Washington, By George
But for the meddling of Kentucky Congressman Richard H. Stanton, our state would probably be named "Columbia." At least that was the name locals preferred when Congress took up their appeal to separate "Columbia Territory" from Oregon Territory in 1853. To avoid confusion with the District of Columbia, Stanton unilaterally decided that the new territory's name should honor the nation's first president -- notwithstanding the nation's capital of the same name. Congress obliged and President Fillmore made the name Washington Territory official.
Interestingly enough, one of Washington's first settlers was named George Washington Bush, and George Washington Sutherland was one of the pioneers of Whitman County. When the territory sought statehood, President Grover Cleveland selected February 22, 1889, the anniversary of George Washington's birthday, to sign the act creating the state of Washington, although his proclamation of admission was not issued until November 11, 1889. Decades later, the tiny town of George, Washington, incorporated in Grant County, adding another level of recursiveness.
Finally, we end our look at George Washington from atop a bridge. On February 22, 1932 -- the bicentennial of his birth -- the George Washington
Memorial Bridge was dedicated and 15,000 people attended to witness the opening of the Seattle's first highway span. At 2 o'clock that day President Herbert Hoover turned a telegraph key in the "other" Washington, which unfurled flags atop the crossing. Although many modern commuters -- and possibly the bridge's most famous denizen -- refer to it as the Aurora Bridge, we prefer its historic designation.
Enjoyed, By Readers
This week marks the anniversaries of three events in the history of King County's libraries. The first took place on February 20, 1914, when Auburn celebrated the opening of the city's new Carnegie Library. This structure was the town's library until a new one was opened 50 years later. The Carnegie building is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and Auburn got an even newer library after becoming part of the King County Library
System in 1997.
On February 16, 1946, Issaquah's first library opened in the town-council chambers in the community's town hall. The tiny room was in use until 1963, when a new library opened in a converted school cafeteria building that had been moved near city hall. A decade after annexing to the King County Library System in 1990, the Issaquah Library finally got a modern new structure that it could call home.
On February 22, 1957, the Black Diamond Library -- which had been located in the waiting room of the former Pacific Coast Coal Depot -- moved into an old cottage that was once used to house school teachers, becoming the only library in King County to have its own bathtub. The Black Diamond Library annexed to KCLS in 1990, and in 2008 a spacious new facility was opened, sans tub.
