Queen Anne is a neighborhood in northwestern Seattle, Washington. Queen Anne covers an area of , and has a population of about 34,000. It is bordered by Belltown to the south, Lake Union to the east, the Lake Washington Ship Canal to the north and Interbay to the west.

The neighborhood is built on a hill, now named Queen Anne Hill, which became a popular spot for the city's early economic and cultural elite to build their mansions. Its name is derived from the Queen Anne architectural style in which many of the early homes were built.

Geography and history

Location and borders

Queen Anne is bounded on the north by the Fremont Cut of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, beyond which is Fremont; on the west by 15th and Elliott Avenues West, beyond which is Interbay, Magnolia, and Elliott Bay; on the east by Lake Union and Aurora Avenue North, beyond which is Westlake. As a neighborhood toponym, Queen Anne may include Lower Queen Anne, also known as Uptown, the area at the southern base of the hill, just north and west of Seattle Center. Whether or not Lower Queen Anne is considered a separate neighborhood matters in setting Queen Anne's southern boundary, which is either West Mercer Street or Denny Way.Seattle City Clerk's Neighborhood Map Atlas – Queen Anne. Retrieved March 6, 2011.

Queen Anne can be reached from Interstate 5 via the Mercer Street Exit (Exit 167). The neighborhood's main thoroughfares are Gilman Drive West, 3rd Avenue West, Queen Anne Avenue North, Boston Street, and a set of streets, collectively known as Queen Anne Boulevard, that loop around the crown of the hill and reflect a comprehensive boulevard design in the style of the Olmsted Brothers architectural firm. The design was never fully executed, but it remains part of the Seattle Parks System.Queen Anne Boulevard. Seattle Parks and Recreation. Retrieved March 5, 2011.

While Queen Anne stands out in Seattle geography due to its proximity to downtown and three television broadcast towers, the highest point in the city, above sea level, is in West Seattle. Queen Anne slopes are home to seven of the twenty steepest streets in the cityHighest Elevations in Seattle. Seattle Department of Transportation. Retrieved March 5, 2011. and 120 pedestrian staircases.Dorpat, Paul. "Stair Struck". The Seattle Times. May 25, 2008.

Demographics

Including the sub-neighborhoods of North Queen Anne, West Queen Anne, East Queen Anne and Lower Queen Anne (or Uptown), Queen Anne has approximately 19,000 households and a total population of about 36,000.Total Population and Households – King County Census Tracts 59/60/67/68/69/70/71 – U.S. Census website . United States Census Bureau. Retrieved April 29, 2013. Queen Anne is disproportionately populated by unmarried, white, young adults. The population is more racially homogeneous than Seattle as a whole.

Queen Anne98109 - Fact Sheet - U.S. Census website and 98119 - Fact Sheet - U.S. Census website . United States Census Bureau. Retrieved April 29, 2013. SeattleSeattle, Washington - QuickFacts . United States Census Bureau. Retrieved April 29, 2013.WashingtonWashington - QuickFacts . United States Census Bureau. Retrieved April 29, 2013. United StatesUnited States QuickFacts . United States Census Bureau. Retrieved April 29, 2013. Population density 5000/km2 2800/km2 39/km2 34/km2 Male / female 49% / 51% 50% / 50% 50% / 50% 49% / 51% Under age 18 9% 15% 24% 24% Over age 65 10% 11% 12% 13% Median age 33.9 36.1 37.3 37.2 Foreign born 9% 18% 13% 13% White race 83% 70% 77% 78% High school or higher 98% 92% 90% 85% Bachelor's degree or higher 67% 56% 31% 28% Married 37% 40% 52% 50% Average household size 1.7 2.1 2.5 2.6 Renter / homeowner 63% / 37% 52% / 48% 36% / 64% 34% / 66% Living in same house over 1-year 70% 77% 82% 85% Median household income $64,000 $62,000 $59,000 $53,000 Note: Education statistics are for population 25 years and older. Marital statistics are for population 15 years and older. All data are from 2010 census or American Community Survey.

Significant events The Vashon Glacier carved Queen Anne Hill's topography more than 13,000 years ago, and human habitation in the area began some 3000 years ago. When white settlers arrived in the mid-19th century, the Duwamish tribe maintained a seasonal presence in and around Queen Anne.Wilma, David. Seattle Neighborhoods: Queen Anne Hill -- Thumbnail History. HistoryLink. June 28, 2001.

White settlement of Queen Anne stemmed from the arrival of the Denny Party at West Seattles Alki Point in November 1851. In 1853, David Denny staked a claim to of land the Duwamish called baba'kwoh, prairies, known today as Lower Queen Anne, and bounded by Elliott Bay to the west, Lake Union to the east, Mercer Street to the north, and Denny Way to the south. Denny called the area "Potlach Meadows". Development of the hill, called at various times North Seattle, Galer Hill, and Eden Hill, was slow. Then an 1875 windstorm flattened thousands of trees on Queen Anne, making the previously dense forest more appealing for settlement. The hill began to be called "Queen Anne" by 1885, after the Queen Anne style houses that dominated the area.Hennes, John. Why Is Our Community Named Queen Anne? Queen Anne Historical Society, June 13, 2001. The arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway (1883) and the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway (1887), the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, and the opening of three cable car lines to the top of the hill starting in 1890, including the Queen Anne Counterbalance, further encouraged residential and business development.

The 1917 opening of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, and the Fremont and Ballard Bridges over it, made the area more appealing for maritime and timber industries, and connected Queen Anne with communities to the north. On the south side of the hill, the 1927 completion of a Civic Center (with auditorium, ice arena and football field) on David Denny's Potlach Meadows land brought residents from all over the city to Queen Anne for concerts and sporting events.

The first television broadcast in the Pacific Northwest originated from the hill in November 1948, when KRSC-TV (now KING-TV) signed-on from its transmitting tower at Third Avenue North and Galer Street. KOMO-TV installed its own tower nearby, on Galer Street and Orange Place North, and began operations from there in December 1953, and KIRO-TV went on the air in February 1958 from a tower adjacent to its original studios on Queen Anne Avenue.

"The 1962 Seattle World's Fair was perhaps the most transformational single event in the history of Queen Anne", according to historians Florence K. Lentz and Mimi Sheridan. Named the Century 21 Exposition, the fair expanded on existing Civic Center infrastructure on the old baba'kwoh swale. After the fair, the grounds became the Seattle Center, home to the Space Needle, Pacific Science Center, Experience Music Project, Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, the north terminal of the Seattle monorail and KeyArena.Lentz, Florence K. and Mimi Sheridan, Queen Anne Historic Context Statement . Prepared for the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, Historic Preservation Program and the Queen Anne Historical Society, October 2005.

The Seattle SuperSonics began playing at the then-Seattle Center Coliseum in 1967. The Seattle Thunderbirds hockey team began play next door at the Mercer Street Arena in 1977. The Seattle Storm basketball team began play at KeyArena in 2000.

As late as 1964, the area had a large enough population of families with children to motivate opening McClure Middle School, but by 1981 a decline in such families led the school system to close Queen Anne High School, North Queen Anne Elementary School, and West Queen Anne Elementary School.

Assistant United States Attorney Thomas C. Wales was shot in his home in the Queen Anne neighborhood on October 11, 2001, dying the next day of his wounds. The murder remains unsolved.Thomas C. Wales foundation.

Landmarks

Queen Anne is home to 29 official Seattle landmarks, including 12 historic houses. A group of residences on 14th Avenue West, built between 1890 and 1910, include one of the few remaining Queen Anne style houses on the hill.Wilma, Dave. Seattle Landmarks: 14th Avenue W Residences (1890–1910). HistoryLink Retrieved March 5, 2011. The North Queen Anne Drive Bridge, built in 1936 across Wolf Creek, is a parabolic steel arch bridge, declared a historic landmark for its unique engineering style.Wilma, Dave. Seattle Landmarks: Queen Anne Drive Bridge (1936). HistoryLink. Retrieved March 5, 2011. One of the oldest wooden-hulled tugboats still afloat, the Arthur Foss, is moored near the base of Queen Anne. Queen Anne Boulevard, which circles the crown of the hill, and some of the original retaining walls complete with decorative brickwork, balustrades, and street lights, are also designated landmarks.Wilma, Dave. Seattle Landmarks: West Queen Anne Walls (1913). HistoryLink. Retrieved March 5, 2011. Although not located at Queen Anne and no longer located west of present-day Seattle Center, the Denny Cabin was built by David Denny in 1889 as a real-estate office and was made from trees cut down on Queen Anne Hill.

Community services

Businesses

An stretch of Queen Anne Avenue North between West McGraw and West Galer Streets serves as the spine of the central business district. The Greater Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce is an association of neighborhood business leaders.Greater Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce. Queen Anne hosts a weekly farmers' market between June and October.Queen Anne Farmers Market.

News and information The Queen Anne News is a weekly community newspaper founded in 1919 and published by the Pacific Publishing Company.Queen Anne News. The Queen Anne ViewQueen Anne View. is a neighborhood news blog.

Schools Within the Seattle Public Schools district, Queen Anne is home to six public schools. Cascade Parent Partnership (currently operating near Greenlake while the Queen Anne building is renovated) Frantz Coe Elementary John Hay Elementary Queen Anne Elementary McClure Middle School The Center School

Two former schools, Queen Anne High School and West Queen Anne School, are on the National Register of Historic Places. Both are now condominium apartment buildings.

Queen Anne has five private schools. Queen Anne Community School St. Anne School Seattle Country Day School Seattle Waldorf High School The Downtown School, A Lakeside School

Queen Anne is served by Lincoln High School (Seattle, Washington) located in the Wallingford, Seattle neighborhood.

Seattle Pacific University, a private university founded in 1891 by the Free Methodist Church of North America, has 4000 undergraduate and graduate students on a campus on the north slope of Queen Anne.SPU Facts. Retrieved January 21, 2013.

Library

The Queen Anne branch of the Seattle Public Library is housed in a 1914 building funded by Andrew Carnegie and built in late Tudor Revival architecture style. The structure, renovated in 2007, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has been named a landmark by Seattle's Landmarks Preservation Board.Seattle Public Library – Queen Anne Branch . Seattle Public Library. Retrieved March 5, 2011.

Parks and cemeteries