Topic: Government & Politics
Sam Smith was the first black person to be elected to the Seattle City Council and the second black State Legislator from King County. He has been credited with helping to bridge the political and cul...
The son of a Kelso barber, Sid Snyder eventually rose up to establish himself as a well-loved small-town grocer, a savvy real-estate investor, and a millionaire bank founder. In addition, he gained st...
U.S. Army veteran David Sohappy Sr. (1925-1991) was a Wanapum fishing activist who became the center of a national controversy involving government regulators and tribal fishers in the Pacific Northwe...
Helen Sommers was elected as a Democrat in November 1972 to represent Seattle's 36th District in the state House of Representatives. She won re-election 17 consecutive times over the next 36 years, wa...
Sound Transit is a regional transit agency serving King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties with light rail, commuter rail, and express-bus service. Officially called the Central Puget Sound Regional Tran...
This essay surveys the development of Seattle's South Lake Union and Cascade communities from 1854 to 2003, with emphasis on visions for its future including Virgil Bogue's 1911 Plan of Seattle, the 1...
John D. Spellman was the first King County Executive and later served as governor of Washington. Elected Executive in 1969, shortly after the County's Home Rule Charter created the position, Spellman ...
The long career of John Spellman (1926-2018) in local and state politics began in 1967 when he was elected a King County Commissioner. His term overlapped the controversial Forward Thrust capital impr...
Bernice Stern devoted much of her life to public service, starting at age 15, and was the first woman elected to the King County Council, where she served for 11 years, retiring in 1980. Before and af...
As Washington's first territorial governor, Isaac Stevens oversaw the establishment of government in what would become Washington state. He also led the survey of a route to Puget Sound for a transcon...
In 1950, Charles Stokes was elected to the Washington state legislature from the 37th District in central and southeast Seattle, becoming the first black legislator from King County. The only black le...
Corliss P. Stone was a visionary Seattle real estate developer who platted land around north Lake Union, Wallingford, and Fremont. A Vermont native, he came to the Northwest for better business opport...
Cynthia Sullivan, a Democrat, served for 20 years on the Metropolitan King County Council, making her one of the longest serving Council members. During that time, she had a major impact on growth man...
The year 1978 saw an unprecedented Washington primary campaign, one that pitted powerful pro-business incumbent State Senator August Mardesich against retired firefighter and pro-union newcomer Larry ...
This history of Harborview Medical Center and its predecessor hospitals by Josephine Ensign, who teaches health policy and health humanities at the University of Washington, is part of her larger work...
The first protean ideas for a Seattle domed stadium arose 12 years before the Kingdome's long-anticipated groundbreaking in 1972. Although many local sports fans and business leaders enthusiastically ...
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the federal government took unprecedented steps to support the visual arts, music, writing, and theater. Separate agencies dedicated to each were established ...
In February 1970, a group of young Vietnam war protestors calling themselves the Seattle Liberation Front found themselves in legal hot water when they were charged with inciting a riot through the st...
Kip Yoshio Tokuda was a Sansei (third generation) Japanese American civil rights leader, public servant, Washington State legislator, and advocate for the rights of children, disabled persons, and LGB...
Thor Tollefson was born in Perley, Minnesota, in 1901. He was 11 when his family moved to Tacoma, and he spent most of his adult life devoted to the public affairs of Tacoma and the state of Washingto...
Dr. William F. Tolmie played a significant role in the Puget Sound region as it came under United States jurisdiction and Washington Territory was created. A young Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) clerk and...
Walter Bernard "Wally" Toner Jr. was one of Seattle's most respected political consultants and played key roles in numerous state and local elections in Washington state, including successful campaign...
Walter Bernard "Wally" Toner Jr., one of Seattle's most respected political consultants, died on October 10, 2000 of heart failure. A Seattle University graduate, he had served as an aide to fomer U.S...
Today much is known about the atomic bombs that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, and brought an end to World War II. But in the 1940s, the work being done on the Manhattan Project – inc...