Beacon Hill & Columbia City

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Beacon Hill & Columbia City

A historic neighborhood, this is a tight-knit community, culturally diverse and proud of its urban identity. It is close to the Downtown core but has a small-town intimacy; from Mount Baker to the Columbia City’s historic business district to Seward Park, there are plenty of options when it comes to choosing your home.

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Liveability: A Transitioning Neighborhood

Amenities: Plenty of choices for dining and shopping

Commute to Downtown: 4.7 Miles

Transit Options: Link, buses 36, 107, 50, 106

Walker Score: 53

The History of Beacon Hill & Columbia City

Beacon Hill overlooks downtown Seattle from the southeast and is distinguished by the 16-story Pacific Medical Center that rises from its northern end. The ridge extends southeast from First Hill between the Duwamish River and the Rainier Valley and rises to 350 feet in elevation. As close as Beacon Hill appears to downtown Seattle, geography has worked to keep the neighborhood distinct. The ridge saw scattered settlement as early as the 1850s, but remained largely undeveloped for several more decades. Union Army veteran and real estate developer M. Harwood Young (1846-1913) named the hill in 1889 for Boston’s historic Beacon Hill and built a streetcar line connecting the neighborhood to downtown.

Columbia City, a historic neighborhood in southeast Seattle, began as a townsite developed by promoter J. K. Edmiston, who built an electric rail line from downtown Seattle through the Rainier Valley along the route now followed by Rainier Avenue. It was incorporated as an independent town in 1893 and was annexed into Seattle in 1907. Manufacturers such as the Hitt Fireworks Company and Heater Glove Company sustained the local economy until World War II, when the neighborhood became home to defense workers and Hitt Fireworks switched to military production.

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