Westport, Washington facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Westport, Washington
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The marina district of Westport, looking east from the Westport Viewing Tower
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| Nickname(s):
Salmon Capital of the World
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Location of Westport, Washington
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| Country | United States |
| State | Washington |
| County | Grays Harbor |
| Founded | 1857 |
| Incorporated | June 26, 1914 |
| Government | |
| • Type | Mayor–council |
| Area | |
| • Total | 5.94 sq mi (15.38 km2) |
| • Land | 3.69 sq mi (9.56 km2) |
| • Water | 2.25 sq mi (5.83 km2) |
| Elevation | 23 ft (7 m) |
| Population
(2020)
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| • Total | 2,213 |
| • Density | 569.11/sq mi (219.76/km2) |
| Demonym(s) | Westportarican |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific (PST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (PDT) |
| ZIP code |
98595
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| Area code(s) | 360 |
| FIPS code | 53-77630 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1531536 |
Westport is a city in Grays Harbor County, Washington, United States. It had a population of 2,213 at the 2020 census. Westport is located on a peninsula on the south side of the entrance to Grays Harbor from the Pacific Ocean.
The public Westport Marina is the largest marina on the outer coast of the United States's Pacific Northwest. The marina is home to a large commercial fishing fleet and several recreational charter fishing vessels. A summer-only passenger ferry, discontinued in 2008, previously connected the town to Ocean Shores, across the mouth of the harbor to the north. It is home to the Washington Tuna Classic ,which happens each August.
History
Westport was officially incorporated on June 26, 1914. Names for the area in the past include Peterson's Point, Chehalis City, and Fort Chehalis. The latter name is for a U.S. Army fort established in 1860 before the town was founded. The area was used regularly during the summer by local Native American tribes (most likely the Shoalwater Bay tribe) before Thomas Barker Speake and his family arrived early in the summer of 1857. Westport is also the home to a station for the US Coast Guard. In 2015, the Ocosta School District became the first to build a publicly funded vertical tsunami shelter, located at Ocosta Elementary School.
Geography
Westport is located at 46°53′27″N 124°6′36″W / 46.89083°N 124.11000°W (46.890803, -124.109926). It is the westernmost "Westport" in the world, the nearest competitor being in California, less than a degree east.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.50 square miles (11.65 km2), of which, 3.70 square miles (9.58 km2) is land and 0.80 square miles (2.07 km2) is water.
A weather station in Grayland, a community just south of Westport, has recorded conditions in the area going back to 1948. The area is generally mild and wet, with November through January having especially high levels of rainfall (averaging over 10 inches or 250 millimetres for each of those months) and little or no snow. (See Grayland, Washington for climate data.)
Demographics
| Historical population | |||
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| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1920 | 114 | — | |
| 1930 | 272 | 138.6% | |
| 1940 | 443 | 62.9% | |
| 1950 | 731 | 65.0% | |
| 1960 | 976 | 33.5% | |
| 1970 | 1,364 | 39.8% | |
| 1980 | 1,954 | 43.3% | |
| 1990 | 1,892 | −3.2% | |
| 2000 | 2,137 | 12.9% | |
| 2010 | 2,099 | −1.8% | |
| 2020 | 2,213 | 5.4% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census 2020 Census |
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2010 census
At the 2010 census there were 2,099 people, 999 households, and 527 families living in the city. The population density was 567.3 inhabitants per square mile (219.0/km2). There were 1,561 housing units at an average density of 421.9 per square mile (162.9/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 87.0% White, 0.9% African American, 2.9% Native American, 1.1% Asian, 4.5% from other races, and 3.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.3%.
Of the 999 households 21.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.4% were married couples living together, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.4% had a male householder with no wife present, and 47.2% were non-families. 38.2% of households were one person and 16.2% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.10 and the average family size was 2.72.
The median age was 48.4 years. 18.8% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 19.8% were from 25 to 44; 32.9% were from 45 to 64; and 21.3% were 65 or older. The gender makeup of the city was 50.7% male and 49.3% female.
Marina
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Marina at Westport, Washington
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A typical fishing boat returning to the Westport Marina
Novelist and screenwriter Raymond Chandler on Westport, Washington, circa 1936:
An hour’s fast driving [from Olympia, Washington] through thinned-out timber…brought me within sound of surf. The broad white road, striped with yellow down the center, swept around the flank of a hill, a distant cluster of buildings loomed up in front of the shine of the ocean, and the road forked. The left fork was posted: “Westport – 9 miles”, and didn’t go towards the buildings. It crossed a rusty cantilever bridge and plunged into a region of wind-distorted apple orchards.
Twenty minutes more and I chugged into Westport, a sandy spit of land with scattered frame houses dotted over rising ground behind it. The end of the spit was a long narrow pier and the end of the pier a cluster of sailing boats with half-lowered sails flapping against their single masts. And beyond them a buoyed channel and a long irregular line where the water creamed on a hidden sandbar.
Beyond the sandbar the Pacific rolled over to Japan. This was the last outpost of the coast, the farthest west a man could go and still be on the mainland of the United States...
Images for kids
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The observation tower at Westport
See also
In Spanish: Westport (Washington) para niños
