Alki Point

Alki Point (Lushootseed: sbaqʷabqs, lit. 'prairie point') is a neighborhood in western Seattle, Washington. It is a point jutting into Puget Sound, the westernmost landform in the city's West Seattle district. Alki is the peninsular neighborhood on Alki Point. Alki was the original settlement in what was to become the city of Seattle. It was part of the city of West Seattle from 1902 until that city's annexation by Seattle in 1907. The Alki neighborhood extends along the shore from the point, both southeast and northeast. To the northeast it continues past Alki Beach roughly to Duwamish Head, the northernmost point of West Seattle. Alki Point also marks the southern extent of Elliott Bay; a line drawn northwest to West Point marks the division between bay and sound. The name "Alki" is a Chinook Jargon word meaning "by and by" or "eventually". It is a shortened version of the original name, "New York Alki." The name "New York" may have been chosen because it was the state of origin of several of the settlers. In the Lushootseed language, the name of the point is sbaqʷabqs, meaning "prairie point." Other names in English for the point include Battery Point, Me-Kwah-Mooks Point, and Roberts Point. Prior to American settlement, the Duwamish people used the area for cultivating and gathering at nearby prairies. They were maintained through seasonal burning. The Denny Party landed at Alki Point November 13, 1851, and platted a settlement of six blocks of eight lots, calling the settlement "New York Alki". However, the next April, Arthur A. Denny abandoned the site at Alki for a better-situated site on the east shore of Elliott Bay, just north of the plat of David Swinson "Doc" Maynard. This site is now known as Pioneer Square. Charles C. Terry, who owned the land, and some others held on at Alki for a while, but most eventually joined the others in Pioneer Square. Terry gave his claim to Maynard in 1857 in exchange for his Pioneer Square holdings; Maynard farmed the land for 11 years and sold it to Hans Martin Hanson and Knud Olson in 1868, Hanson taking possession of the point itself.

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