15048-489: The voters of King County and serve four-year terms. (Both the size of the commission and the length of the terms have varied over time. ) The Commissioners govern the Port, lead all inter-governmental functions, and oversee the Executive Director . Over the course of more than a century, the Port of Seattle has provided facilities for an expansion of Seattle's shipping trade, later including container shipping and

15180-414: The wake of the 1948 strike (see section Politics and the Port below); a further strike in 1952 and conflicts within the Port Commission and between the Port Commission and Port management certainly did not alleviate these concerns. Things finally began to turn around, or at least level out, in late summer of 1953, when Howard M. Burke was hired away from his position as Seattle-based district manager at

15312-475: Was 2,530 feet (770 m) long and 310 feet (94 m) wide. It was the largest pier in the world until the construction of Pier B, later Pier 41 and (since 1944) Pier 91, 50 feet (15 m) longer. A more conservative Port Commission in the 1920s largely put an end to new initiatives of this sort. Trade continued to grow slowly, with an emphasis on China and (especially) Japan, but other West Coast and Gulf Coast ports increasingly copied Seattle's initiatives of

15444-472: Was 2.40 and the average family size was 3.05. The median age was 37.1 years. The median income for a household in the county was $ 68,065 and the median income for a family was $ 87,010. Males had a median income of $ 62,373 versus $ 45,761 for females. The per capita income for the county was $ 38,211. About 6.4% of families and 10.2% of the population were below the poverty line , including 12.5% of those under age 18 and 8.6% of those age 65 or over. King County

15576-415: Was a compromise team that ran as a slate: former State Lands Commissioner Robert Bridges, a strong Progressive; Charles Remsberg, a Republican banker; and recently retired Army Corps of Engineers brigadier general Hiram M. Chittenden , who was expected to hold down the center. In the event, Remsberg proved to be less of a friend to the monied interests than expected. While the Port's initial plans proposed

15708-597: Was demolished along with the Lenora Street Docks (Piers 64 and 65) to make way for the present-day Pier 66/Bell Street Pier, completed in 1996. That pier includes extensive public space, including (as had been briefly the case in the 1910s) a rooftop park. Bell Street Pier also includes the Bell Harbor International Conference Center; "Bell Harbor International Conference Center" . Port of Seattle . Retrieved February 17, 2022 . across

15840-672: Was effectively replaced by the new Pier 86 Grain Terminal at the foot of Queen Anne Hill southeast of Smith Cove. Naturally, advantages were not always on Seattle's side. For example, Totem Ocean Trailer Express (now TOTE Group ), founded in 1975, opted to base its shipments to Alaska out of Tacoma, where land was cheaper and room for expansion less likely to be an issue. 1975 also was the end of many decades of weekly United Brands banana-boat arrivals in Seattle: since then, bananas have arrived in Seattle by rail or truck. And for cargoes coming into

15972-507: Was enlarged and upgraded, as was the East Waterway Dock on Harbor Island. Still, they failed to support Eastern Washington farmers with a modern grain terminal, and that trade was lost, for the time, to Portland and Tacoma. In 1949 the U.S. Department of Commerce designated a foreign-trade zone (FTZ) on Harbor Island. At the urging of the local business community, the Port invested heavily in gaining this designation and in building

16104-489: Was established in 1969 and consists of nine members elected by districts to four-year terms. King County and Seattle are strongly liberal; the area is a bastion for the Democratic Party . No Republican presidential candidate has carried the county votes since Ronald Reagan 's landslide reelection victory in 1984 . In the 2008 election , Barack Obama defeated John McCain in the county by 42 percentage points,

16236-500: Was expanded by 8.5 acres (3.4 ha) for Nissan , and Seattle became a major port of entry for Datsun vehicles. In 1976, the Port reacquired Piers 90 and 91 at Smith Cove from the Navy and focused them, at least initially, on Asian trade. In April 1979, COSCO 's Liu Lin Hai docked at Pier 91, then proceeded to Terminal 86 to take on a cargo of American grain bound for China, thereby becoming

16368-666: Was filing with other creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for an involuntary reorganization of GNP. A short line terminal railroad operating in Seattle, the Ballard Terminal Railroad , filed suit in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington and petitioned the Surface Transportation Board on April 1, 2013, seeking to prevent the City of Kirkland from removing the rail tracks for

16500-411: Was leased to private companies to build terminals, and the "closed shop" era ended; after a series of futile strikes, a company union and hiring hall was established (although, unlike many other facilities, the Port never attempted to prevent individual International Longshoremen's Association —ILA—members from hiring on). It would be over a decade later, amidst the Great Depression , before

16632-548: Was most vocal in the mid-1990s (see Cedar County, Washington ). It has recently been revived as Cascade County. According to a map published by the Seattle Times , four different geographic borders were considered. Additional plans (see Skykomish County, Washington ) also exist or have existed. School districts in the county include: Most of King County is served by the King County Library System , with

16764-662: Was named after Alabamian William R. King , who had just been elected Vice President of the United States under President Franklin Pierce . Seattle was made the county seat on January 11, 1853. The area became part of the Washington Territory when it was created later that year. King County originally extended to the Olympic Peninsula . According to historian Bill Speidel , when peninsular prohibitionists threatened to shut down Seattle's saloons, Doc Maynard engineered

16896-399: Was out of office by the time it came to fruition. In 1910, pressure toward public ownership of port facilities increased when Tacoma, Washington began building the state's first municipally owned dock. Even The Seattle Times , normally opposed to municipal ownership, began to advocate for similar measures in Seattle. On March 14, 1911, the Port District Act became state law, allowing

17028-467: Was somewhat chaotic, due in part to having eight (and in some places nine) more or less parallel railroad tracks along the ill-maintained wooden planking of Railroad Avenue. Although the 1903-1906 construction of the Great Northern Tunnel through downtown had alleviated some of the chaos because trains that were merely passing through no longer needed to use the waterfront route, it did not change

17160-466: Was the Pier 86 Grain Terminal (completed 1970), which intruded upon the views of Elliott Bay from Seattle's elite Queen Anne neighborhood, while unloading from "loud[ly] clanking" railroad cars left "clouds of wafting grain-dust". While the economically successful grain terminal is still there as of 2023 , there have been mitigation measures, including landscaping and public pedestrian and bicycle paths in what

17292-711: Was the first to reach an agreement with the union; the soon Port followed their lead; and while the WEA held out for 95 days, once it became clear that Harry Truman and the Democratic Party would remain in control of the federal government, they also came to the table and negotiated. The result was such a blow to the WEA that it soon merged into the American Shipowners Association, forming the Pacific Maritime Association . As discussed above (see section The Fifties ), this labor militancy combined with

17424-484: Was twice removed by Seattle Police "sweeps," but eventually a compromise was reached that allowed a shantytown to persist for almost a decade. The economic depression and labor troubles of the 1930s (see following section Politics and the Port ) were followed by the wartime economy of World War II . Even before the U.S. entered the war, export of scrap metal to Japan, of course, went to zero, and export of Eastern Washington apples to Europe fared little better, but with

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