J.T. Miller Named First Captain

Lore & Background

The Seattle area has been inhabited by Native Americans (such as the Duwamish, who had at least 17 villages around Elliott Bay) for at least 4,000 years before the arrival of the first permanent European settlers. Arthur A. Denny and his group of travelers, subsequently known as the Denny Party, arrived from Illinois via Portland, Oregon, on the schooner Exact at Alki Point on November 13, 1851. The settlement was moved to the eastern shore of Elliott Bay in 1852 and named 'Seattle' in honor of Chief Seattle, a prominent 19th-century leader of the local Duwamish and Suquamish tribes.

Reader's Guide

Logging was Seattle's first major industry, but by the late 19th century the city had become a commercial and shipbuilding center as a gateway to Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush. The city grew after World War II, partly due to the local company Boeing, which established Seattle as a center for its manufacturing of aircraft. Beginning in the 1980s, the Seattle area developed into a technology center; Microsoft established its headquarters in the region. Alaska Airlines is based at Seattle–Tacoma International Airport in nearby SeaTac.

Did You Know?

• Seattle's growth rate of 21.1% between 2010 and 2020 made it one of the country's fastest-growing large cities.
• The Port of Seattle is the fourth-largest port in North America in terms of container handling.
• Seattle has the fifth-highest percentage of residents who identify as LGBT among major metropolitan areas in the U.S. (4.8 percent as of 2015).
• The city was the origin of the grunge subgenre and its pioneering bands, including Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden.