Fall City, WA Overview Page

The first settlements in the area were two forts built in 1856 during the Puget Sound War to protect future settlers against possible uprisings by the native population. Fort Patterson, a few miles downstream, and Fort Tilton, a few miles upstream, were built with the help of Indians led by Chief Patkanim, and both were abandoned within two years after interactions with the local tribes remained peaceful.

A historical marker can be found north of Fall City on the Fish Hatchery Road where Fort Tilton once stood. A trading post was established near the present-day location of the Last Frontier Saloon in 1869 and became a hub of the local economy. Fall City was known at the time as "The Landing", as shallow water and rapids upstream on the Snoqualmie were impassable to the large dugout canoes used to transport goods.

In the early 1870s, the first local mill in the Snoqualmie Valley was opened at the mouth of Tokul Creek, just downstream from Snoqualmie Falls and just upstream from where Fall City would be. The Fall City post office opened June 10, 1872. Small steamboats started ferrying supplies up the river in 1875.

In the late 1880s, a group of Puget Sound businessmen founded and started building the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway, including a line up into the upper Snoqualmie Valley, in an attempt to build a line over the Cascade Range. The land claim holder at the time, Jeremiah "Jerry" Borst, had Fall City surveyed and platted in anticipation of the people the railroad would bring, but was disappointed in 1889 when the railroad line was built a mile (1.6 km) away from the community. But even a mile away, the railroad, combined with the first bridge over the Snoqualmie River, greatly improved the local lumber mills' and farmers' business, and made the area and its scenic features (such as Snoqualmie Falls) accessible to tourists.

Hundreds moved to the area over the next two decades. When the Sunset Highway connecting Seattle with eastern Washington through Fall City was improved in the early 1910s, it further accelerated the area's economic and residential development. By the late 1920s, most of the population either worked in the burgeoning tourist trade or commuted to work west toward Issaquah and Seattle. The Great Depression, followed by gasoline rationing during World War II, hurt Fall City's tourist trade.

Tourism was further hampered after the war as U.S. Highway 10 (now Interstate 90) was rerouted south directly from Preston to North Bend, bypassing Fall City and Snoqualmie. The local economy suffered further as local logging mills started closing. Today, Fall City is a bedroom community to the high-tech industry of the Seattle metropolitan area, with large suburban estates just outside the community juxtaposed with the historical homes and farmsteads built in its heyday.

• 
  Population

  2,357

• 
  Time Zone

  America/Los_Angeles

• 
  Zip Code

  98024

• Age Median

  9.99%

• Age Under 10

  17.9%

• Age 10 to 19

  9.5%

• Age 20s

  10.1%

• Age 30s

  16.4%

• Age 40s

  9.1%

• Age Over 80

  4.9%

• Male

  51.7%

• Female

  48.3%

• Married

  65.1%

• Divorced

  5.9%

• Never Married

  23.2%

• Widowed

  5.8%

• Family Size

  3

• Family Dual Income

  75.7%

• Home Ownership

  74.1%

• Home Value

  536,800

• Rent Median

  1,583

• Rent Burden Ownership

  0%

• Household Median

  110,000

• Household under 5

  0

• Household 5 to 10

  0

• Household 10 to 15

  1

• Household 15 to 20

  3

• Household 20 to 25

  1

• Household 25 to 35

  6

• Household 35 to 50

  4

• Household 50 to 75

  12

• Household 75 to 100

  12

• Household 100 to 150

  26

• Household 150 Over

  35

• Household Six Figure

  61

• Income Individual Median

  43,924

• Less Highschool

  10.2%

• Highschool

  21.2%

• Some College

  31.7%

• Bachelors

  26.7%

• Graduate

  10.2%

• College or Above

  36.9%

• Stem Degree

  54.8%

• White

  80.2%

• Black

  0%

• Asian

  5.7%

• Native

  0%

• Pacific

  1%

• Others

  3.7%

• Multiple

  9.4%

• Hispanic

  12%

• Labor Force Participation

  67.6%

• Unemployment Rate

  3.6%

• Poverty

  4.3%

• Limited English

  2.5%

• Disabled

  11.9%

• Commute Time

  33.7%

• Health Uninsured

  4.3%

• Veterans

  13.1%