Timeline of Seattle

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Seattle, Washington, USA.

Before the 19th century

 * Native Americans explore and settle throughout the Puget Sound region which includes the Seattle area.

19th century

 * 1851
 * September 14: The Collins Party led by Luther Collins finds a settlement in present-day Georgetown. Scouts from the Denny Party arrive at Alki shortly after.
 * November 13: The remainder of the Denny Party arrives at Alki Point to spend a rainy winter.
 * 1852 – The Denny Party moves to present day Downtown Seattle in April.
 * 1853 – Seattle becomes seat of King County, Washington Territory.
 * 1854 – School opens.
 * 1855 – Population: 300.
 * 1858 – The arrival of Manuel Lopes, the city's first Black Resident.
 * 1861 – Washington Territorial University established.
 * 1863 – Washington Gazette newspaper begins publication.
 * 1864 – May 16: The Mercer Girls arrive.
 * 1867 – Weekly Intelligencer newspaper begins publication.
 * 1868 – The Seattle Library Association is founded.
 * 1869 – Henry A. Atkins becomes mayor.
 * 1870
 * Central School opens.
 * Church of Our Lady of Good Help founded.
 * Population: 1,107.
 * 1873 – Seattle & Walla Walla Railroad organized.
 * 1874 – Gas street lamps installed.
 * 1875
 * San Francisco–Seattle steamship service begins.
 * Ms. Maynard's Reading Room opens.
 * 1878 – Seattle Daily Post begins publication.
 * 1879 – Squire opera house built.
 * 1880
 * City chartered.
 * Frye opera house built.
 * Population: 3,533.
 * 1883 – Telephone and Columbia and Puget Sound Railroad begin operating.
 * 1885 – Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway organized.
 * 1886 – February: Most Chinese were expelled by White mobs.
 * 1888 – Rainier Club established.
 * 1889
 * Seattle Federation of Women's Clubs organized.
 * June 6: Great Seattle Fire.
 * Seattle Fire Department established.
 * Electric streetcar begins operating.
 * City becomes part of the new U.S. State of Washington.
 * 1890
 * Telegraph newspaper begins publication.
 * Country Club established.
 * Population: 42,837.
 * 1891 – Seattle Public Library opens.
 * 1892 – Pioneer Building constructed.
 * 1893
 * Great Northern Railway begins operating.
 * Seattle Athletic Club organized.
 * Seattle Theatre opens.
 * Curtis & Guptil photographers in business.
 * 1894 – The Argus newspaper begins publication.
 * The Seattle Republican daily newspaper beings publication
 * 1895 - Seattle General Hospital established.
 * 1898 – U.S. assay office opens.
 * 1899
 * The Seattle Star newspaper begins publication.
 * Tlingit totem pole installed in Pioneer Place.
 * 1900
 * Population: 80,671.
 * Seattle General Hospital re-opened in a new building.

1900s–1940s

 * 1901 – Renton Hill Community Improvement Club organized.
 * 1903
 * July 30: Semi-centennial of founding of Seattle.
 * City hires Olmsted Brothers to design public parks.
 * 1905
 * South Seattle becomes part of city.
 * Seattle Fine Arts Society established.
 * 1906
 * The Mountaineers (club) formed.
 * Public Library building opens.
 * King Street Station opens.
 * 1907
 * City expands, annexing Atlantic City, Ballard, Columbia, Dunlap, Rainier Beach, Ravenna, South-East Seattle, South Park, and West Seattle.
 * Pike Place Market opens.
 * St. James Cathedral built.
 * 1908
 * The Great White Fleet visits Seattle and Puget Sound area.
 * 1909
 * June 1: Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition opens.
 * Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad begins operating.
 * 1910
 * Georgetown becomes part of city.
 * Municipal League of Seattle founded.
 * Population: 237,194.
 * 1911 – Port of Seattle established.
 * 1913
 * National Association for the Advancement of Colored People branch established.
 * 20th Avenue NE Bridge opens.
 * 1914 – Smith Tower built.
 * 1916
 * Seattle Audubon Society established.
 * Coliseum Theater opens.
 * 1918 – Bessaroth Synagogue dedicated.
 * 1919 – February: Seattle General Strike.
 * 1920 – Seattle Northwest Enterprise newspaper begins publication.
 * 1922 – The first Miss Seattle is crowned.
 * 1923
 * Seattle Goodwill Industries established.
 * Mountaineers Players (theatre troupe) active.
 * 1924
 * September 28: First aerial circumnavigation of the world lands at Sand Point.
 * Seattle Camera Club founded.
 * 1925
 * Sears, Roebuck store in business.
 * Eagles Auditorium Building constructed.
 * Seattle Planning Commission established.
 * 1926 – U.S. Naval Air Station established at Sand Point.
 * 1928 – Civic Auditorium and Paramount Theatre open.
 * 1929 – Seattle Urban League founded.
 * 1930
 * Pike Place Fish Market and Japanese American Citizen's League established.
 * Exchange Building constructed.
 * 1932 – Grace Hospital established.
 * 1933 – Seattle Art Museum opens.
 * 1938 – Vedanta Society of Western Washington founded.
 * 1940 – Population: 368,302.
 * April 28: Seattle trolleybus system opens.
 * 1941
 * April 12: Last streetcar line closed.
 * 1946 – Seattle Foundation established.
 * 1947
 * Airport begins operating.
 * Memorial Stadium opens.
 * 1949 – Free port opens.

1950s–1990s

 * 1950
 * Seattle Chinese Golf Club formed.
 * Population: 467,591.
 * 1957 – Sister city relationship established with Kobe, Japan.
 * 1959 – City joins Puget Sound Governmental Conference.
 * 1960 – Population: 557,087.
 * 1961
 * Space Needle erected.
 * American Institute of Architects Seattle chapter active.
 * 1962
 * Alweg Monorail begins operating.
 * April 21 – Seattle World's Fair opens.
 * Congress of Racial Equality chapter established.
 * Blaine Memorial United Methodist Church built.
 * 1963
 * Seattle Opera and Seattle Repertory Theatre founded.
 * Martin Cinerama opens.
 * 1964
 * August 21: The Beatles perform at the Seattle Center Coliseum; they would do so once more just over two years later.
 * 1965
 * April 29: The 6.7 Puget Sound earthquake affected western Washington with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), causing seven deaths and $12.5–28 million in financial losses in the Puget Sound region.
 * ACT Theatre founded.
 * 1967
 * November: Radical Women founded.Seattle Radical Women, one of first women's liberation groups in the United States, forms in November 1967.
 * Allied Arts of Seattle founded.
 * Sister city relationship established with Bergen, Norway.
 * 1969
 * Little Bread Co. and Brasserie Pittsbourg in business.
 * Seafirst Building constructed. It becomes Seattle's tallest building for 16 years.
 * 1970 – Seattle Marathon, and negative income tax program begin.
 * 1971
 * Mayor's Arts Festival begins (later known as Bumbershoot).
 * Starbucks in business.
 * 1972
 * Pacific Northwest Dance Association established.
 * Intiman Theatre Festival begins.
 * 1973 – Sister city relationship established with Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
 * 1974 – Seattle Seahawks franchise established, would begin play in 1976.
 * 1975 – World's first "commercial software for personal computers" invented in Seattle.
 * 1976 – Daybreak Star Cultural Center opens.
 * 1977
 * Seattle Mariners baseball team formed.
 * Sister city relationship established with Beersheba, Israel.
 * 1978 – Central Co-op established.
 * 1979
 * P-Patch Advisory Council established.
 * Music Magazine The Rocket begins publishing.
 * June 1: Seattle SuperSonics basketball team wins NBA Finals.
 * Sister city relationship established with Mazatlán, Mexico.
 * 1980
 * Subterranean Pop fanzine begins publication.
 * Sister city relationship established with Nantes, France.
 * The last Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad train leaves Seattle before abandonment.
 * 1981 – Sister city relationships established with Christchurch, New Zealand; and Mombasa, Kenya.
 * 1982 – Market Park landscaped.
 * 1983 – Sister city relationship established with Chongqing, China.
 * 1984
 * 911 Media Arts Center and Weird Science Salon founded.
 * Sister city relationship established with Limbe, Cameroon.
 * 1985
 * Seattle Municipal Archives established.
 * The 76-story Columbia Seafirst Center is built and becomes the city's tallest building. In response, the Citizen Alternative Plan (CAP) advocates for height limits in Downtown.
 * 1986 – Sister city relationships established with Galway, Ireland; and Reykjavík, Iceland.
 * 1988
 * Washington State Convention Center and Telephone Museum open.
 * Nirvana releases its first album on Seattle's SubPop Records.
 * 1989
 * Jim McDermott becomes U.S. representative for Washington's 7th congressional district.
 * Sister city relationship established with Daejeon, South Korea.
 * 1990
 * September 15: Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel opens.
 * Norm Rice becomes mayor.
 * October: Pearl Jam plays its first concert ever in Seattle's Off Ramp Café.
 * Population: 516,259.
 * 1991
 * Sustainable Seattle nonprofit established.
 * Washington Hemp Expo begins.
 * Seattle Art Museum rebuilt.
 * Sister city relationships established with Cebu, Philippines; and Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
 * 1992 – Sister city relationship established with Pécs, Hungary; and Surabaya, Indonesia.
 * 1993
 * Seattle Knights jousting acting troupe founded.
 * Fictional movie Sleepless in Seattle released.
 * Sister city relationships established with Gdynia, Poland; and Perugia, Italy.
 * 1994
 * Amazon.com in business.
 * Seattle Asian Art Museum opens.
 * City Public Access Network online.
 * 1996 – Sister city relationship established with Haiphong, Vietnam.
 * 1997
 * Seattle Internet Exchange and Seattle Channel established.
 * Jet City Maven newspaper begins publication.
 * 1998 – Paul Schell becomes mayor.
 * 1999
 * November 30: Anti-globalization protest during World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference.
 * Town Hall Seattle opens.
 * Sister city relationship established with Sihanoukville, Cambodia.
 * 2000
 * Experience Music Project opens.
 * Music Magazine The Rocket ends publishing.

21st century

 * 2001
 * February 27: Seattle Mardi Gras Riots
 * February 28: Nisqually earthquake.
 * September: Boeing relocates its corporate headquarters to Chicago, Illinois.
 * 2002
 * July 28: The first sporting event at Seahawks Stadium, a Seattle Sounders soccer match, is held.
 * 2004
 * Seattle Central Library building opens.
 * Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project founded.
 * Rat City Rollergirls (rollerderby league) founded.
 * 2006
 * Seattle Metropolitan begins publication.
 * Kavana Cooperative founded.
 * 2007
 * December 12: South Lake Union Streetcar line opened.
 * 2008
 * Tilted Thunder Rail Birds (rollerderby league) formed.
 * Seattle SuperSonics move to Oklahoma City
 * 2009
 * July 18: Central Link light rail begins service between Westlake and Tukwila.
 * December 19: Central Link is extended to SeaTac Airport.
 * InvestigateWest news headquartered in Seattle.
 * Upping Technology for Underserved Neighbors and Jigsaw Renaissance founded.
 * CondoInternet in business.
 * 2010
 * Northwest Chocolate Festival begins.
 * Michael McGinn becomes mayor.
 * Population: 608,660; metro 3,439,809.
 * 2011
 * Seattle Shorts Film Fest begins.
 * Citizen University headquartered in city.
 * 2012
 * Ban against plastic shopping bags in effect.
 * Chihuly Garden and Glass and Living Computer Museum open.
 * 2013
 * Construction of the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel by the tunnel-boring machine Bertha begins.
 * Population: 652,405.
 * 2014
 * January: Ed Murray becomes mayor.
 * February: Seattle Seahawks win Super Bowl football contest.
 * May: City minimum wage hike announced.
 * 2015
 * May: A large kayak protest against Arctic oil drilling is held on Elliott Bay in response to a Shell oil platform arriving at the Port of Seattle.
 * September: School teacher labor strike.
 * 2016
 * January 23: First Hill Streetcar line opens.
 * March 19: University Link Tunnel extends light rail to Capitol Hill and Husky Stadium.
 * 2020
 * Beginning in March: During the week, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States across Washington (state), 3 counties in Seattle area issued directives for residents to shelter-in-place until at least April 7.
 * Beginning in May: George Floyd protests in Seattle begins.
 * 2023
 * February 21: Seattle became the first city in the United States to ban discrimination based on caste.

Published in the 20th century

 * v.2
 * Cornelius Hanford, Seattle and Enzirons, 1852–1924 (Seattle, 1924)
 * Roger Sale, Seattle: Past to Present (Seattle, 1976)
 * Richard C. Berner, Seattle in the 20th Century (Seattle: Charles Press, 1991)
 * Bob Lane, Better Than Promised, An Informal History of the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle (Seattle: King County Department of Metropolitan Services, 1995)
 * v.2
 * Cornelius Hanford, Seattle and Enzirons, 1852–1924 (Seattle, 1924)
 * Roger Sale, Seattle: Past to Present (Seattle, 1976)
 * Richard C. Berner, Seattle in the 20th Century (Seattle: Charles Press, 1991)
 * Bob Lane, Better Than Promised, An Informal History of the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle (Seattle: King County Department of Metropolitan Services, 1995)
 * Roger Sale, Seattle: Past to Present (Seattle, 1976)
 * Richard C. Berner, Seattle in the 20th Century (Seattle: Charles Press, 1991)
 * Bob Lane, Better Than Promised, An Informal History of the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle (Seattle: King County Department of Metropolitan Services, 1995)
 * Richard C. Berner, Seattle in the 20th Century (Seattle: Charles Press, 1991)
 * Bob Lane, Better Than Promised, An Informal History of the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle (Seattle: King County Department of Metropolitan Services, 1995)
 * Richard C. Berner, Seattle in the 20th Century (Seattle: Charles Press, 1991)
 * Bob Lane, Better Than Promised, An Informal History of the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle (Seattle: King County Department of Metropolitan Services, 1995)
 * Bob Lane, Better Than Promised, An Informal History of the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle (Seattle: King County Department of Metropolitan Services, 1995)
 * Bob Lane, Better Than Promised, An Informal History of the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle (Seattle: King County Department of Metropolitan Services, 1995)