On September 29, 2002, Gertrude Murphy (1903-2002) dies at the age of 99. She was the last resident of Lester, a small community located along the upper Green River, near Stampede Pass.
On November 1, 2002, King County Executive Ron Sims announces that, due to budget cuts, 24 county parks are scheduled for closure today. Five of these parks are to remain closed unless ownership is tr...
On November 5, 2002, the Chief Seattle Council, Boy Scouts of America, revokes the membership of Assistant Scoutmaster Darrell Lambert, who had declared himself an atheist. Lambert is an Eagle Scout a...
On November 5, 2002, Washington voters soundly reject the state Legislature's Referendum 51 transportation plan and gas-tax increase while narrowly approving Tim Eyman's Initiative 776, which caps sta...
On November 15, 2002, state Senator Jim West (1951-2006) from Spokane is named Senate majority leader. In the previous session, West had been the Senate minority leader, but in the fall elections the ...
On December 13, 2002, the United States Army Corps of Engineers issues to the Port of Seattle a 404 Permit to begin filling wetlands within the area designated for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport...
On February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia breaks up over Texas during its return to Cape Kennedy from a 16-day scientific mission in orbit. All seven astronauts aboard perish, including pilot US...
On February 15, 2003, thousands of citizens join an enormous march from Seattle Center to the International District to protest plans for war against Iraq. Estimates of the number of Seattle participa...
On March 4, 2003, the City of Pasco apologizes to artists Sharon Rupp and Janette Hopper, the culmination of lawsuit brought by the artists after their works submitted for display at Pasco City Hall a...
On March 16, 2003, at approximately 4:45 p.m., an Israeli army bulldozer runs over Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old peace activist with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), who stood in the way of...
On March 31, 2003, Spokane Valley instantly becomes the state's ninth largest city when incorporation becomes official. The new city, which encompasses a number of communities and districts between Sp...
On April 19, 2003, a new headstone is dedicated atop the grave of David S. "Doc" Maynard (1808-1873) at Seattle's Lake View Cemetery. Efforts to replace the old stone, which had become weathered over ...
On April 16, 2003, the Monorail, the popular elevated train built for the 1962 World's Fair, is designated as an official Historic Landmark by a unanimous vote of the Seattle Landmarks Preservation Bo...
On April 22, 2003, an enormous century-old barn and a privy built inside a hollowed-out cedar stump, both located in Berthusen Park three miles northwest of Lynden in Whatcom County near the Canadian ...
On May 22, 2003, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson (1945-2005) premieres his autobiographical solo show, How I Learned What I Learned, at the Seattle Repertory Theatre. It is Wilson's on...
On May 28, 2003, the City of Longview, in Cowlitz County, dedicates the Weyerhaeuser Centennial Bridge. Also called the Centennial Garden Pedestrian Bridge, the wooden structure connects a small islan...
On May 31, 2003, The Seattle Public Library's new Capitol Hill Branch opens to the public. The $5 million building replaces the Susan Henry Branch Library, which was built in 1954, at 425 Harvard Aven...
On June 28, 2003, the new Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, home to the Pacific Northwest Ballet and the Seattle Opera, opens for its first performances with a gala party. McCaw Hall is the latest incarnation...
In 2003, Washington State has its driest summer since record keeping began in 1895. A persistent ridge of high pressure stays off the pacific coast all summer, preventing storms from coming ashore. Th...
On August 16, 2003, workers building a graving dock for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) near Ediz Hook in Port Angeles uncover a shell midden. Discovery of the refuse pile, a...
On August 22, 2003, Sound Transit's Tacoma Link, the state's first modern light rail system, has its inaugural run in downtown Tacoma. The line is 1.6 miles long and runs from South 9th Street in the ...
On Friday afternoon, August 29, 2003, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels (b. 1955) presents the first annual Mayor's Arts Awards at Seattle Center as part of opening ceremonies for the city's largest arts fes...
On September 13, 2003, the ferry Kalakala is auctioned in absentia at James K. Murphy, Co. in Kenmore, after a one-day viewing of the boat at its north Lake Union moorage. The auction is held to pay o...
On November 5, 2003, Gary Leon Ridgway pleads guilty to murdering 48 women in King County between 1982 and 1998, solving the mystery of the Green River Killer. Ridgway admitted killing 42 women whom p...