Bothell

History

The Sammamish River valley from Lake Washington to Issaquah Creek was first inhabited by the indigenous Sammamish people (), a Coast Salish group with an estimated population of 80 to 200 around 1850. The Sammamish had a major winter village, , at the mouth of the Sammamish River, between what is now Bothell and Kenmore. Although the Sammamish resisted removal efforts by settlers, they were eventually removed to Fort Kitsap following the 1855–1856 Puget Sound War. Some Sammamish continued to live in the area and worked as laborers and farmers, but the village of was later destroyed. The first Homestead Act claims to modern-day Bothell were filed in 1870 by Columbus S. Greenleaf and George R. Wilson, an English immigrant, on adjoining plots of land. The area along the lower Sammamish River, then named Squak Slough, was mostly marshlands and had not been surveyed at the time of Wilson's arrival; Greenleaf filed for his claim in June 1870 on land that Wilson had originally sought. Eight families settled in the area in the next six years and were followed by Canadian businessman George Brackett, who began commercial logging in 1877 on on the modern-day site of Wayne Golf Course. The settlement was named for the Bothell family by the first postmaster Gerhard Ericksen, who had bought the boarding house property. At the time, the town had a population of 599 residents, a bank, four general stores, and three saloons. Steamship traffic on the Sammamish River waned after the arrival of the railroad and completion of the Pacific Highway. The river itself was dredged and straightened by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1916. The water level on Lake Washington was lowered by by the opening of the Lake Washington Ship Canal in Seattle the following year; the lowering prevented…

Geography

Bothell is located along the Sammamish River near its mouth at the northeast end of Lake Washington. It is one of six cities in Washington that are in multiple counties, as the city straddles King and Snohomish counties. The boundary between the counties is at Northeast 205th Street / 244th Street Southwest; because most streets in Bothell are numbered and not named, north–south streets that cross the county line often change numbers. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city of Bothell has a total area of , all of it classified as land. The city's western border with Kenmore follows 86th and 84th avenues, with the exception of Inglemoor High School; within Snohomish County, the western border follows 7th Place West. The northern city limits of Bothell is defined by 216th Street Southwest on the west side of Interstate 405 and State Route 524 (Maltby Road) through Thrasher's Corner. The eastern boundary follows 35th Avenue Southeast in Snohomish County; on the King County site, it is shared with Woodinville and follows 130th Avenue Northeast on the north side of the Sammamish River and 124th Avenue Northeast on the south side of the river. The southern border with Kirkland follows Simonds Road and Northeast 145th Street to Interstate 405 and jumps north to follow part of the Tolt pipeline right-of-way. The city's urban growth area in Snohomish County includes unincorporated areas that border Brier to the west and Mill Creek to the north. Most of the city lies in the drainage basins of the Sammamish River or its tributaries North Creek and Swamp Creek; a portion also lies in the Juanita Creek basin, which drains directly into Lake Washington. These creeks are also home to spawning Kokanee salmon, Chinook salmon, bull trout, and other freshwater fish. The…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  165,267
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  127,258
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  126,532
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  122,950
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  112,719
• Anna's Hummingbird

  Calypte anna (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  102,127
• Spotted Towhee

  Pipilo maculatus Swainson, 1827 · Aves
  94,805
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  86,429

Largest nearby schools

• Redmond High School
  High · Redmond · 2,218 students · 21.1:1 ratio
• Lake Washington High School
  High · Kirkland · 2,015 students · 21:1 ratio
• Bothell High School
  High · Bothell · 1,764 students · 19.8:1 ratio
• Juanita High School
  High · Kirkland · 1,695 students · 19.5:1 ratio
• Woodinville HS
  High · Woodinville · 1,621 students · 21.1:1 ratio
• Inglemoor HS
  High · Kenmore · 1,542 students · 19.5:1 ratio
• Roosevelt High School
  High · SEATTLE · 1,541 students · 20.5:1 ratio
• Shorewood High School
  High · Shoreline · 1,538 students · 23.3:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.64 — 2026-10-15
  5 km SW of Wilderness Rim, Washington
• M 2.65 — 2026-10-14
  5 km WSW of Wilderness Rim, Washington
• M 4.15 — 2026-09-29
  6 km WNW of Wauna, Washington
• M 2.56 — 2026-09-12
  2 km ENE of Mount Vernon, Washington
• M 2.51 — 2026-08-09
  11 km SSW of River Road, Washington
• M 3.8 — 2026-07-02
  2 km E of Oak Harbor, Washington