Encyclopedia
Redmond is a city in
King County,
Washington,
USA. It is situated on the eastern edge of the
Seattle urban area, in what is known as the Eastside. In 2003 the
Census Bureau estimated the city population was 46,391. Redmond is best known as the home of
Microsoft,
Nintendo of America, and Container Corporation of America. With an annual bike race on city streets and the state's only
velodrome, Redmond is also known as "the bicycle capital of the Northwest". Despite this, the city is very suburban, with its main form of transportation being the automobile. Redmond has a historic downtown with many personally owned businesses which it is connected to the modern downtown Redmond. The city has many parks and is known for its wood.
Due to its large population of highly paid tech workers, especially those of
Microsoft, Redmond is known for its affluence and high concentration of nouveau riche. Based on per capita income, one of the more reliable measures of affluence, Redmond ranks 20th of 522 areas in the state of Washington to be ranked.
History
Native Americans had settled in the Redmond area 3,000 years ago, and the first white settlers arrived in the 1870s. Luke McRedmond filed a homestead claim for land next to the
Sammamish River on September 9, 1870, and the following year Warren Perrigo took up land adjacent to him. The rivers and streams had so many
salmon that the settlement was initially named Salmonberg. More settlers came, and with the establishment of the first
post office in 1881, the name of the community was changed to Melrose. The new name was taken from the Perrigos' successful inn, Melrose House, which upset McRedmond. After becoming postmaster, he successfully petitioned to have the name changed to Redmond in 1883.
The abundant forests and fish of Redmond provided jobs for loggers and fishermen and with those jobs came demand for goods and services, bringing in merchants. The
logging industry expanded significantly with the building of a
railroad through town. The first
plat for Redmond was filed on May 11, 1891, encompassing much of the area now known as downtown. After reaching the necessary population of 300, Redmond was incorporated on December 31, 1912.
Redmond faced an economic downturn in the 1920s.
Prohibition forced saloons to close, cutting off a large portion of the city's tax base. The forests were dwindling after heavy logging, causing
lumber mills to shut down. Fortunately, the deforested land was suitable for
farming. Agriculture became Redmond's primary business, keeping residents fed during the
Great Depression. When the U.S. entered
World War II,
shipyard jobs and other wartime work came to Redmond.
After the war, Redmond's growth began in earnest. The city grew over thirty times larger in area through annexations between 1951 and 1967. The completion of the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge across
Lake Washington in 1963 allowed Redmond to flourish as a suburb of Seattle. In 1978, the
U.S. Census Bureau proclaimed Redmond the fastest growing city in the state. Many technology companies made the city their home, and the increasing population demanded more retail shops. Redmond underwent a commercial boom during the 1990s, culminating in 1997 with the opening of Redmond Town Center, a major regional shopping center on the site of a long-defunct golf course. In recent years the city has been experiencing growing pains as a result of its strong growth, mostly in the areas of urban sprawl and traffic congestion. During rush hour it can take upwards of 2 hours to travel from the beginning of SR520 at Avondale Rd. to
Downtown Seattle a mere 18 miles away. These problems are being mitigated by the expansion of SR520 and the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, as well as eventual light rail service from Seattle to Redmond during the second phase of
Sound Transit.
Geography
Redmond is bordered by
Kirkland to the west,
Bellevue to the southwest, and Sammamish to the southeast. Unincorporated King County lies to the north and east. The city is situated on the north end of
Lake Sammamish, with the
Sammamish River running through its center.
Redmond is located at .
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 42.9 kmē . 41.2 kmē of it is land and 1.7 kmē of it is water.
Government and politics
Redmond has a non-partisan mayor-council form of government, with the mayor and seven council members elected at large for staggered four-year terms. The current mayor, Rosemarie Ives, has been in office since 1992. Recently, the city council and Mayor Ives have clashed over the years, and though the parties involved deny any connection, the city council authorized a ballot measure in 2003 that would have changed Redmond to a council-manager government. However, it was rejected, receiving less than 30% of the vote.
Current officeholders
- Mayor: Rosemarie Ives of Education Hill
- Council:
- John Marchione of Education Hill
- John P. "Pat" Vaché of Education Hill
- Edward John Resha III of Education Hill
- Kimberly Allen of Education Hill
- Richard Cole of Education Hill
- Nancy McCormick of Overlake
- Jim Robinson of Grass Lawn
Redmond is also home to the Northwest Progressive Institute, a local think tank.
Education
Redmond is part of the Lake Washington School District, which also encompasses
Kirkland, Sammamish, and parts of
Woodinville. The
public schools in Redmond include nine elementary schools, three junior high schools, and
Redmond High School. Three private schools offer secondary education: the Overlake School , the Bear Creek School , and the Conservatory High School .
DigiPen Institute of Technology and the secondary campus of Lake Washington Technical College are also located in Redmond.
The city is home to Redmond Regional Library, the second-largest library in the King County Library System.
Economy
A number of companies in the high-tech industry are based in Redmond. The largest employer in the city by far is
Microsoft Corporation, with over 30,000 full-time workers and more than 8 million square feet of office space. Microsoft recently announced that it intends to expand its Redmond campus by another 1.1 million square feet at a cost of $1Billion and has said that this will create space for between 7,000 and 15,000 new employees over the next three years. This is very optimistic news for Redmond and
Puget Sound's Eastside Region, which will gain many new residents as a direct result. This also shows that, while many tech companies and economies are appearing to slow down, Redmond's economy, along with
Puget Sound's, is growing full-force, with little sign of slowing in the near future.
Other companies with headquarters in Redmond include
Nintendo of America,
Data I/O Corporation, Genie Industries, Eddie Bauer, and
Medtronic Emergency Response Systems.
Safeco Corporation, one of the city's major employers, announced in April 2005 that it would be consolidating its offices in Seattle's
University District.
Parks and recreation
Redmond has 23 developed public parks, totaling over a thousand acres . Many of these are neighborhood parks with picnic tables and sports fields or courts. Redmond's largest park is 560 acre Marymoor Park, one of the most popular in King County. It features a
climbing rock, a
model airplane flying field, a large off-leash
dog park, an outdoor theater, and a
velodrome.
The city also offers 17 miles of developed trails for hiking, bicycling, and horseback riding. The Sammamish River Trail connects to the
Burke-Gilman Trail in
Bothell and can be followed all the way to Seattle's
Ballard neighborhood.
In 2004, Redmond North
Little League won the Northwest region and participated in the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, PA. With Redmond North claiming the Northwest, it is the third team from
Washington to claim the Northwest since its inception in 2001. Previous Washington champions were Bainbridge Island , Richland .
Culture
Redmond Derby Days is an annual community festival held every July. It began as a race around
Lake Sammamish called the Redmond Bicycle Derby in 1939, and since then has become a multi-day event including a bicycle criterium, parade, carnival, and entertainment stage.
Performing arts in Redmond include the Eastside Symphony, the SecondStory Repertory theater company, and the Washington Academy of Performing Arts. Redmond has an extensive collection of high quality outdoor sculptures throughout its streets and parks, a good number of which are part of a rotating sculpture exhibition.
The Old Redmond Firehouse is a place in Redmond that was once a firehouse back some years ago. It is now converted into a teen center for local youth. It is a hub in the thriving Eastside independent music scene. Over the years, the Firehouse has seen the rise of bands like
The Blood Brothers from relative obscurity to national stardom.
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 45,256 people, 19,102 households, and 11,346 families residing in the city. The
population density was 1,099.7/kmē . There were 20,248 housing units at an average density of 492.0/kmē . The racial makeup of the city was 79.26%
White, 1.52%
African American, 0.45% Native American, 13.02% Asian, 0.18% Pacific Islander, 2.46% from
other races, and 3.11% from two or more races.
Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.61% of the population.
There were 19,102 households out of which 28.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.9% were married couples living together, 7.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.6% were non-families. 30.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.33 and the average family size was 2.95.
In the city the population was spread out with 21.5% under the age of 18, 9.5% from 18 to 24, 37.9% from 25 to 44, 21.9% from 45 to 64, and 9.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 100.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $66,735, and the median income for a family was $78,430. Males had a median income of $58,112 versus $37,200 for females. The per capita income for the city was $36,233. About 3.3% of families and 5.3% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 6.3% of those under age 18 and 6.5% of those age 65 or over.
Real Estate
In 2004 nearly 1,800 properties sold in the City of Redmond, and the following year home values went up nearly 18%.
Redmond is home to the largest church in the state, Overlake Christian Church. The so-called
megachurch moved to the city in 1997 after outgrowing its
Kirkland location. Logistical problems with traffic on Willows Road have arisen due to the number of attendees.
References
- Malowney, Georgeann . Redmond . Chicago: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-2071-3 .
- Way, Nancy . Our Town Redmond. Redmond, Washington: Marymoor Museum. ISBN 0-9624587-2-4 .
External links
