Manchester

History

Manchester was established in the 1860s and was originally known as "Brooklyn", after the borough in New York City. The name was changed to "Manchester" in 1892 in honor of the city of Manchester, England. Manchester was accessible by land via Shelton/Allyn/Belfair, but the main population center in the region, Seattle, had only boat access. After a permanent dock was built in 1908, regular steamboat service connected Manchester to nearby communities like Colby, Southworth, and Harper, and to Seattle across the water. From 1925 to 1936, a ferry route across Puget Sound connected Manchester with Alki Point in West Seattle. When the Alki Point dock washed away in 1936, the Seattle terminus was shifted to Colman Dock on the Seattle central waterfront. Ferry service was discontinued in 1936 and never resumed. In its early years, Manchester was used as a military installation. As early as 1889, land in present-day Manchester was used by the U.S War Department as part of a Puget Sound defense system After World War I, the U.S. Navy acquired the property, and in 1940 built a pier in nearby Clam Bay for refueling ships. The Manchester Fuel Depot, currently the military's largest single fuel station in the U.S, saw heavy use during World War II and still operates today. While the Navy still owns most of the original land, some of the property is now occupied by Manchester State Park as well as by Environmental Protection Agency and NOAA labs. In 1953, the library in Manchester was slated for destruction. The town pulled together and a new library was constructed in 1954. Today, Manchester has excellent views of Seattle, Mount Rainier, and Puget Sound, has a public boat launch, a boat parade on the opening day of boating season, and sponsors salmon bakes at the Manchester…

Geography

Manchester is located in southeastern Kitsap County at (47.552305, -122.549984). It is on the west side of Puget Sound from Rich Passage in the north to Yukon Harbor in the south. Manchester is east of Port Orchard, the Kitsap county seat. Manchester State Park is to the north, just outside the CDP area. According to the United States Census Bureau, the Manchester CDP has a total area of , of which are land and , or 48.25%, are water. Besides Manchester proper, the CDP contains the smaller communities of Colchester and Colby. This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with the highest average temperatures in late July and early August, at around 77 °F. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Manchester has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps. Manchester generally experiences both mild summers and winters, with average annual snowfall of around 3 inches. On average, each year there are 122 days with measurable rain totaling 41 inches.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  102,129
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  79,120
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  77,486
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  76,167
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  70,441
• Anna's Hummingbird

  Calypte anna (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  65,461
• House Finch

  Haemorhous mexicanus (P.L.Statius Müller, 1776) · Aves
  56,418
• Spotted Towhee

  Pipilo maculatus Swainson, 1827 · Aves
  52,692

Largest nearby schools

• South Kitsap High School
  High · PORT ORCHARD · 2,389 students · 20.2:1 ratio
• Bainbridge High School
  High · Bainbridge Island · 1,232 students · 20.5:1 ratio
• Bremerton High School
  High · Bremerton · 1,221 students · 18.2:1 ratio
• Olympic High School
  High · BREMERTON · 1,162 students · 22.3:1 ratio
• Mountain View Middle School
  Middle · Bremerton · 844 students · 18:1 ratio
• Ridgetop Middle School
  Middle · SILVERDALE · 744 students · 21.9:1 ratio
• John Sedgwick Middle School
  Middle · PORT ORCHARD · 729 students · 18.2:1 ratio
• Marcus Whitman Middle School
  Middle · PORT ORCHARD · 686 students · 16.7:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.56 — 2026-09-12
  2 km E 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
• M 2.5 — 2026-06-26
  11 km E of Carnation, Washington
• M 2.87 — 2026-06-08
  2 km ESE of Oak Harbor, Washington
• M 2.84 — 2026-05-27
  4 km W of Wauna, Washington