Beacon Hill is a hill and neighborhood in southeast Seattle, Washington. The municipal government subdivides it into North Beacon Hill, Mid-Beacon Hill, Holly Park, and South Beacon Hill,[1] though most people who live there simply call it "Beacon Hill." Home to the world headquarters of Amazon.com and the Seattle Division of the Department of Veterans Affairs' Puget Sound Health Care System, the hill offers views of downtown, the Industrial District, Elliott Bay, First Hill, Rainier Valley, and, when the weather is good, Mount Rainier and the Olympic Mountains. It is roughly bounded on the west by Interstate 5, on the north by Interstate 90, on the east by Rainier Avenue South, Cheasty Boulevard South, and Martin Luther King Junior Way South, and on the south by the Seattle city boundary. Homes on the northern part of the hill were mostly built in the early 1900s; thus, North Beacon Hill contains many excellent examples of Craftsman bungalows and "Seattle box houses" (a local variant of the Foursquare style).
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History
The Duwamish called the hill "Greenish-Yellow Spine" (Lushootseed: qWátSéécH), probably referring to the color of the deciduous trees that once grew thickly on hill.[2] Early settlers named it Holgate and Hanford Hill after two early settlers, John Holgate and Edward Hanford, who settled in the area in the 1850s[3] and are commemorated to this day by South Holgate and Hanford Streets on North Beacon Hill. A later arrival, M. Harwood Young, named the hill after the Beacon Hill in his hometown, Boston, Massachusetts.
Demographics
Beacon Hill has, throughout its history, been home to successive waves of immigrants. In the mid to late 20th century, the district became predominantly Asian, and this can still be seen today in the many Chinese, Vietnamese, and Filipino businesses that line Beacon Avenue South. According to the United States 2000 Census, the population of Beacon Hill is 22,300, and remains racially diverse: 51% Asian, 20% white, 13% black, 9% Hispanic/Latino and 7% other. [4]
Landmarks and institutions
- Pacific Medical Center (PacMed) located at the northern tip of Beacon Hill. Formerly a marine hospital, now most of the building is leased to Amazon.com
- Jefferson Park: Golf, lawn bowling, open space
- Dr. Jose Rizal Park: views west overlooking downtown, Elliott Bay and Olympi Mountains; start of bike path to I-90 bridge, Lake Washington, Mercer Island, Eastgate[5]
- El Centro de la Raza, a civil rights and community service organization, in the former Beacon Hill School[6]
- Beacon Hill First Baptist Church[7]: a designated historic landmark Tudor Revival building built in 1910, designed by notable architect Ellsworth Storey
- The Frank D. Black property [8]: designated landmark river rock structures built in 1914
- Cheasty Greenbelt/Cheasty Boulevard Trail
- Sound Transit Light Rail station, located at Beacon Avenue South and South Lander Street, due to open in Fall 2009
- Beacon Hill branch of the Seattle Public Library, newly opened in 2005.
Nearby neighborhoods
- Columbia City
- Downtown Seattle
- First Hill
- Georgetown
- Industrial District (see also SoDo)
- International District/Chinatown
- Judkins Park
- Mount Baker
- Rainier Valley
- SoDo
Notes
- ^ Beacon Hill. Seattle City Clerk's Neighborhood Map Atlas. City Clerk's Office, City of Seattle. Retrieved on 2005-09-03.
- ^ Thrush, Coll (2007). Native Seattle: Histories from the Crossing-Over Place. University of Washington Press, p. 230. ISBN 0-295-98700-6.
- ^ George Lange (November 10, 2000). John Holgate explores the Duwamish River by canoe but does not stake King County land claim during the summer of 1850. Essay 1749. HistoryLink.org. Retrieved on 2005-09-03.
- ^ 2000 Census Data: Beacon Hill. Retrieved on 2005-09-03.
- ^ David Wilma (April 5, 2001). Rizal Park. Essay 3168, Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History. Retrieved on 2005-09-03.
- ^ David Wilma (August 2, 2000). Chicano activists occupy abandoned school that becomes El Centro on October 11, 1972. Essay 2588, Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History. HistoryLink.org. Retrieved on 2005-09-03.
- ^ David Wilma (April 17, 2002). Seattle Landmarks: Beacon Hill First Baptist Church (1910). Essay 3216, Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History. HistoryLink.org. Retrieved on 2005-09-03.
- ^ David Wilma (April 23, 2001). Seattle Landmarks: Frank D. Black Property (1914). Essay 3226, Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History. HistoryLink.org. Retrieved on 2005-09-03.
References
- Merrell, Frederica and Mira Latoszek (2004). Seattle's Beacon Hill (Images of America). Charleston: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-2861-7.
External links
- North Beacon Hill neighborhood website
- Northwest Beacon Hill / Beacon Alliance of Neighbors website
- Seattle City Neighborhood Map of Beacon Hill
- Seattle Post-Intelligencer Beacon Hill Webtown
- South Beacon Hill Neighborhood Council
- Virtual Tour Images of Beacon Hill
