Thursday, July 26, 2007

Where in Washington Were We?

We all know about Slaughter, Washington, changing its name to Auburn in 1893, right?

And some of you might known that Gilman changed its name to Issaquah in 1899.

But did you know that the town of Tolt changed its name to Carnation in 1917, back to Tolt in 1928, and back to Carnation again in 1951?

Or how about Yakima changing its name to Union Gap in 1905, shortly followed by North Yakima changing its name to Yakima in 1917?

How about Sehome changing to New Whatcom in 1890, merging with Whatcom later that year (but keeping the New Whatcom name), changing its name to Whatcom in 1901, then merging with Fairhaven in 1903 to form Bellingham? You knew that one, right?

And everybody fondly remembers Houghton (1947-1968), East Redmond (1956-1964), and Mercer Island Town (1960-1970). Ah, those were the days.

I suppose I could mention Ballard, Columbia, George Town, Ravenna, South Park, West Seattle, South Seattle, South-East Seattle, etc. -- but I wouldn't want to bore you by talking just about my home town.

(Information taken from MRSC.)

1 comment:

Pedicularis said...

You might enjoy the book "Washington State Place Names."