Darrington is a town in
Snohomish CountySnohomish County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. It is named after the Snohomish tribe. Since 2000, the county's population has grown from 606,024 to 704,300 residents , making it one of the fastest-growing in the state, ranking third in overall population after King and...
,
WashingtonWashington is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute. It was admitted to the Union as the...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The population was 1,136 at the 2000 census.
History
The valley that Darrington is located in was once settled by local Native Americans as the confluence of the two rivers was abundant in salmon and other fish. European settlers later arrived and were attracted by the prospect of gold and timber harvesting. The town steadily grew and is known for the numerous logging mills that surround it. The Northern Pacific railroad built a branch-line from Arlington to transport the harvested lumber in the late 1800s.
Darrington was officially incorporated on October 15, 1945.
With the decline of the logging industry in the 1980s, the railroad was abandoned in 1991. The town's main industry is still timber harvesting but not as widespread as it once was.
Geography
Darrington is located at (48.252260, -121.603876).
According to the
United States Census BureauThe United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data. As part of the United States Department of Commerce, the Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data about...
, the town has a total area of 1.0 square miles (2.5 km²), all of it land. Thus, Darrington is a small community; many of the people know each other. Anywhere outside of Darrington in normal civilization is referred to as "down below".
Demographics
As of the
censusA "census" is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population.In other words every 10 years...next one would be in 2010 The term is used mostly in connection with...
of 2000, there were 1,136 people, 473 households, and 292 families residing in the town. The
population densityPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans. It is a key term used in geography....
was 1,171.9 people per square mile (452.2/km²). There were 505 housing units at an average density of 520.9/sq mi (201.0/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 94.98% White, 1.67% Native American, 0.35% Asian, 0.26% from
other racesRace and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the United States Census Bureau and the Federal Office of Management and Budget , are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 2.73% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.23% of the population.
There were 473 households out of which 30.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.0% were
married couplesMarriage is a social union or legal contract between individuals that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged by a variety of ways, depending on the culture or demographic...
living together, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.1% were non-families. 31.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 3.08.
In the town the population was spread out with 27.1% under the age of 18, 6.9% from 18 to 24, 27.5% from 25 to 44, 21.9% from 45 to 64, and 16.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 96.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.6 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $32,813, and the median income for a family was $44,063. Males had a median income of $36,429 versus $25,625 for females. The
per capita incomePer capita income means how much each individual receives, in monetary terms, of the yearly income generated in the country. This is what each citizen is to receive if the yearly national income is divided equally among everyone. Per capita income is usually reported in units of currency per year...
for the town was $17,384. About 4.7% of families and 8.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.9% of those under age 18 and 6.6% of those age 65 or over. Still, 90% of Darrington's population is inbred.
Education
The Darrington School District educates approximately 570 children each year on a single K-12 campus. The mascot for the school is the Darrington Loggers named after the industry on which the town was built. Darrington has consistently fielded highly competitive teams for both boys and girls sports. The sports available to Darrington students include football, basketball, baseball, volleyball, tennis, and wrestling. The sports in Darrington are coach by both teachers who are on staff at the school and also by local townspeople. When hiring coaches, employees of the school district are given priority over non employees. In 1981 the Darrington Loggers won the State B Championship for baseball. The team was led by coach Nancy Snyder.
Darrington Elementary School has approximately 264 students. 49.6% of the students receive free or reduced-price meals. Special education students make up 18.3%. There are 20 classroom teachers and the average years of teacher experience is 20. In addition, 80% of the teachers at Darrington Elementary have their Master’s Degree.
Trivia
Darrington is the original hometown of American television gameshow host
Bob BarkerRobert William "Bob" Barker is an American former television game show host. He is best known for hosting CBS' The Price Is Right from 1972-2007, making it the longest-running daytime game show in North American television history...
from the
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
show
The Price Is RightThe Price Is Right is a U.S. television game show that is currently owned by the FremantleMedia subsidiary of the RTL Group. It was created by Bob Stewart for Goodson-Todman Productions in the United States in 1956, and was significantly revamped by them in 1972...
. A scene from the 2001 film
Along Came A SpiderAlong Came A Spider is a 2001 American mystery film directed by Lee Tamahori. The screenplay by Marc Moss was adapted from the 1993 novel of the same title by James Patterson, but many of the key plot elements of the book were eliminated...
was filmed on Highway 530 between Darrington and
Arlington, WashingtonArlington is a city in northern Snohomish County, Washington, United States, bordered by the city of Marysville to the south. The population was 11,713 at the 2000 census. The city owns the Arlington Municipal Airport, located three miles southwest of Arlington, which is home to the annual...
. A made for TV movie called
High Ice was filmed on Darrington's local
Whitehorse MountainWhitehorse Mountain is a peak near the western edge of the North Cascades in the US state of Washington. It is located just southwest of the Sauk River Valley town of Darrington, near the northern boundary of Boulder River Wilderness in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest...
. Also, the fictional town Hope, Washington in the book
Homespun Christmas is based on Darrington. A scene from the 1983 film
WarGamesWarGames is a 1983 drama-thriller film written by Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes and directed by John Badham. The film starred Matthew Broderick in his second major film role, and featured Ally Sheedy, Dabney Coleman, John Wood, and Barry Corbin....
was also filmed near Darrington: where David Lightman (
Matthew BroderickMatthew Broderick is an American film and stage actor who is best known for his roles as the title character in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Nick Tatopoulos in Godzilla and David Lightman in WarGames. He voiced Simba in The Lion King and The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. He also voiced Tack the...
) in a phone booth says he is in Colorado, the mountain in the background is Whitehorse Mountain.
External links