City of Kirkland, King County, Washington

City of Kirkland King County, Washington

Mapped Location

City of Kirkland: The mapped location is an approximation and should not be used for navigation or wayfinding.

Information

General information on City of Kirkland

Feature Type: Incorporated

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for City of Kirkland

A brief list of names that this geographic feature has been named

Name	Description
City of Kirkland	Official
Kirkland	Official

Origin Notes and History of City of Kirkland

References to City of Kirkland that document the origin of its place name

KIRKLAND, a town on the eastern shore of Lake Washington, King County. It was named in honor of Peter Kirk, a millionaire iron maker of England, who founded the town in 1886 and hoped to establish there extensive steel works. Being disappointed he retired to a farm on San Juan island and died on May 6, 1916.

Edmond S. Meany in Origin of Washington Geographic Names

Meany, Edmond S., Origin of Washington Geographic Names, 1923 University of Washington, pp 131 | Origin of Washington Geographic Names

Related Catalog Titles

A Bibliography for City of Kirkland, King County, Washington

The pioneering life of Peter Kirk from Derbyshire to the Pacific Northwest by Saundra Middleton

Peter Kirk, Esq. tracked the world iron markets diligently. He had to. Kirk employed 1000 men and boys in his integrated iron and steel works in Workington, England. Britain's market share was losing ground to America's burgeoning steel industry. In 1886, he sailed from Workington flush with decades of success in Britain's Victorian era rail expansion. - from the publisher

ix, 293 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

CIRC [ 1 ]

Biography · First edition · Genetically Inclined, Anchorage, Alaska, 2021
Related Catalog Items: City of Kirkland

A look to the past Kirkland by Matthew W. McCauley, Kirkland Heritage Society

Fifty of the best of Matt McCauley's "A Look to the Past: Kirkland" newspaper columns, edited to present new information and many photos from the prized collection of the Kirkland Heritage Society.In 1870 two teenage boys claim homesteads on Juanita Bay, and to pay for improvements on their homesteads, struggle for the rest of their short lives logging timber on Lake Washington’s eastern shore. In 1872 a couple and their 22-year-old son stake claims at Houghton, carving homes out of dark, dense, first-growth timber. Other pioneers arrive and claim homesteads on the eastern shore. In 1887 a flamboyant young newspaper publisher convinces an even-tempered English steel manufacturer to locate a new, world-class steel mill on a tiny lake between Houghton and Juanita, and to plat a town site on Lake Washington’s shore, which will become Kirkland. Their vision is big. They want to create nothing less than a “Pittsburgh of the Pacific,” but reality intervenes. The speculative bubble bursts and fortunes are lost, lives are broken, and in the shambles of their dreams the scrappy pioneers refuse to quit. They build their town anyway.Kirkland’s past reads like a great western novel, peopled as it is by pioneer settlers, land speculators, loggers, stump ranchers, land developers, steam boatmen, boat builders, WWII Rosie-the-riveters, finally, the suburbanites of post-WWII.Kirkland native Matthew W. McCauley wrote a popular newspaper column, “A Look to the Past,” in the 1990s in which he tells these stories. Here are 50 of the best, updated with new research, and accompanied by many of images from the Kirkland Heritage Society’s prized collection."It is a pleasure having Matt McCauley’s A Look to the Past articles finally gathered together in one volume. When they were first published in the Kirkland Courier two decades ago, they were such a joy to read that I saved most of them in my clippings file. I say “most” because I now see that I missed a few, and I was delighted to read some “new” ones after all these years. What a treat!" — Alan Stein, Staff Historian, HistoryLink.org"Matt is ... an old soul. As a young boy he seemed to show wisdom only seen in older people. Matt always loved older people and their stories. Today, Kirkland is the beneficiary of his interest in the people and history of Kirkland. Matt is a stickler for detail and accuracy. He wants people remembered and respected." — Loita Hawkinson, Kirkland Heritage Society

271 pages : illustrations, maps ; 26 cm

CIRC [ 1 ]

History · 2nd ed · Scriptoria Publications, Auburn, WA, 2011
Related Catalog Items: City of Kirkland

The Lake Washington story a pictorial history by Lucile Saunders McDonald

A physical and social history of Lake Washington, the 20 mile long body of water that forms the greater part of the eastern boundary of Seattle

160 pages : illustrations ; 28 cm

CIRC [ 1 ]

History · 1st ed · Superior Pub. Co., Seattle, 1979
Related Catalog Items: City of Kirkland · Lake Washington · King County · City of Seattle · Bellevue · City of Kenmore · City of Lake Forest Park · City of Renton

Our foundering fathers the story of Kirkland by Arline Ely, Kirkland Public Library

A short history of Kirkland, Washington written by an editor of a Puget Sound magazine. 128 pages, including index. Includes many historic pictures and local stories

128 pages, 28 unnumbered leaves of plates : illustrations ; 23 cm

CIRC [ 1 ]

History · 1st Edition · Kirkland Public Library, Kirkland, Wash., 1975
Related Catalog Items: City of Kirkland · King County

Related Online Resources

Kirkland Heritage Society

The Kirkland Heritage Society’s mission is to identify historic resources; to encourage their preservation; to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret the history and heritage of Kirkland and its people; and to promote public involvement in and appreciation of its heritage and cultures.

WEB LINK

City of Kirkland

King County

Political Boundaries

Last updated: 2026-09-15