Mukilteo, Washington
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Mukilteo (pronounced [mʌkəlˈtioʊ]) is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The population was 18,019 at the 2000 census. The name of the city derives from a Native American word meaning "Good Camping Place." It is on the shore of Puget Sound, and is the site of a major Washington State Ferries terminal linking it across the water to Clinton, on Whidbey Island.
Based on per capita income, one of the more reliable measures of affluence, Mukilteo ranks 41st of 522 areas in the state of Washington to be ranked.
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[edit] History
Though Mukilteo was officially incorporated on May 8, 1947, the city has a historic role in the development of the Puget Sound. It was at Mukilteo that the Point Elliott Treaty was signed between Governor Isaac Stevens and the chiefs of 22 Puget Sound tribes on January 22, 1855.
The treaty ceded land to the United States from Point Pully (now called Three Tree Point south of Seattle) to the British (Canadian) border in exchange for a variety of benefits, including land, education, health care and hunting and fishing rights. The treaty was signed before more than 2,500 Native Americans.
According to the Mukilteo Historical Society, the town became the first settled by Europeans in 1858 and was the county seat of Snohomish County from 1861 to 1867, when the city of Snohomish became the county seat. Initially the settlement was called Point Elliott, the name given the location by the Wilkes Expedition in 1841.
It its early years, Mukilteo was a fishing village, trading post, and a port-of-entry. Surrounding wooded hills filled with Douglas fir, cedar and hemlock supported a lumber mill and the town also had a cannery, brewery and a gunpowder plant. Traces of the powder mill remain in the name of Powder Mill Gulch, a ravine that provides rail access from the Mukilteo waterfront to the Boeing wide-body plant at Paine Field.
By 1900, the population was only 350. Then in 1901, the federal Lighthouse Board decided to put a light and fog signal at the point in Mukilteo. The lighthouse, which still stands today, was completed in 1906
Even at incorporation in 1947, almost a century after the Point Elliott Treaty, Mukilteo’s population stood at only 775. But by 1947, there was ferry service to Whidbey Island, a fuel storage facility for the Air Force on the waterfront, and a major rail line for the Great Northern Railroad along the city’s entire waterfront.
The first growth spurt for the city came with the 1980 annexation of an additional 1.2 square miles to the south along the Mukilteo Speedway or WA 525, which increased the population to 4,130 people. In 1991, the Harbour Pointe area was annexed, doubling the size of the city to 6.25 square miles. The annexation increased the city’s population to just over 10,000 and also presaged a shift from the Old Town commercial center near the ferry to new shopping and banking facilities at Harbour Pointe. With development since the Harbour Pointe annexation, the city's population has reached 19,360 (2005). The city has agreed to an urban growth area that includes approximately 15,000 additional potential residents.
The major parkland in the city is the former state park and lighthouse, next to the ferry docks. In 1954, the state acquired 17 acres of land around the lighthouse and made it into a state park, including a popular boat ramp. In 2003, the state faced a budgetary crisis and offered to cede the park to the city, which the city accepted. The city renamed the park Mukilteo Lighthouse Park and has plans for redevelopment that may ultimately spend $6 million for new facilities.
Substantial development is expected along the waterfront in the next five to 10 years, with the state planning to build a new ferry terminal east of the current location. The Mukilteo-Clinton ferry provides service for 3 million passengers per year with two ferries currently serving the run.
The transportation hub will use some of the land being turned over by the federal government on the site of the old fuel docks. Included is an $18 million terminal for Sounder commuter rail service, which currently runs from Everett to Seattle but does not stop in Mukilteo. In addition, the city and Port of Everett are working to redevelop the remaining acreage on the tank farm property for private and public use.
[edit] Harbour Pointe
Harbour Pointe is a mixed-use neighborhood at the south end of Mukilteo on land originally owned by Port Gamble Lumber Co. After cutting timber from the area, Port Gamble sold it to Standard Oil of California (now Chevron) in the 1930s, the petroleum company planning to put a refinery on the property.
When the Alaskan oil fields were developed in the 1960s, Standard Oil decided that there was adequate capacity for refining at Anacortes and dropped plans to build a refinery on the property. In a locally-published book, “Picnic Point Pathways,” author Sandy Sandborg says that the decision was probably influenced by the environmental battle that Richfield Oil Company had with its planned refinery development at Kayak Point north of Everett during the 1960s.
A parcel of 460 acres that would become Picnic Point Park, just south of the city’s border, was leased to Snohomish County in 1970. Then, in 1977, Standard Oil donated it to the county. Another 2,350 acres were purchased by Harbour Pointe Limited Partnership in the 1980s from Standard Oil. It would become the mixed-used development anchored by Harbour Pointe Golf Club, opened in September, 1989.
[edit] Education
The Mukilteo School District includes all of the city, but also a portion of south Everett and unincorporated areas to the south of the city. The district serves a population of 68,000, or more than 3 times that of the city alone. The district had more than 14,163 students in 2004-2005 and a budget of $104.7 million.
[edit] Geography
Mukilteo is located at (47.916148, -122.302939)GR1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 24.4 km² (9.4 mi²). 16.4 km² (6.3 mi²) of it is land and 8.0 km² (3.1 mi²) of it (32.84%) is water.
The city is traversed by the Southern Whidbey Island fault zone, discovered in 1996.
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 18,019 people, 6,759 households, and 4,981 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,097.3/km² (2,842.5/mi²). There were 7,146 housing units at an average density of 435.2/km² (1,127.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 82.06% White, 1.48% African American, 0.79% Native American, 10.97% Asian, 0.25% Pacific Islander, 1.13% from other races, and 3.31% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.90% of the population.
There were 6,759 households out of which 40.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.8% were married couples living together, 8.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.3% were non-families. 19.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 3.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.66 and the average family size was 3.10.
In the city the population was spread out with 28.2% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 31.4% from 25 to 44, 26.2% from 45 to 64, and 6.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 98.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $67,323, and the median income for a family was $79,487. Males had a median income of $53,880 versus $37,835 for females. The per capita income for the city was $29,134. About 2.8% of families and 3.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.0% of those under age 18 and 5.0% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Government and Politics
According to the city website, the City of Mukilteo incorporated in May 1947 and operates as a non-charter code city with a Mayor-Council form of government. The Mayor and seven City Councilmembers are part-time non-partisan elected officials who serve four-year terms. Municipal elections are held in November of odd-numbered years and terms are staggered so that no more than four positions are up for election every two years.
- Mayor: Joe Marine (next election: 2009)
- Councilmember, position 1: Kevin Stoltz (next election: 2009)
- Councilmember, position 2: Marko Liias (next election: 2009)
- Councilmember, position 3: Randy Lord (next election: 2009)
- Councilmember, position 4: Howard "Tony" Tinsley (next election: 2007)
- Councilmember, position 5: Bruce Richter (next election: 2007)
- Councilmember, position 6: Lori Kaiser (next election: 2007)
- Councilmember, position 7: Jennifer Gregerson (next election: 2007)
[edit] Past Mayors
- Emory Cole (1986-1989)
- Brian Sullivan (1990-1997)
- Don Doran (1998-2005)
[edit] Next to the Sea
Mukilteo is located adjacent to the Puget Sound, a large bay separating Washington State's large Peninsula, leading to the Pacific Ocean. Most of the community is on hillside that faces north or west towards Whidbey Island.
Though boating and fishing are popular in the area, there is only 1 boat ramp and there are no docks or marinas in the city. The Mukilteo park area and pilings near the ferry dock are popular places for local divers, due to the diversity of sea life and presence of squid.
[edit] Transportation
Mukilteo has a car ferry terminal that connects to Clinton, on Whidbey Island.
Two state highways passing through Mukilteo are SR-525 and SR-526. Within the city, SR-525 Spur connects SR-525 to SR-526 to shunt Boeing Traffic out of the downtown residential area of Mukilteo, and attempt to prevent the traffic from interfering with island bound traffic.
[edit] References
Seattle Times, "Mukilteo Annexes Harbour Pointe," Lobos, March 26, 1991
[edit] External links
- City of Mukilteo
- Future of Flight Museum (and Boeing Tour Center for wide-body factory)
- Mukilteo School District
- Mukilteo Chamber of Commerce
- Mukilteo Beacon newspaper
- Mukilteo Lighthouse Park from GoSleepGo
- Mukilteo Lighthouse Festival Association
- Mukilteo-Clinton Ferry
- Point Elliott Treaty Monument (located at Rosehill Community Center)
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
