Shoreline is a city in King County, Washington, United States. It is located between the city limits of Seattle and the Snohomish County border, approximately north of Downtown Seattle. As of the 2020 census, the population of Shoreline was 58,608, making it the 22nd largest city in the state. Based on per capita income, one of the more reliable measures of affluence, Shoreline ranks 91st of 522 areas in the state of Washington to be ranked.
History
Coast Salish
The modern-day Shoreline area is within the historic territory of local Coast Salish peoples, now considered subgroups of the Duwamish. A trail stretched from Salmon Bay (šilšul), where Shilshole (šilšulabš) villages were, to Green Lake, and then traveled north through bogs that housed Licton Springs and the headwaters of the south fork of Thornton Creek, and continued up to Haller Lake. From there it wound through the peat bogs where Twin Ponds and Ronald Bog Parks are now. Large quantities of cranberries were once gathered at these bogs, as well as salmonberries and skunk cabbage along the banks of Thornton Creek. The x̌ax̌čuʔabš from Lake Union (x̌ax̌čuʔ) traveled to this area to gather cranberries.
From there the trail continued north to Echo Lake. There was a large burned area from Echo Lake, through the Richmond Highlands, and south to Bitter Lake, likely a clearing intentionally burned to maintain the harvest of roots like bracken fern and camas, berries, and hunting grounds. The trail forked at Echo Lake, one trail heading west to Richmond Beach and one trail continued north to Lake Ballinger. Though the modern borders of the city do not stretch to Lake Washington, the area has kept the "Shoreline" name. From 1950 to 1957, it was the fastest-growing area in the Seattle metropolitan area, with a 64 percent population increase.
After the incorporation of Lake Forest Park in 1961, the remainder of the Shoreline School District remained an unincorporated portion of King County. The school district remained the main identifier for the area for several decades; a set of welcome signs were installed in 1983 by the Shoreline Chamber of Commerce bearing the name. The City of Seattle began studying an annexation of the area in 1988, causing local residents to organize an incorporation measure to retain their separate school system. A half-century after it had been named, on August 31, 1995, Shoreline was officially incorporated as a code city, and it adopted the council–manager form of government. It was the fourth-largest city in King County and tenth-largest in the state at the time of its incorporation.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, is land and is water. The city of Shoreline also contains a gated community, The Highlands, which manages its utilities separately from Shoreline. The Richmond Beach neighborhood occupies the northwest corner of the city.
Neighborhoods
Shoreline is divided into 14 neighborhoods, according to the city government's designation. The neighborhood boundaries have been laid out more-or-less rectangularly according to street maps, rather than following socioeconomic or natural boundaries.
The city maintains a council of neighborhoods, with the intent of bringing together community leaders from each of the neighborhoods for discussions and coordination of city programs that affect the neighborhoods.
If its offer to annex Point Wells is accepted by the developer, Shoreline will extend into south Snohomish County. As of 2020, The Shoreline city government and Woodway government have discussed plans for subarea policies and development regulations in the event of annexation of Point Wells by either Shoreline or Woodway. The governments of both of the urban areas have taken steps to update their plans in accordance to their joint committee.
Economy
Companies and organizations based in Shoreline include Crista Ministries.