Bothell, Washington

How Bothell is governed

Form of government not yet listed.

1 of 14 positions listed. Gray dashed boxes are placeholders waiting for a name.

• Mayor

  Executive

  • Mason Thompson per Wikidata

  The city's chief elected official. Presides over the executive branch, proposes the budget and represents the city.

  • City Manager / Administrator

    Executive

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    The professional administrator who runs day-to-day operations (in some cities appointed by the council instead of the mayor).

    • Police Chief

      Administration & departments

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      Leads the police department.

    • Fire Chief

      Administration & departments

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      Leads the fire and emergency services department.

    • Public Works Director

      Administration & departments

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      Streets, water, sewer, and city buildings.

    • Finance Director

      Administration & departments

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      The budget, taxes, and city accounts.

    • Planning & Zoning Director

      Administration & departments

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      Land use, zoning, building permits.

    • Parks & Recreation Director

      Administration & departments

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      Parks, programs, and public facilities.

• City Council

  Legislative

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  The elected body that passes ordinances, sets the tax rate and approves the budget.

  • City Clerk

    Administration & departments

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    Keeps the official records, runs meeting agendas and, often, local elections.

  • City Attorney

    Administration & departments

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    The city's lawyer; advises officials and prosecutes ordinance violations.

  • Boards & Commissions

    Legislative

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    Citizen advisory bodies, such as planning, zoning appeals and library boards.

• Municipal Court

  Judicial

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  Hears traffic, ordinance and other minor cases.

  • Municipal Judge

    Judicial

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    Presides over the municipal court.

Website

bothellwa.gov

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Population over time

From 30,150 in 2000 to 48,161 in 2020 (+59.7%).

History

The Sammamish River valley from Lake Washington to Issaquah Creek was first inhabited by the indigenous Sammamish people (Lushootseed: sc̓ababš), a Coast Salish group with an estimated population of 80 to 200 around 1850. The Sammamish had a major winter village, ƛ̕ax̌ʷadis, at the mouth of the Sammamish River, between what is now Bothell and Kenmore. Although the Sammamish resisted removal efforts by settlers, they were eventually removed to Fort Kitsap following the 1855–1856 Puget Sound War. Some Sammamish continued to live in the area and worked as laborers and farmers, but the village of ƛ̕ax̌ʷadis was later destroyed.

The first Homestead Act claims to modern-day Bothell were filed in 1870 by Columbus S. Greenleaf and George R. Wilson, an English immigrant, on adjoining plots of land. The area along the lower Sammamish River, then named Squak Slough, was mostly marshlands and had not been surveyed at the time of Wilson's arrival; Greenleaf filed for his claim in June 1870 on land that Wilson had originally sought. Eight families settled in the area in the next six years and were followed by Canadian businessman George Brackett, who began commercial logging in 1877 on 80 acres (32 ha) on the modern-day site of Wayne Golf Course. Brackett also established Brackett's Landing, which had a sawmill and steamboat dock served by traffic from Seattle and Issaquah.

In 1884, Brackett sold 80 acres (32 ha) of his timberland to David Bothell, a settler and American Civil War veteran from Pennsylvania. Bothell and his two sons built a home and shingle mill on the property the following year and later opened a boarding house with his wife. The boarding house was destroyed by a fire and replaced by the Bothell Hotel at another location, where the townsite was platted on April 25, 1888. The settlement was named for the Bothell family by the first postmaster Gerhard Ericksen, who had bought the boarding house property. At the time, the area had two hotels, several lumber mills, and a school. Bothell originally shared schools with Woodinville until a separate school district was established in 1885; the first classes at Bothell's schoolhouse were held in March 1886. The school district was merged with North Creek in 1897 and ten years later, a dedicated school building was constructed to accommodate the growing student population.

The Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway was constructed along the Sammamish River to connect Seattle to the transcontinental Northern Pacific Railway as well as coal from mines near Issaquah. The tracks reached Bothell in November 1888 and a boxcar was placed at Brackett's Landing to serve as a temporary station; it was moved east to Bothell in 1890 and later replaced by a depot building. A county road was built between Bothell and neighboring Woodinville to the east. Several logging railroads were also constructed in the Bothell area, stretching as far north as modern-day Canyon Park, to transport logs to local mills; one included a trestle bridge across the Sammamish River. Bothell grew rapidly following the railroad's opening; by the end of the 1880s, it had telegraph service, a general store, a butcher, and a drugstore with a practicing doctor. Many of the new residents were Scandinavian or Eastern European immigrants, along with emigrants from the Midwest. The first churches in the area were established by these immigrants in the mid-1880s. Two of the local mills were destroyed in fires in 1893 and 1894 and were later replaced with a larger facility that produced 80,000 shingles per day.

Early 20th century

Bothell was incorporated as a fourth-class town on April 14, 1909, eight days after a narrow 79–70 vote in favor. George Bothell, one of the sons of David Bothell and a former state legislator, was elected as the first mayor. At the time, the town had a population of 599 residents, a bank, four general stores, and three saloons. A dozen buildings on Main Street were destroyed or damaged by a fire on April 11, 1911, including the Ericksen general store where the town's records had been kept. A fire department was established in 1913 and new building regulations were enacted by the town government in response to the fire. The Pacific Highway was completed through the town in August 1912, connecting to Everett and Seattle. A 4-mile (6.4 km) section west of Bothell was the first to be paved in brick; it was inaugurated on May 29, 1913, by Washington governor Ernest Lister.

Steamship traffic on the Sammamish River waned after the arrival of the railroad and completion of the Pacific Highway. The river itself was dredged and straightened by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1916. The water level on Lake Washington was lowered by nine feet (2.7 m) by the opening of the Lake Washington Ship Canal in Seattle the following year; the lowering prevented several steamships and other riverboats from traversing the mouth of the Sammamish River. By the end of the decade, Bothell had a water system, telephone service, a library, and several fraternal organizations with chapters or lodges in the area. The logging economy declined during the early 20th century and was replaced by agriculture on the cleared land, including dairy and poultry farms. Passenger traffic on the railroad, now under the management of Northern Pacific, ceased in 1938.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Other cities in Washington

• Seattle 737,015
• Spokane 228,989
• Tacoma 219,346
• Vancouver 190,915
• Bellevue 151,854
• Kent 136,588
• Everett 110,629
• Renton 106,785

All Washington cities →