West Seattle (Images of America)

The idea of a big city named New York Alki began in 1851 with the arrival of the Bell, Low, Denny, Boren, and Terry families on a Puget Sound shore. Since that rough beginning, logging, farming, shipbuilding, fishing, steel manufacturing, trolleys, and bridges have shaped the area’s people and built communities. Beaches on Puget Sound and a river leading inside the country have defined the Duwamish Peninsula. In 1907, long having discarded the misfit name New York, the town of West Seattle was annexed into Seattle. Being the largest landmass annexed to Seattle brought advantages while West Seattle’s neighborhood distinction and independent spirit remained.