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Topic: Government & Politics

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Wanamaker, Pearl Anderson (1899-1984)

Pearl Wanamaker was a long-serving Superintendent of Public Instruction (1941-1957), whose years in the non-partisan office addressed World War II educational and vocational demands, and managed the b...

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Wappenstein, Charles W. (1853-1931)

Charles "Wappy" Wappenstein was a colorful character who was twice Seattle's chief of police (from 1906-1907 and from 1910-1911) and served as a member of the Seattle police force for a much longer pe...

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Warbass, Edward (1825-1906)

"A Pioneer of Three States -- Adventurer, Prospector, Miner, Trader, Explorer, Promoter, Soldier and Public Official," was how Edward Warbass was once described ("San Juan's Best Known Pioneer"). He c...

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Washington State Grange

The Washington State Grange was founded on September 10, 1889, at the Pioneer Store in La Camas (now Camas), Clark County, spurred in part by objections to the proposed state constitution that had jus...

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Washington State Library

The Washington State Library was established by the organic act which created Washington Territory in 1853, and it has served as the official library for state government since Washington gained state...

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Washington State Politics -- Its Past, Present, and Utterly Unpredictable Future

On May 24, 2002, Walt Crowley delivered the following historical "primer" on Washington state politics to the Western States Caucus of the Democratic National Committee held in Seattle. The talk revie...

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Washington State Taxation

Washington's tax system, as in all states, is a contentious arena in which politicians, businesspeople, workers, parents, property owners, and educators wrestle over their share of taxes. Washington h...

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Washington Territory and Washington State, Founding of

Soon after the creation of Oregon Territory in 1848, settlers north of the Columbia River began demanding a territory of their own. Congress acquiesced on February 8, 1853, with the creation of Washin...

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Wastewater Treatment and the Duwamish River

The Duwamish River, located in King County, has borne the burden of municipal and regional development over the past century. Its channel straightened and dredged, tributaries rerouted, and floodwater...

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West Coast Waterfront Strike of 1934

Along with every other major West Coast port, Seattle's harbor was paralyzed from May 9 to July 31, 1934, by one of the most important and bitter labor strikes of the twentieth century. The struggle p...

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West, Jim (1951-2006)

Jim West was a Washington State Senate majority leader, a Washington State Senate minority leader, and served as mayor of Spokane from 2003 to 2005. At age 28 he became the youngest person ever electe...

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White River Valley (King County) -- Thumbnail History

Since the mid-nineteenth-century arrival of non-Indian settlers in the White River Valley (also known as the Green River Valley), the White and Green rivers have undergone many changes. Annual floods ...

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Whitebear, Bernie (1937-2000)

Native American leader Bernie Whitebear guided the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation, which provided social services to Native Americans. He ran the foundation for 30 years. He was famous for le...

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Williams, Jeanette (1914-2008)

Alice Jeanette Williams had a long and productive career as a political force in Seattle. She was the first woman chair of the King County Democrats and a 20-year member of the Seattle City Council (1...

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Williams, W. Walter (1894-1983)

W. Walter Williams led the Seattle-based Continental Mortgage for nearly half a century, guiding the business from modest beginnings in the University District to its ranking as one of the top mortgag...

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Williams, Walter B. (1921-2006)

Walter B. Williams, son of W. Walter Williams (1894-1983), not only assumed leadership of Seattle's Continental Mortgage from his father, continuing to grow and strengthen the firm through the 1990s, ...

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Wineberry, Jesse Calvin (b. 1955)

Jesse Wineberry served five terms in the Washington State House of Representatives from 1985 to 1995. He was first elected at age 29 while still attending law school. He later became the state's first...

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Wojahn, R. Lorraine Kendall (1920-2012)

Describing herself as a moderate Democrat, a social liberal, and a practical feminist, R. Lorraine Wojahn of Tacoma was a powerful Washington state legislator for 32 years. She served in the House of ...

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Woman Suffrage Campaign -- Snohomish County (1909-1910)

Grassroots organizing was critical to the 1910 campaign for Washington women's suffrage and Snohomish County played an important part in the event. Most prominent was journalist Missouri Hanna (1856-1...

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Woman Suffrage Crusade, 1848-1920

Washington women won the vote in 1883, then lost it in 1888. They reclaimed the right to vote in 1910, breaking a 14-year gridlock in the national crusade for woman suffrage and making Washington stat...

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Wood, William D. (1858-1917)

William D. Wood, an attorney, land speculator, electric trolley line president, and Seattle mayor, was a conspicuous figure in the business and political life of Seattle for more than a quarter centur...

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Woodward, Walter (1910-2001)

In this People's History Gerald Elfendahl of Bainbridge Island remembers the Bainbridge Island journalist and defender of human rights Walter C. Woodward Jr. (1910-2001). Woodward was an exemplary jou...

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Workmen's Circle, Seattle Branch

Eastern European Jews formed the Seattle branch of the Workmen's Circle in 1909. Known as the Arbeiter Ring in Yiddish, the Workmen's Circle was officially a socialist worker's organization but served...

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WTO Meeting and Protests in Seattle (1999) -- Part 1

The Third Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), held in Seattle from November 30 to December 3, 1999, brought together trade ministers and other officials from the WTO's 135 me...

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