Name: Cascadian Hotel
Brand: Helen J. Knowles
SKU: 9781467105156
Price: 24.99 USD
Availability: InStock

Cascadian Hotel

9781467105156

$24.99

On August 9, 1929, the Cascadian Hotel opened in Wenatchee, Washington, the "Apple Capital of the World." It was (and still is) the tallest building in town. The opening ceremony--featuring a human spider scaling the facade--celebrated the coming to town of a technologically innovative and luxurious hotel that, for its 42-year existence, prided itself on quality service. The Cascadian had very strong ties to the community, apple themes ran throughout the building, and for years it was the go-to meeting place in Wenatchee. The hotel also served as the starting point for the hospitality careers of several men and women who rose to executive leadership positions in the international Western (later Westin) Hotels chain.

Sequim-Dungeness Valley

9781467134040

$24.99

Mastodons roamed the plains of Sequim and Dungeness in the years following the recession of the Cordilleran ice sheets. Millennia later, the villages of S'Klallam were home to those who saw settlers disembarking on the periphery of coastal wilderness. Ancient stands of spruce, cedar, and fir fell in the 1800s, clearing the land for agriculture. By the 1900s, the region exported wheat, potatoes, hay, and oats and became prime dairy land. This compilation of historic photographs illustrates the area's history from the 1800s to 1930 and is complimented by information from archival documents sequestered in historical collections throughout the Puget Sound and at the Museum and Arts Archive in Sequim.

The Manhattan Project at Hanford Site

9781467134446

$24.99

The Manhattan Project at Hanford Site describes the top-secret effort undertaken during World War II to develop a weapon never imagined at "Site W" or "Hanford Engineer Works," one of three sites selected in the United States (plus Los Alamos and Oak Ridge) to research and produce weapons that were ultimately used to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki and end World War II. It was a research and engineering feat of unimaginable proportion, and the total project cost for all three sites was $2.1 billion--an unthinkable amount for a country that was coming out of the Great Depression. It is a story of gumption, resolve, tenacity, patriotism, pride, and selflessness for the thousands of people who worked multiple shifts, seven days a week, in a hot, dry, and desolate desert, never knowing what they were working on. It is a tribute to American resolve in the face of overwhelming adversity.

Point No Point

9781467103053

$24.99

The US Lighthouse Board established Point No Point Light Station in 1879 to aid ships navigating to and from Puget Sound and the emerging port cities of Seattle and Tacoma. But the point was long an important place: a landmark for Coast Salish peoples traveling by water to fishing sites and for trade; a thriving community led by Suquamish leader ?al?q?m (pronounced "Challacum"); the site of the 1855 treaty signing that made a large swath of western Washington available for nonnative settlement; and an important foraging ground for fish, migratory birds, and sea mammals. Today, Point No Point is part of the larger community of Hansville on Washington's Kitsap Peninsula. Coast Salish peoples still fish here, and Point No Point Lighthouse remains an important aid to navigation. Fish, migratory birds, and sea mammals still regularly feed here on nutrients brought in from the ocean by powerful tidal currents. And residents and visitors alike are drawn to the point's beaches and breathtaking views.

Seattle Radio

9781467130578

$24.99

Seattle's first radio broadcast aired in 1919, and over the next 90 years, the city drew national attention for its collection of flamboyant and sometimes quirky broadcast impresarios and performers. The parade of people that passed in front of and behind the Puget Sound microphones included a big-time bootlegger and his wife, two embezzling bank managers, a political campaign manager, and a lumber mill baron's daughter. Two local radio men started with practically nothing and built their own successful Northwest station groups. An underpaid novice Seattle radio announcer went on to become the dean of the country's television newscasters. A 1950s disc jockey used acrobatic publicity stunts to draw an audience for his station. A guitar-strumming radio singer capitalized on his fame to build a chain of restaurants. And the founder of a Seattle "free form" FM radio station went on to build a network of community FM stations around the country, making him "The Johnny Appleseed of Community Radio."

Poulsbo

9781467130325

$24.99

Poulsbo is one of the earliest communities on Washington's Olympic Peninsula. Founded in 1883, it quickly became the destination place for Scandinavian immigrants looking for a fjord-like setting where they could farm, fish, and flourish in a climate more user-friendly than either their homeland or America's Midwest. The village on Liberty Bay is home to the oldest Lutheran church on the Olympic Peninsula. It was also the homeport for the Pacific Coast Codfish Company, at one time the largest codfish supplier on the Pacific coast. While motorized fishing boats and pleasure craft of all types have replaced the three-masted schooners of yore, Poulsbo today still cherishes its Scandinavian heritage with Syttende Mai, Midsommarfest, and Julefest. The local bakery put Poulsbo on the map in the 1970s with the development of Poulsbo Bread, now sold worldwide; however, the town's most unique claim remains its name--the result of a spelling error.

Dry Falls and Sun Lakes

9781467106665

$24.99

In the center of the Grand Coulee in Washington State is the largest extinct waterfall in the world, Dry Falls. A gathering place for travelers over the decades, Dry Falls continues its legacy of creating memories among everyone who comes to visit. What started as "a damn hole in the ground" has become a marvel of the scientific community, dreamers, poets, and adventurers alike. How did it become the behemoth of the tourism industry that it is today? Located at the base of Dry Falls is a string of lakes that would forever become entwined with the history of the area and the creation of Sun Lakes. Take a journey to the Dry Falls of yesteryear in this book and find out how it all came together to create one of the most visited and inspirational state parks in Washington history.

Port Townsend

9780738556222

$24.99

On Washington's Olympic Peninsula, at the entrance to Puget Sound, the Port Townsend of the 1850s was perfectly situated for sailing vessels. By 1880, thousands of ships from all over the world were passing through. Optimistic investors sought fortunes in shipping, logging, lumber mills, and land speculation. While commerce flourished at sea level, citizens built fine homes, churches, schools, clubs, a respectable shopping district, and parks uptown on the bluff. The settlers of this lovely seaport enjoyed rich cultural and social lives. Port Townsend went bust after the anticipated railroad failed to arrive. It remained largely frozen in time without economic motivation to tear down and replace its fine Victorian architecture. It wasn't until the 1970s that the beautiful setting and buildings were discovered by artists, hippies, preservationists, and, later, tourists and retirees. The town is now a thriving arts and cultural community, still beautiful, still small and remote.

Seattle's Pioneer Square

9780738571447

$24.99

Seattle's Pioneer Square--home of "Underground Seattle," the great 1889 fire, and once the provisioner of supplies for gold seekers during the Klondike gold rush--is today a destination for millions of locals and visitors each year. This was the homeland of Chief Sealth's Duwamish and Suquamish tribes prior to the arrival of new settlers in the 1850s, though the area's landscape and shoreline are drastically different today. Doc Maynard, Arthur Denny, and Henry Yesler, among others, were catalysts who created much of the social, economic, and environmental change that established Seattle as the largest city in the region. Pioneer Square, located on the shores of Puget Sound's Elliott Bay, is Seattle's oldest neighborhood.

Logging in Grays Harbor

9781467131896

$24.99

Grays Harbor reigned supreme as the "Logging Capital of the World" for 150 years. Homesteaders became loggers and hired local Indians, who had logged the area's massive trees since ancient times. Sailors, too, were hired to rig spar trees. They fearlessly plied lumber schooners across destructive waters and carried timber products to the East Coast, South America, and other foreign ports. Over time, power saws replaced crosscut saws, and logging methods evolved. Today, loggers in Grays Harbor have begun a new phase of producing timber products that is built on a heritage of strong families, good citizens, and hard work.

Hydroplane Racing in the Tri-Cities

9780738558271

$24.99

Pasco, Kennewick, and Richland sit along the banks of the Columbia River and form a large, vibrant community in Washington known as "the Tri-Cities." For over 40 years, tens of thousands of fans have come to the Columbia River to enjoy a day in the sun and watch the Columbia Cup Unlimited Hydroplane Race. Famous drivers like Bill Muncey, Dean Chenoweth, Chip Hanauer, and Dave Villwock have all come to Tri-Cities and battled deck-to-deck to win the Columbia Cup.

Wenatchee

9780738574462

$24.99

Wenatchee, named after the native people who inhabited the valley in the eastern Cascades for centuries, is situated at the confluence of the Wenatchee and Columbia Rivers in central Washington. The first European explorers came through Wenatchee in 1811. Settlement began in 1868 and increased with the coming of the Great Northern Railway Company in 1892. Its population grew rapidly as merits of the area's soil, climate, and water resources attracted homesteaders who planted orchards. The tree fruit industry thrived, and Wenatchee became known as the "Apple Capital of the World," with an annual Apple Blossom Festival that endures as the community's biggest celebration. Orchards propelled the economy through most of the 20th century. Now, thanks to Wenatchee's location on two rivers in the Cascade foothills, the town has become a destination for outdoor recreation and wine tourism with a beautiful downtown historic district worth exploring.

Vanishing Tacoma

9781467130288

$24.99

Tacoma, like most cities across the nation, has changed its appearance over time, creating many different urban landscapes. This phenomenon was apparent throughout the area as landowners, developers, community organizations, and government agencies all contributed to the city's growth and transformation. The changing landscape was further impacted by fires, earthquakes, and other acts of nature, resulting in a rich mosaic of old and new. The history of Vanishing Tacoma illustrates the city's past and present landscapes and honors the historic properties that still remain.

Hood Canal

9780738548012

$24.99

Fjord-like Hood Canal channels beneath the snowcapped Olympic National Park, creating a summer paradise of warm days and inspiring scenery as well as a haven for marine life and watercraft. For eons, Twana Indians crisscrossed in canoes that sliced through water like salmon. The canal's first tourist, Captain Vancouver, sailed a launch down the scenic route in 1792. For the next century, a mosquito fleet of tugboats, stern-wheelers, fishing boats, and barges ferried the men who came for logging or land. By 1889, lumberman and legislator John McReavy promoted Union City as "Venice of
the Pacific." In the 20th century, canal use shifted from logging to recreation as wealthy Easterners, San Francisco expatriates, and artists founded hunting lodges, fishing resorts, and even an artist colony. The Navy Yard Highway introduced automobile tourism, and new resorts, including Alderbrook, soon dotted the shoreline. After World War II, families bought summer homes and ski boats. Now, in the 21st
century, kayaks and personal watercraft skim across the waters, and the canal is more popular than ever.

Seattle's Coal Legacy

9781467103992

$24.99

In the 1880s, Seattle became a major coal port in the United States. By 1908, Puget Sound was the third-largest coal port, after New York and Baltimore. For Seattle, the major coal mines were in Issaquah, New Castle, Renton, and Black Diamond, with many other smaller mines throughout King County. Until the petroleum revolution, Seattle exported most of its coal to San Francisco. Because of coal, Seattle became a center for skilled engineers, machinists, and miners for the maritime, manufacturing, mining, and railroad industries, differentiating itself from other lumber towns on Puget Sound. Seattle's Coal Legacy is the story of a frontier town going through an industrial revolution in its own time. The skills and knowledge developed during the coal era-engineering, finance, transportation, manufacturing, etc.-made Seattle the major city it is today.

Tacoma's Haunted History

9781467131094

$24.99

Tacoma hides in the shadows of Seattle, but what hides in the shadows of Tacoma? The city's paranormal history is riddled with Native American culture, spiritualists, mysterious deaths, tragedy, and curses that dwell in the dark. Much of Tacoma is built directly on top of sacred lands, and many natives to the area can attest that the city is haunted by its past. Desecration of graves can leave troubling results. Hexed citizens can perish. An untimely death can leave behind a soul. These unfortunate circumstances bring forth tales of the strange and unexplainable. Are we alone in Tacoma or accompanied by ghosts of the past?

Spokane Parks

9781467109475

$23.99

Parks are designed to give people a place to rest, to connect with nature, and to build community with others. Early developers feared Spokane could be just another boomtown and hoped a robust park system would encourage settlers to stay. The first park was deeded to the City of Spokane in 1891, and over the next 20 years, the city acquired nearly 2,000 acres for parkland. Among the elements that would come to define Spokane parks are amusement rides, a zoo, the Olmsted brothers, the Silver Spurs, and breathtaking natural beauty. It took the ingenuity of several people to create parks, parkways, and playfields that would eventually become the parks that many in Spokane use today. Revisit these places--remembering the sights, smells, and surroundings--through the moments and memories captured in archival records and photographs.

Washington's Highway 99

9780738596181

$24.99

For a century, the route of Highway 99 has been the main transportation corridor in western Washington. Forest and farm products, fish, and families have all been a part of the flow of business and recreational travel between the Canadian border at Blaine and the Columbia River at Vancouver. What is now Highway 99 originated as a loose network of muddy roads connecting early settlements. With the dawn of the automobile age and construction of good roads, travel for business and pleasure began to shift away from ships and railroads to trucks and family cars. Roadside services developed within and between towns to cater to the new type of travelers--as many as 1,300 "gas, food, and lodging" businesses lined Highway 99, ranging from primitive auto camps to luxury hotels and from simple burger stands to roadside eateries shaped like giant tepees and igloos.

University Place

9780738595153

$24.99

A community located just south and west of Tacoma, University Place has always been noted for its excellent school system--but where is the "university?" In the 1890s, long before University Place became a suburban bedroom community, it was chosen as the future site for Puget Sound University. Plans were drawn and ground breaking even occurred, but the economic depression of the mid-1890s scuttled the venture; however, the name University Place stuck. At approximately the same time the university was planned, the few residents in the area formed school district No. 83, encompassing approximately eight square miles along the shore of Puget Sound, and named it University Place School District. From the days of sheep herding, logging, gravel and sand mining, tomato farming, apple and peach orchard planting, and rhododendron farming, University Place has become a proud city with a population exceeding 31,000 residents.

Port of Tacoma

9781467109840

$23.99

Given a huge economic boost in 1873 when the Northern Pacific Railroad chose it as the western terminus of its transcontinental line, Tacoma emerged as a bustling port city by the late 1800s. In 1918, Pierce County residents voted to create the publicly owned Port of Tacoma, which started out on 240 acres in Tacoma’s Tideflats. Throughout its history, the port has made strategic investments to develop shipping terminals, waterways, and industrial lands to serve as an “economic engine” for the region. Today, the Port of Tacoma encompasses 2,450 acres and is one of the leading container ports in North America. In 2018, port-related activities connected to more than 42,000 jobs in Pierce County.

San Juan Island

9780738581477

$24.99

With sheltered harbors, open prairies, and secluded woodlands, San Juan Island has been a magnet for human habitation for thousands of years. Salmon runs and rich soil promised not only an abundant food source but also a good living for those willing to work hard. But it was not until the islands became the focus of an international boundary dispute between Great Britain and the United States in the late 1850s that San Juan Island drew the attention of Europeans and Americans. These newcomers watched how Coast Salish and Northwest Coast peoples harvested natural resources and adapted their techniques. Settlers and Indians sometimes intermarried, and many of their descendants remain to this day. San Juan Islanders of all generations have worked hard to preserve their home, thus maintaining a sense of place that is as evident today as it was when the first canoes came ashore.

McChord Field

9780738599717

$24.99

McChord Field, tucked away in the Pacific Northwest, maintains an understated presence. Yet this subdued outpost plays a vital role in major conflicts around the world. On July 3, 1940, McChord officially opened as a training base, developing bomber crews for aircraft such as B-17s, B-18s, B-25s, B26s, and even some of the Doolittle Raiders. Strategically located, McChord functioned as an aircraft modification center, producing P-39s, the Soviet Union's most venerable aircraft, as well as a homeland defense center during World War II. The dawning of the Cold War expanded air defense operations with the newly formed Air Defense Command, receiving the P-61, followed by the F-86, F-102, F-106, and F-15. A global airlift hub using C-124s, C-141s, and C-17s, McChord has supported humanitarian, Antarctic, and wartime missions for America.

Coupeville

9780738588957

$24.99

The second-oldest town in Washington is Coupeville, founded in 1853. Until the white settlement of the 1850s, the Lower Skagit Indians lived in four villages on Penn Cove, fishing and gathering plentiful plants and berries. Sea captains, such as Capt. Thomas Coupe, were drawn to the area's deepwater port and the opportunities it offered to transport timber from surrounding forests. At the same time, pioneer farmers, like Isaac Ebey, marveled at the rich soil of nearby Ebey's Prairie, where they planted crops and wrote to friends and relatives, inviting them to come and share the bounty. Together, captains of the sea and soil created a town of distinctive Victorian houses and enterprising businesses that inhabitants and visitors enjoy today.

Ruston

9780738575742

$24.99

Founded by aspiring industrialist William Rust to maintain political control over the area surrounding his smelter, the town of Ruston has been the center of much larger political battles than its small size would imply. Even as the Guggenheim empire bought and integrated the smelter into its American Smelting and Refining Company (Asarco) in 1905, the small community flourished outside the smelter gates with homes, shops, and more than its fair share of boarding houses and taverns for the working men. Incorporated in 1906, the company town remained fiercely loyal to Asarco as national environmental battles were fought over smelter operations and impacts in the 1970s. Once the smelter furnaces cooled in 1985 and its stack tumbled in 1993, new residents upgraded the working-class neighborhood into a high-end enclave with panoramic views of Commencement Bay, Mount Rainer, and the Olympic Mountains.

Grand Coulee Dam

9780738556123

$24.99

Washington's Grand Coulee is an ice-age channel that carried the Columbia River when ice dammed its main course. Grand Coulee was long recognized as an ideal place to store Columbia River water to irrigate the arid but fertile Columbia Basin. A dam was proposed as early as 1903, but opposition by Spokane private power interests and the cost of the dam delayed design and construction until the administration of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt, a public power advocate, used the Grand Coulee Dam project to help put the unemployed to work. The result was the world's largest man-made structure, and also the world's largest power plant, costing more than $163 million and the lives of at least 72 workers. The dam powered production of aluminum, atomic weapons, shipbuilding, and much more, contributing mightily to America's victory in World War II. Postwar developments provided irrigation for 700,000 acres of farmland.

Tacoma's Point Defiance Park

9780738595917

$24.99

For more than a century, the citizens of Tacoma have valued Point Defiance Park as a forested refuge and an urban oasis. The community treasures its history and ecology as the crown jewel of the city's public spaces. Ancient forest continues to cover the majority of the park's 700-plus acres. Attractions of the past--a saltwater swimming pool, riding stables, and an amusement park--delighted earlier generations, though they are now long gone. The first boathouses, early zoological collections, and gardens near the park's entrance date back to the 1890s and now greet visitors in modern form. Today's park amenities are designed to foster appreciation for the rich historic and environmental heritage of "Tacoma's Great Pride" and serve an estimated two million visitors annually. Historic images from both private and public collections highlight this memorable "walk in the park" through a beloved civic preserve.

Seattle's Commercial Aviation:

9780738571010

$24.99

Interested in aviation as early as 1910, William Boeing waited until 1914 for his first airplane ride. In 1916, he founded the airplane company that put Seattle on the aviation map. Before Boeing, Seattle featured aircraft builders like Eugene Romano, G. T. Takasou, Tom Hamilton, and Herb Munter. Boeing emerged during World War I and, by the beginning of World War II, had become a world leader. In those years, lesser known individuals like Eddie Hubbard, Percy Barnes, Vern Gorst, the Becvar brothers, Elliott Merrill, Jim Galvin, and Lana Kurtzer influenced commercial aviation around Seattle. Drawing on photographs from around the area, Seattle's Commercial Aviation: 1908-1941 illustrates the early days beginning with dirigible flights, recognizes the arrival of commercial airmail and the airlines, salutes the local operators, and marks Seattle's emergence as the aviation gateway to Alaska.

Tugboats on Puget Sound

9780738559728

$24.99

While square-rigged sailing ships, steamboats and ferries, and ever-larger cruise and cargo-carrying vessels have made their mark on Puget Sound's maritime history, no other vessels have captured the imagination of shore-bound seafarers like tugboats. Beginning in the 1850s when the first steam-powered tugboats arrived in the Sound from the East Coast via San Francisco, company owners and their crews competed fiercely for business, towing ships, log rafts, and barges. The magnetic attraction of powerful, tough tugs both large and small is unexplainable but enduring. This book, featuring about 200 rare historic images and carefully researched text, tells the colorful story of tug boating on Puget Sound.

Roche Harbor

9780738571058

$24.99

Roche Harbor's deep, protected waters and abundant resources inspired poets, one of whom wrote in 1903, "A rock-bound coast hems in a wealth of verdant pastures sweet; / Deep forests cover vale and hill where fresh and salt waters meet." For millennia, this was the home of the Lummi and Songhees people. The British established a military camp near here in 1860 to maintain their claim to the San Juan Islands. Limestone was quarried here for 90 years, helping to build West Coast cities as well as personal fortunes. Roche Harbor continues to be a favorite gathering place for boating, fishing, and kayaking--a gateway to the splendors of the American San Juan Islands and the Canadian Gulf Islands.

The Pig War

9780738558400

$24.99

San Juan Island is well known for its splendid vistas, saltwater shore, quiet woodlands, and orca whales. But it was also here, in 1859, that the United States and Great Britain nearly went to war over a dead pig. On July 18 of that year, Capt. George E. Pickett (later to lead the famous charge climaxing the Battle of Gettysburg) landed his company of 63 soldiers on the southern end of San Juan Island to protect U.S. citizens from the British government after an American settler, Lyman
Cutlar, had shot a pig belonging to the British-owned Hudson's Bay Company. What was really at stake was the possession of the entire San Juan archipelago, held in dispute between the two nations since 1846. By the time the crisis was settled, nearly 500 U.S. soldiers and three British warships would stand off on Griffin Bay. It would then require
12 more years of joint military occupation before the international boundary was settled and the San Juans became U.S. territory.

Yakima Valley Transportation Company

9780738581033

$24.99

The National Register of Historic Places lists the Yakima Valley Transportation Company (YVT) as the last intact early 20th century electric interurban railroad in America. From its beginning in 1907, the YVT was no quitter, surviving a takeover by the Union Pacific, large financial losses as the last trolley railroad in Washington state, attempts at dieselization, and a concerted effort to put the company in its grave. Thanks to the efforts of local preservationists, YVT trolleys are still in operation. The railroad and its infrastructure never changed. What is seen today is what was built 100 years ago--a living slice of history. Images of Rail: Yakima Valley Transportation Company is the most authoritative chronicle of the famous YVT yet compiled.

Seattle-Everett Interurban Railway

9780738580197

$24.99

Operating for 29 years, the Seattle-Everett Interurban Trolley traveled over 29 miles of rail carrying passengers and freight to nearly 30 stops along its line. In the first decade of the 1900s, the Boston electrical engineering firm of Stone and Webster had designs of building an interurban electric railway system that would eventually connect Olympia, Washington, and Vancouver, British Columbia. To start the Seattle north link, they purchased the existing Seattle-Everett Interurban Railway Company from Fred E. Sander in 1908. On the early morning of April 30, 1910, the Seattle-Everett Interurban Trolley made its inaugural run, starting in Everett. On February 20, 1939, the trolley left Everett for its last run.

Big Bend Railroads

9781467132534

$24.99

The Big Bend area had its start with a land grant given by President Lincoln to the Northern Pacific Railway. As such, the railway company heavily promoted the area to encourage settlement and populate the station sites along the way. Towns began to develop in the late 1880s; prior to that time, the few settlers had a difficult time getting around. Despite snow, floods, fires, wrecks, human error, sabotage, and government regulation, the railroads continued and were able to serve the communities and help them survive. The earliest lines were built largely by man and beast with few large machines. The last transcontinental line in the Big Bend, the Milwaukee Road, featured groundbreaking technology in the form of electrically operated locomotives. The building of Grand Coulee Dam brought more railroad lines, with tracks that featured grades and locomotives normally seen on logging railroads, to bring in construction materials to the largest concrete structure in the world at the time.

Yakima

9780738520865

$24.99

Early clashes in the 1850s with Native American tribes led to the establishment of the Yakima Indian Reservation just south of the city limits. Soon afterward, settlers came in earnest, having heard of the potential of the valley soil. Captured here in 200 vintage images is the story of the life and times of Yakima's earliest settlers through to the 21st century. In 1884, the town attracted the attention of the Northern Pacific Railroad, which was interested in building a depot. Yakima City landowners refused to cooperate, so the railroad located its depot four miles to the north. In 1918, this new location was reincorporated as Yakima, and Yakima City was renamed Union Gap. Both attracted their share of businessmen and ideas. Frederick Mercy arrived and installed theaters in Yakima and the rest of the state. J.M. Perry, an early fruit packer and shipper, left funds to establish what would become a nationally renowned technical school. These photographs illuminate the history of Yakima's schools, businesses, churches, and agriculture. Images document the social development of the city, family photos from days gone by, the orchards that have played such a large part in the economy, and even an apple pie big enough to feed a whole crowd!

Mercer Island

9780738599564

$24.99

Mercer Island occupies a unique geographic position situated in Lake Washington, just 15 minutes to Seattle or Bellevue, yet semirural in feel. Pioneers first settled the island in the late 1800s, surviving mainly by their own ingenuity as the island lacked even the most basic services. Wealthy Seattle residents built summer cabins on the island to enjoy its bucolic setting. With the advent of passenger and car ferry services to Seattle, Mercer Island gradually acquired a school, church, and post office, and many other services took root in the community. Residents continued to use rowboats, steamboats, and ferries to get to and from the island. Development was slow and cumbersome, as all supplies had to be transported by boat. However, with the opening of the East Channel Bridge in 1923 and the Lake Washington Floating Bridge in 1940, the island gradually evolved into a commuter suburb, attracting new residents to its park-like setting and excellent schools.