Washington |
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| Capital: Olympia | Entered the Union: Nov. 11, 1889 (42) | |
| Origin of Name: In honor of President George Washington | ||
| State Motto: Al-Ki (Indian word meaning “by and by”) | ||
| State Nickname: Evergreen State | ||
| State Tree: Western Hemlock | State Bird: Willow Goldfinch | |
| Marine Mammal: Orca | State Flower: Coast Rhododendron | |
| State Fruit: Apple | State Song "Washington, My Home" | |
| National Forests: 6 • State Parks: 140 | ||
| Famous For: Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, the Space Needle, National Parks, apples | ||
| Famous Washingtonians: Bob Barker (TV host), Ray Charles (singer/musician), Fred Couples (golf), Bing Crosby (actor/singer), Bill Gates (Microsoft Founder), Jimi Hendrix (guitarist), Quincy Jones (music producer), Gary Larson (cartoonist), Kenny Loggins (singer), Steve Miller (musician), Ahmad Rashad (football & TV host), Chief Seattle (Suquamish), Adam West (actor) | ||
| Native Animals and Birds: Click on photos of the animals and birds on this page to find out more about them and to hear the sounds they make. | ||
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| Many Native American tribes lived in the Washington region. The Chinook, Nisqually, Quinault, and Puyallup lived west of the Cascades, hunted deer and fished for salmon and clams. The Cayuse, Colville, Spokane, and Nez Percé, lived east of the Cascades on the plains and valleys. | |||||||||||||||||||
| As part of the vast Oregon Country, Washington territory was visited by Spanish, American, and British explorers—Bruno Heceta for Spain in 1775, the American Capt. Robert Gray in 1792, and Capt. George Vancouver for Britain in 1792–1794. Lewis and Clark explored the Columbia River region and coastal areas for the U.S. in 1805–1806. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Rival American and British settlers and conflicting territorial claims threatened war in the early 1840s. However, in 1846 the Oregon Treaty set the boundary at the 49th parallel and war was averted. | |||||||||||||||||||
| The first settlement in Washington was New Market (now known as Tumwater) in 1846. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Washington is the only state named for a president. It was nicknamed “The Evergreen State” by C.T. Conover, pioneer Seattle realtor and historian, for its abundant evergreen forests. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Captain George Vancouver discovered Puget Sound in 1792. | |||||||||||||||||||
| On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helen's erupted resulting in 57 deaths and billions of dollars in damage. Mt. St. Helen's lost 1,131 feet of elevation in the eruption and spewed forth about one cubic mile of dust, ash and debris. The blast leveled over four billion feet of timber -- enough to build 150,000 homes. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Washington is home to Boeing, the world's largest aircraft maker. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Everett is the site of the world's largest building, Boeing's final assembly plant. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Microsoft Corporation is located in Redmond. Its co-founder, Bill Gates, is one of the world's wealthiest people. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Starbucks, the biggest coffee chain in the world was founded in Seattle. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Washington is number one in the country in the production of apples, pears, red raspberries, spearmint oil, and sweet cherries. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Washington has over 1,000 dams. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Up to 5,000 wild horses roam the Yakima Indian Reservation. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Seattle was the first city in the US to play a Beatles song on the radio. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Washington produces more apples than any other state. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Medina is the home of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, long one of the wealthiest Americans. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Spokane was the smallest city in size to host a World's Fair in 1974. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Washington is home to four of the five longest floating bridges in the world: the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge and Homer M. Hadley Bridge over Lake Washington, and the Hood Canal Bridge connecting the Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas. | |||||||||||||||||||
| The world's first soft-serve ice cream machine was located in an Olympia Dairy Queen. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Starbucks, the biggest coffee chain in the world was founded in Seattle. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Seattle was the first city in the world to pump Muzak into stores and offices. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Seattle was the first American city to put police on bicycles. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Seattle's houseboat population is the largest east of the Orient. | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Lunar Rover, the vehicle used by astronauts on the moon was made by Boeing based in Seattle. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Hells Canyon is the deepest gorge in North America at 5,000 feet deep. | |||||||||||||||||||
| The forests of the Olympic Peninsula are among the rainiest places in the world and the only rainforests in the continental United States. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Eighty percent of the glacial ice in the U.S is found in Washington State. | |||||||||||||||||||
| There are over 40,000 miles of rivers and streams and more than 8,000 lakes in Washington. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Seattle has the country's highest percentage rate of residents with a college degree. | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Washington State Ferry System is the largest Ferry System in the US and the state's number one tourist attraction. | |||||||||||||||||||
| At low tide, there can be up to 786 islands in the Puget Sound. The islands are served by the largest ferry fleet in the United States. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Washington is a leading lumber producer. Its rugged surface is rich in stands of Douglas fir, hemlock, ponderosa and white pine, spruce, larch, and cedar. | |||||||||||||||||||
| By the turn of the 20th century, Aberdeen had the distinction of being "the roughest town west of the Mississippi" because of excessive gambling, violence, extreme drug use and prostitution (the city remained off-limits to military personnel into the early 1980s). | |||||||||||||||||||
| The percentage of non-religious people in Washington is the highest of any state, and church membership is among the lowest of all states. | |||||||||||||||||||
| The Grand Coulee Dam is the largest dam in the United States. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Washington is home to many innovative Internet companies, including Amazon.com, Classmates.com, Whitepages.com, and Marchex. | |||||||||||||||||||
| The state of Washington is one of only nine states that does not levy a personal income tax. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Religion in Washington: 60% Christian (29% Protestant, 20% Catholic, 11% other Christian), No Religion 25%, Other Religions 5%, LDS 3% | |||||||||||||||||||
| Washington's Ethnic Roots: German 18.7%, English 12%, Irish 11.4%, Norwegian 6.2%, Mexican 5.6%, Filipino 3.7%. | |||||||||||||||||||
At a Glance
Washington Quick Facts
| Entered the Union | Nov. 11, 1889 (42) |
|---|---|
| Capital | Olympia |
| Nickname | Evergreen State |
| State Bird | Willow Goldfinch |
| State Flower | Coast Rhododendron |
| State Tree | Western Hemlock |
New for 2026
More Washington Facts & Photos
At the end of the last Ice Age, floods bursting from Glacial Lake Missoula roared across central Washington and poured over Dry Falls, a rock face 3.5 miles wide and about 400 feet high. Geologists consider it the largest known waterfall that ever existed, once carrying many times the flow of all the world's rivers combined, though today it stands dry.
Palouse Falls became the official state waterfall of Washington in 2014, after fourth and fifth graders from Washtucna Elementary lobbied the legislature. The falls plunge about 200 feet through a canyon carved by the same Ice Age floods.
Washington named the Columbian mammoth its official state fossil in 1998, following a four-year campaign by elementary school students. The Ice Age giant stood up to 12 feet tall at the shoulder, and its fossil remains have turned up around the state, including the Olympic Peninsula.
The Olympic marmot lives nowhere on Earth except Washington's Olympic Peninsula, most of it inside Olympic National Park. In 2009 the state made it the official endemic mammal of Washington, again at the urging of schoolchildren.
Lake Chelan, a narrow glacial lake stretching more than 50 miles into the North Cascades, reaches 1,486 feet deep. That makes it the third deepest lake in the United States, after Crater Lake and Lake Tahoe.
Voices of America
In Their Own Words
George Washington
"It's the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and to humbly implore his protection and favor."
(1789)
President
George Washington
"The Hand of providence has been so conspicuous in all this, that he must be worse than an infidel that lacks faith, and more than wicked, that has not gratitude enough to acknowledge his obligations."
Letter to Brig. Gen. Thomas Nelson August 20, 1778
President
George Washington
"The propitious smiles of heaven cannot be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which heaven itself has ordained."
Inaugural Address 1789
President
George Washington
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports."Farewell Address
President
George Washington
“Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness."
President
Thomas Jefferson
“Of all systems of morality, ancient or modern, which have come under my observation, none appear to be so pure as that of Jesus."
to William Canby 1813
President
Abraham Lincoln
“We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which... multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us."
Thanksgiving Proclamation 1863
President
Last updated: July 2026