On January 11, 2001, Barry Ackerley, owner of the Seattle SuperSonics NBA franchise, reaches an agreement to sell the team to an investment group led by Starbucks Corporation founder Howard Schultz. T...
On January 15, 2001, the historic iron and glass pergola at Pioneer Square in downtown Seattle collapses when a truck strikes it around 5:45 a.m. The pergola and the nearby Tlingit totem pole (which i...
On January 19, 2001, the Duwamish Tribe wins federal recognition. However, fewer than 48 hours later, the tribe learns that President George W. Bush has suspended a batch of President Clinton's 11th-h...
On January 21, 2001, just after midnight, historic Franz H. Coe Elementary School on Queen Anne Hill burns to the ground. The three-story wood building dating from 1907 is being heavily remodeled when...
On February 27, 2001, in Seattle's Pioneer Square, Fat Tuesday revelers turn violent, killing one man (20-year-old Kristopher Kime of Kent died from injuries sustained in a beating) and injuring 71 ot...
At 10:54 a.m. on February 28, 2001, a deep earthquake centered near the Nisqually Delta northwest of Olympia startles the entire Puget Sound region and causes more than $1 billion in damage to area bu...
On March 7, 2001, at approximately 1:20 a.m, Des Moines Police Officer Steven J. Underwood is shot and killed on Pacific Highway S. Charles Sydney Champion Jr., age 19, is charged with the crime. In J...
On March 9, 2001, Samuel Stroum (1921-2001), Seattle businessman and philanthropist, passed away after an 11-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Stroum left an immeasurable legacy of endowment and ci...
On April 19, 2001, the Washington State Senate adopts Resolution No. 8675 honoring the sesquicentennial of the arrival of the Denny Party at Alki Beach, which falls on November 13, 2001. Members of th...
On April 23, 2001, Douglas B. MacDonald (b. 1945), takes charge of the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) as the state's fourth Secretary of Transportation. MacDonald, a Washington ...
On April 27, 2001, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approves $35 million to help replace deteriorating housing units at Tacoma's Salishan Housing Development. The Federal funding a...
On May 1, 2001, Snohomish County residents Helen (b. 1937) and Bill (b. 1926) Thayer begin a 1,600-mile, 71-day walk across Mongolian part of the Gobi Desert, located in Mongolia and China. The couple...
On May 10, 2001, construction workers discover a mammoth tusk in a site being prepared for a new parking lot in the small town of Moxee, just east of Yakima. Fossil experts at the Quaternary Research ...
On the evening of May 18, 2001, the Belltown internet cafe, the Speakeasy, burns. The upper story of the building at 2nd Avenue and Bell Street is completely consumed in the two-alarm blaze, and the g...
On June 21, 2001, the Washington State House of Representatives adopts a resolution declaring Walter Clore (1911-2003) to be the "Father of the Washington Wine Industry." The resolution is sponsored b...
On July 10, 2001, four U.S. Forest Service firefighters die while battling the Thirty Mile Fire in Okanogan County. Six others are injured including two hikers. It is the second deadliest fire in Wash...
On July 31, 2001, early in the morning, the historic Twin Teepees restaurant is bulldozed to the ground, despite its place in Seattle's history and despite the fact that it undoubtedly would have been...
On August 10, 2001, the Washington State Department of Ecology issues to the Port of Seattle a permit that certifies compliance with Section 401 of the federal Clean Water Act. This permit is a key st...
On August 28, 2001, commuters on Interstate 5 taunt a woman threatening to leap from the Lake Washington Ship Canal Bridge, because she is delaying traffic. Police close the bridge to traffic to coax ...
On September 4, 2001, the Boeing Company moves its world headquarters from Seattle to Chicago. The decision to leave Seattle, announced on March 21, 2001, affects about 1,000 jobs. Chicago is chosen b...
On September 5, 2001, Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler (b. 1943) signs a state administrative regulation requiring insurers to cover contraceptives in prescription-drug plans in health-...
On September 12, 2001, just one day after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center's twin towers in New York and on the Pentagon in Washington D. C., 16 Husky football fans (along with three ot...
On September 12, 2001, a Sikh taxi driver at Sea-Tac International Airport is attacked after being called a "terrorist." This occurs after terrorist skyjackers identified as Islamic extremists launch ...
On September 13, 2001, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adds Seattle's Duwamish Waterway to its National Priority List of polluted sites. As much as four feet of sediment at the mouth of...