50 Fun Facts About Washington State

Washington was admitted to the Union in 1889 as which numbered state?

It is the only state named after a U.S. president.

Washington Territory was almost given what name before it honoured a president?

A Kentucky congressman thought that name too close to the District of Columbia, so the territory was named for George Washington instead.

What is the capital of Washington state?

It was named the territorial capital in 1853; Seattle is the most populous city.

Washington's widely used nickname is what?

It was proposed in 1890 but, despite appearing on licence plates, has never been formally adopted.

Washington is the largest U.S. producer of which fruit?

It also leads the nation in hops, pears, blueberries and sweet cherries.

The state vegetable of Washington is which sweet onion?

The state fruit is the apple and the state song is 'Washington, My Home'.

The state tree of Washington is which conifer?

The state flower is the coast rhododendron and the state fish is the steelhead.

Washington's highest point, an active stratovolcano, is which mountain?

At over 14,400 feet it is the most heavily glaciated peak in the lower 48 states.

The state's highest peak is also known by which Native American name?

Because it could erupt near a major city, it is listed among the world's Decade Volcanoes.

On 18 May 1980, which Washington volcano erupted after the largest landslide in recorded history?

The blast killed about 57 people and dropped ash on 11 states.

About how many people were killed by the 1980 volcanic eruption?

Among the dead was Harry R. Truman, an innkeeper who had refused to leave his home near Spirit Lake.

The Space Needle was built for which event?

The design blends a napkin sketch of a tethered balloon with an architect's flying-saucer restaurant.

The Space Needle stands how tall?

It was once the tallest building west of the Mississippi and is built to withstand 200 mph winds.

Which company was founded in Seattle in 1916 by a lumber industrialist?

William Boeing's original firm was called the Pacific Aero Products Company.

Microsoft, headquartered in Redmond since 1986, was founded in 1975 in which city?

Gates and Allen started it to sell a BASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800, then moved home to Washington.

Jeff Bezos first named the company that became Amazon what?

He renamed it Amazon later in 1994 after relocating from New York to Bellevue.

Starbucks opened its first store in 1971 at which Seattle landmark?

The founders took the name Starbuck from the first mate in Moby-Dick.

Seattle's historic public farmers' market, home to the first Starbucks, opened in which year?

Its founding goal was to let shoppers 'meet the producer' directly.

The Grand Coulee Dam holds what national distinction?

It was completed on the Columbia River in 1942.

The Hanford Site in eastern Washington produced plutonium for which World War II bomb?

Its B Reactor was the first full-scale plutonium production reactor in the world.

The 1859 'Pig War' between the U.S. and Britain was a bloodless standoff over which archipelago?

The only casualty was a pig shot by an American farmer while eating his potatoes.

The Great Seattle Fire of 1889 was started by an overheated pot of what?

It destroyed the entire central business district and reshaped the Pioneer Square neighbourhood.

The first Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which collapsed in 1940, was nicknamed what?

It fell apart in a 40 mph wind just four months after opening, undone by aeroelastic flutter.

The only living casualty of the Tacoma Narrows collapse was what?

The dog was trapped in an abandoned car as the deck twisted apart.

Which Seattle-born guitarist headlined the Woodstock festival in 1969?

He was born in Seattle in 1942.

The band Nirvana, pioneers of grunge, formed in 1987 in which Washington town?

Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic released their first album, Bleach, on Seattle's Sub Pop label in 1989.

Which Seattle prep academy did Bill Gates attend, meeting his future Microsoft co-founder there?

He befriended Paul Allen there and later dropped out of Harvard to start Microsoft.

The Seattle Seahawks joined the NFL in which year?

Their fans, the '12s', twice set the Guinness record for loudest crowd noise during the 2013 season.

Which Seattle Mariner got a record 99.32% of the vote for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2016?

He had been the first overall pick of the 1987 draft.

David Lynch's TV series Twin Peaks was shot in and around which Washington town?

The Salish Lodge above Snoqualmie Falls stood in for the Great Northern Hotel.

The 1993 film Sleepless in Seattle starred Tom Hanks and which actress?

The plot turns on a boy calling a radio show to find his widowed father a new wife.

The Twilight novels and films are set in which real, very rainy Washington town?

The former 'Logging Capital of the World' reinvented itself as a tourist stop for fans.

The Bavarian-themed village of Leavenworth remade its town centre starting in which decade?

Two Seattle businessmen who bought a failing cafe came up with the alpine-theme idea to save the town.

Puget Sound is part of which larger body of water, named in 2009?

It is the second-largest estuary in the United States, after Chesapeake Bay.

Puget Sound was named by George Vancouver in 1792 for Peter Puget, who held what rank?

Puget was a Huguenot officer on Vancouver's expedition.

Washington State Ferries holds what distinction?

The state took over the routes from a private near-monopoly in 1951.

Washington's largest river begins its 1,243-mile journey in which country?

It rises in the Rocky Mountain Trench of British Columbia before flowing into Washington.

The giant tunnel boring machine that dug Seattle's downtown highway tunnel was named what?

The name honours Bertha Knight Landes, Seattle's first female mayor, and was picked by schoolchildren.

Spokane, Washington's second-largest city, hosted which 1974 event?

The fair, Expo '74, left behind the city's Riverfront Park.

Eastern Washington's onion-and-wine city takes its name from a Nez Perce phrase meaning what?

The nearby Whitman Mission was the site of an 1847 massacre.

Olympic National Park protects rainforests, alpine meadows and what third landscape?

Theodore Roosevelt first protected the area as a national monument in 1909.

Washington shares an international border with which Canadian province?

It borders Oregon to the south and Idaho to the east.

Which dry, semi-arid part of the state became known for wheat grown with dry-farming techniques?

The same eastern region, in the Yakima Valley, became famous for apple orchards.

The ancient skeleton known as Kennewick Man, found in Washington in 1996, is roughly how old?

Radiocarbon dating put the remains at 8,400 to 8,690 years old, among the oldest and most complete found in North America.

Which Spanish captain made the first recorded European landing on the Washington coast, in 1775?

Landing at Point Grenville aboard the Santiago, he claimed the coast up to Prince William Sound for Spain.

Which Black pioneer led four families north in 1846 to found New Market, now Tumwater?

He and his wife Isabella settled north of the Columbia to escape Oregon's black exclusion law.

Which president signed the law creating Washington Territory on March 2, 1853?

The territory initially stretched east to include the Idaho panhandle and parts of western Montana.

What is the highest temperature ever recorded in Washington, set at Hanford in June 2021?

The state low of -48 °F was set at Winthrop and Mazama; both records fall east of the Cascades.

How many counties does Washington have?

They contain 281 incorporated municipalities; most residents live in Western Washington around Seattle.

Washington ranks third in US wine production behind California and which other state?

The state produced 25.7 million gallons in 2024 and exports to more than forty countries.