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Bainbridge Island, Washington
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HistoryIn 1792 George Vancouver spent several days with his ship HMS Discovery anchored off Restoration Point at the southern end of Bainbridge Island while boat parties surveyed other parts of Puget Sound. Vancouver spent a day investigating Rich Passage, Port Orchard, and Sinclair Inlet. He failed to find Agate Passage and so his maps show Bainbridge Island as a peninsula. Vancouver named Restoration Point on May 29, the anniversary of the English Restoration, in honor of King Charles II.
In 1841, U.S. Navy Lieutenant Charles Wilkes visited the island while surveying the Northwest. Lt. Wilkes named the island after Commodore William Bainbridge, commander of the frigate U.S.S. Constitution in the War of 1812. Bainbridge Island was originally a center for the logging and shipbuilding industries. The island was known for huge and accessible cedars, which were especially in demand for ships' masts. The original county seat of Kitsap County was at Port Madison on the north end of the island. During World War II, Japanese-American residents of Bainbridge Island were the first to be sent to internment camps on the island. They were held by the U.S. government through the duration of the war for fear of espionage.
The city of Bainbridge Island has occupied the entire island since February 28, 1991, when the former City of Winslow (around 1.5 square miles (3.9 km˛) of land on Eagle Harbor, incorporated August 09, 1947) annexed the rest of the island. Since the 1960s, Bainbridge Island has become an increasingly affluent bedroom community of Seattle, a 35-minute ride away on the Washington State Ferries. The community has been especially concerned with preserving greenspace and keeping a tight control over development, both residential and commercial. The Bainbridge Island Land Trust and the City of Bainbridge Island are both instrumental in maintaining open space on the island.
In 2001, Bainbridge Island Little League were represented in South Williamsport, PA at the Little League World Championships.
The sports programs are highly successful including the High School Lacrosse team, known for their numerous state titles, the most recent on May 19, 2007 over rival Mercer Island, their 11th state title. The island's high school sailing team has been the reigning NWISA district double handed team racing champions for the past five seasons,and is currently ranked 12th in the nation.
GeographyBainbridge Island is located at (47.655260, -122.535083).
Bainbridge Island was formed during the last ice age — 13,000 to 15,000 years ago — when the 3000-foot thick Vashon Glacier scraped out the Puget Sound and Hood Canal basins.
Bainbridge Island is located within the Central Puget Sound Basin, east of the Kitsap Peninsula and west of the City of Seattle. The Island is approximately five miles (8 km) wide and ten miles (16 km) long, encompassing nearly 17,778 acres, or 28 square miles (73 km˛), and is one of the larger islands in Puget Sound.
Bainbridge Island shorelines border the main body of Puget Sound, a large protected embayment, Port Orchard Bay, and two high-current tidal passages, Rich Passage and Agate Pass. The island is characterized by an irregular coastline of approximately 53 miles (85 km), with numerous bays and inlets and a significant diversity of other coastal land forms, including spits, bluffs, dunes, lagoons, cuspate forelands, tombolos, tide flats, streams and tidal deltas, islands, and rocky outcrops.
Prominent land and coastal features include:
- Agate Point
- Arrow Point
- Bainbridge Reef
- Baker Hill
- Battle Point
- Beans Bight
- Bill Point
- Blakely Harbor
- Blakely Rock,
- Creosote, a low flat on the south side to the entrance of Eagle Harbor, extending 350 yards inland, then rising abruptly to over 200 feet
- Decatur Reef
- Eagle Harbor, the main port of Bainbridge
- Fletcher Bay
- Gazzam Lake
- Hidden Cove
- Little Boston, a small area on southern BI near Old Mill and Port Blakely
- Manzanita Bay
- Murden Cove, an open bight on the eastern side of Bainbridge Island
- Pleasant Beach
- Point Monroe
- Point White Dock
- Port Madison
- Restoration Point
- Rockaway Beach
- Rolling Bay
- Skiff Point
- South Beach
- South Point
- Treasure Island
- Tyee Shoal
- Wing Point
- Yeomalt Point
On the Kitsap Peninsula, Bremerton and Poulsbo lie across the Port Orchard channel to the west, and the city of Port Orchard lies across Rich Passage to the south.
The island is quite hilly and is known for its popular 'Chilly Hilly' bicycle ride held every year in February. This ride has been the unofficial start to the bicycling season in the Pacific Northwest since 1992.
Bainbridge Island is connected to the Kitsap Peninsula by a bridge carrying SR 305 over Agate Passage. The only other public way off the island is by Washington State Ferries service from Winslow in Eagle Harbor to Coleman Dock in Seattle. The boat, as it is commonly known, takes about 35 minutes to cross Puget Sound.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city of Bainbridge Island has a total area of 169.7 km˛ (65.5 mi˛). 71.5 km˛ (27.6 mi˛) of it is land and 98.2 km˛ (37.9 mi˛) of it (57.87%) is water.
DemographicsAs of the census of 2000, there were 20,308 people, 7,979 households, and 5,784 families residing in the city. The population density was 284.0/km˛ (735.6/mi˛). There were 8,517 housing units at an average density of 119.1/km˛ (308.5/mi˛). The racial makeup of the city was 92.88% White, 0.28% African American, 0.62% Native American, 2.40% Asian, 0.11% Pacific Islander, 0.75% from other races, and 2.96% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.17% of the population.
There were 7,979 households out of which 36.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.1% were married couples living together, 7.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.5% were non-families. 22.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 2.98.
In the city the population was spread out with 26.7% under the age of 18, 3.6% from 18 to 24, 23.8% from 25 to 44, 33.1% from 45 to 64, and 12.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 94.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.0 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $70,110, and the median income for a family was $83,415. Males had a median income of $65,853 versus $42,051 for females. The per capita income for the city was $37,482. About 3.0% of families and 4.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.8% of those under age 18 and 3.3% of those age 65 or over.
PoliticsBainbridge Island is a stronghold for the Democratic Party. In the 2004 Presidential election, Democrat John Kerry received 72.87% of the vote to Republican George W. Bush's 25.58%.
In the 2008 Democratic primary (which in Washington state was not used for delegate appointment), Barack Obama defeated Hillary Clinton by a margin of 67.8% to 29.7%. This was Obama's second-best performance in an incorporated municipality in the state, behind Yarrow Point. In the earlier caucus, Obama received 79.3% of delegates, Clinton received 19.8%, and 0.1% were uncommitted.
Sister citiesBainbridge has the following sister cities:
See also
Points of interest
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