Queen Anne, Seattle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Queen Anne
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Seattle Neighborhood
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Queen Anne Hill as seen from the Bainbridge ferry
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Map of Queen Anne's location in Seattle
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| Elevation | 120 m (394 ft) |
| GNIS feature ID | 1512589 |
Queen Anne is a cool neighborhood in northwestern Seattle, Washington. It covers about 7.3 square kilometers (2.8 square miles) and is home to around 28,000 people. Queen Anne is surrounded 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 big hill, now called Queen Anne Hill. Long ago, rich families loved building their fancy homes here. The name "Queen Anne" comes from the special Queen Anne style of many old houses.
Discover Queen Anne Hill
Where is Queen Anne Located?
Queen Anne has clear borders. To the north is the Fremont Cut of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, with Fremont beyond it. To the west are 15th and Elliott Avenues West, leading to Interbay, Magnolia, and Elliott Bay. To the east are Lake Union and Aurora Avenue North, with Westlake on the other side.
Sometimes, the area called Lower Queen Anne (also known as Uptown) is included. This is the flat part at the bottom of the hill, near Seattle Center. Depending on if Lower Queen Anne is counted, the southern border is either West Mercer Street or Denny Way.
Getting Around Queen Anne
You can get to Queen Anne from Interstate 5 using the Mercer Street Exit. The main roads in Queen Anne are Gilman Drive West, 3rd Avenue West, Queen Anne Avenue North, and Boston Street. There's also a group of streets called Queen Anne Boulevard that loop around the top of the hill. This was meant to be a big park design, and it's still part of Seattle's Parks System.
Queen Anne Hill is easy to spot because it's close to downtown and has three TV broadcast towers. Even though it's a tall hill, the highest point in Seattle is actually in West Seattle. Queen Anne is famous for having seven of the city's steepest streets and 120 pedestrian staircases!
Who Lives in Queen Anne?
Queen Anne, including its smaller areas like North, West, East, and Lower Queen Anne, has about 19,000 homes. Around 36,000 people live here. Many people in Queen Anne are young adults who are not married. The area is mostly white, more so than Seattle as a whole.
Queen Anne's Story: Key Moments
The huge Vashon Glacier shaped Queen Anne Hill over 13,000 years ago. People have lived here for about 3,000 years. When white settlers arrived in the mid-1800s, the Duwamish tribe often stayed in the Queen Anne area during certain seasons.
White settlers came to Seattle in 1851. In 1853, David Denny claimed a large piece of land that the Duwamish people called baba'kwoh, meaning prairies. This area is now Lower Queen Anne. It was bordered by Elliott Bay, Lake Union, Mercer Street, and Denny Way. Denny called it "Potlach Meadows."
Building on the hill was slow at first. It was called North Seattle, Galer Hill, or Eden Hill. Then, in 1875, a big windstorm knocked down many trees, making the area easier to settle. By 1885, people started calling it "Queen Anne" because of the many Queen Anne style houses.
New train lines in the 1880s and the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 helped the area grow. In 1890, three cable car lines, including the Queen Anne Counterbalance, made it easier to get to the top of the hill. This helped more homes and businesses appear.
In 1917, the Lake Washington Ship Canal opened. New bridges like the Fremont and Ballard Bridges connected Queen Anne to northern communities. This also made the area good for shipping and timber businesses. In 1927, a Civic Center with an auditorium and sports fields opened in Lower Queen Anne. This brought people from all over the city for events.
The first TV broadcast in the Pacific Northwest happened from Queen Anne Hill in November 1948. KRSC-TV (now KING-TV) started broadcasting from its tower. Later, KOMO-TV and KIRO-TV also set up their towers nearby.
The 1962 World's Fair
The 1962 Seattle World's Fair was a huge event for Queen Anne. It was called the Century 21 Exposition. The fair used and expanded the existing Civic Center area. After the fair, this area became the Seattle Center. It's now home to famous places like the Space Needle, Pacific Science Center, Experience Music Project, and the Science Fiction Museum. The Seattle monorail also starts here.
Sports teams have played at Seattle Center too. The Seattle SuperSonics basketball team started playing there in 1967. The Seattle Thunderbirds hockey team began in 1977, and the Seattle Storm basketball team started in 2000.
In 1964, there were enough families with children for McClure Middle School to open. But by 1981, fewer families lived there, so Queen Anne High School and two elementary schools closed.
Famous Queen Anne Landmarks
Queen Anne has 29 official Seattle landmarks. These include 12 historic houses. Some homes on 14th Avenue West, built between 1890 and 1910, show the old Queen Anne style.
The North Queen Anne Drive Bridge, built in 1936, is a special curved steel arch bridge. It's a landmark because of its unique design. The Arthur Foss, one of the oldest wooden tugboats still floating, is docked near Queen Anne.
Queen Anne Boulevard, which goes around the top of the hill, is also a landmark. Some of its original retaining walls with fancy brickwork and street lights are protected too.
Community Life in Queen Anne
Local Businesses
A half-mile stretch of Queen Anne Avenue North is the main shopping and business area. The Greater Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce helps local businesses. Queen Anne also has a weekly farmers' market from June to October, where you can find fresh local goods.
News and Information
The Queen Anne News is a weekly newspaper that has been around since 1919. It shares news about the community. The Queen Anne View is a news blog for the neighborhood.
Schools in Queen Anne
Queen Anne has several public schools that are part of the Seattle Public Schools district:
- Cascade Parent Partnership (currently being renovated)
- Frantz Coe Elementary
- John Hay Elementary (which has had three different buildings on Queen Anne Hill)
- Queen Anne Elementary
- McClure Middle School
- The Center School
Two old schools, Queen Anne High School and West Queen Anne School, are now apartment buildings. They are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
There are also five private schools in Queen Anne:
- Queen Anne Community School
- St. Anne School
- Seattle Country Day School
- Seattle Waldorf High School
- The Downtown School, a Lakeside School
Seattle Pacific University, a private university founded in 1891, is on the north side of Queen Anne. It has about 4,000 students.
Queen Anne Library
The Queen Anne branch of the Seattle Public Library is in a beautiful building from 1914. It was paid for by Andrew Carnegie and built in a late Tudor Revival architecture style. The building was updated in 2007 and is a historic landmark.
Parks and Cemeteries
The Seattle Parks and Recreation department takes care of 24 parks in Queen Anne. Kerry Park, on Highland Drive, is small but has one of the best views of the city. You can see downtown, the Space Needle, and on clear days, Mount Rainier in the background. You can also see Elliott Bay and West Seattle.
Kinnear Park is Queen Anne's largest park, with 14.1 acres of woodland and grass. It offers views of the grain elevator at Pier 86. Rachel's Park is a playground named after a 6-year-old girl who passed away in 2000. Queen Anne Bowl has a dirt running track and a soccer field.
Bhy Kracke Park has "one of the best views in the city," a playground, and picnic areas. West Queen Anne Playfield has a community center, an indoor swimming pool, and baseball and softball fields.
Queen Anne has two cemeteries: Mount Pleasant Cemetery and Hills of Eternity Cemetery.
Famous People from Queen Anne
Many interesting people have lived in Queen Anne, including:
- Sue Bird (born 1980), a famous basketball player for the Seattle Storm. She won 4 WNBA championships and 5 Olympic gold medals.
- Alden J. Blethen (1845–1915), a newspaper publisher.
- Arthur C. Brooks (born 1964), a social scientist.
- Carlos Bulosan (1913–1956), a Filipino-American writer.
- David Denny (1832–1903), one of Seattle's co-founders.
- Robert E. Galer (1913–2005), a brave marine corps aviator.
- Hank Ketcham (1920–2001), the cartoonist who created Dennis the Menace.
- George Kinnear (1836–1912), a real estate developer who helped build Queen Anne.
- Jake Lamb (born 1990), a baseball player.
- Gary Locke (born 1950), a former governor and ambassador.
- Megan Rapinoe (born 1985), a soccer player who won two World Cups and an Olympic gold medal.
- Gerard Schwarz (born 1947), a composer and conductor.
- Edo Vanni (1918–2007), a baseball player and manager.
- Rick White (born 1953), a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
