On June 28, 2003, the new Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, home to the Pacific Northwest Ballet and the Seattle Opera, opens for its first performances with a gala party. McCaw Hall is the latest incarnation...
In 2003, Washington State has its driest summer since record keeping began in 1895. A persistent ridge of high pressure stays off the pacific coast all summer, preventing storms from coming ashore. Th...
On August 16, 2003, workers building a graving dock for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) near Ediz Hook in Port Angeles uncover a shell midden. Discovery of the refuse pile, a...
On August 22, 2003, Sound Transit's Tacoma Link, the state's first modern light rail system, has its inaugural run in downtown Tacoma. The line is 1.6 miles long and runs from South 9th Street in the ...
On Friday afternoon, August 29, 2003, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels (b. 1955) presents the first annual Mayor's Arts Awards at Seattle Center as part of opening ceremonies for the city's largest arts fes...
On September 13, 2003, the ferry Kalakala is auctioned in absentia at James K. Murphy, Co. in Kenmore, after a one-day viewing of the boat at its north Lake Union moorage. The auction is held to pay o...
On November 5, 2003, Gary Leon Ridgway pleads guilty to murdering 48 women in King County between 1982 and 1998, solving the mystery of the Green River Killer. Ridgway admitted killing 42 women whom p...
On December 23, 2003, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman announces that a Holstein cow from a dairy herd in Mabton, a small farming town in southeast Yakima County, has tested positive for mad cow dise...
On January 17, 2004, the Rainier Beach Branch, The Seattle Public Library, reopens after a $3 million remodel. The new building is more than half again as large as the 1981 building, and it includes m...
On February 2, 2004, the City Council confirms Jorge Carrasco as the superintendent of Seattle City Light. The former city manager of Austin, Texas, has experience running drinking water utilities, bu...
On February 27, 2004, Sin-Aikst (Colville) Indian artist Lawney Reyes (b. 1931) attends a dedication ceremony at the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center for a sculpture he created called Blue Jay, wh...
On March 6, 2004, the Green Lake Branch, The Seattle Public Library, reopens after renovation at 7364 E Greenlake Drive N. This is the sixth branch to open as part of "Libraries For All," a $196.4 mi...