History

Peter Kirk Building, built 1889–1890 as the Kirkland Investment Company Building. Now Kirkland Arts Center.

The cities on the Eastside mostly began as centers of logging or mining in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the years prior to World War II they became centers of dairy and berry farming. During the post-war boom, they became bedroom communities for Seattle. This was made possible by the 1940 construction of the Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge across Lake Washington, as well, as the later construction of the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge and the Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge. Currently, the area is growing several edge cities.