EASTSIDE NEIGHBORHOODS

 Bellevue

 Issaquah

 Kirkland

 Mercer Island

 Redmond

 Woodinville

BELLEVUE

Through the first half of the 20th century, strawberries and blueberries and a host of other truck-farm products gave the community its start on the east side of Lake Washington.

At the time, the direct route across the lake was by ferry, from the foot of Seattle's Madison Street to nearby Kirkland. That gave Kirkland, and not Bellevue, the clout to first incorporate in 1905.

Bellevue didn't become a city until 1953, after a bridge of concrete pontoons was floated across Lake Washington. Completed in 1940 as World War II loomed, the Lacey V. Murrow Floating Bridge connected Seattle to Mercer Island, where work crews also were replacing an awkward wooden bridge that since 1923 had spanned the narrow East Channel to reach the mainland Eastside.

The floating bridge, and the east-west highway that accompanied it, opened the floodgates to a suburban way of life that flowered through the next 40 years and gave Bellevue its nickname, Seattle's bedroom

Neighborhood followed neighborhood as housing developers fell driveway over cul-de-sac in love with Eastside real estate.

Today, Bellevue is a commercial, retail and residential powerhouse. With nearly 110,000 people, it is the state's fifth-largest city and home to one of the region's largest shopping center, Bellevue Square.

As host to dozens of high-tech companies, Bellevue has a skyline now made up of glass-clad skyscrapers as well as towering evergreens. The city also has a park system to rival any in the Northwest.

ISSAQUAH

The sawmills and logging trucks disappeared long ago from this Sammamish Valley city 15 miles east of Seattle.

But the eviction of Linn Emrick's Parachute Center and Skyport from its home along Interstate 90 signaled the real beginning of the end for Issaquah as a quaint and cozy place at the south end of Lake Sammamish. Emrick's little airfield specialized in hauling up parachutists and sailplanes. Sunday drivers often watched, some using the highway shoulder to park and gawk. No gawking now.

In its place since 1986 have come shopping centers and parking lots and enough daily traffic to clog the 10-lane freeway that now splits the valley. At the same time, Issaquah has been experiencing a population explosion that has more than doubled its size since 1980. The 12,900 mark was reached in 2001 and more people appear to be on the way.

Just 20 years ago, Issaquah was a community that barely covered the flood plain along Issaquah Creek. Today it spans parts of Cougar Mountain, much of Squak Mountain and the side of the Sammamish Plateau known as Grand Ridge and now called Issaquah Highlands. With the median value of homes edging toward $300,000, median family incomes have risen accordingly.

But deep roots remain in a city that was incorporated 110 years ago as Gilman, the train stop at Squak Mountain. (Gilman Boulevard and the cluster of small shops called Gilman Village carry that historic name.)  With its October Salmon Days, the city still celebrates the return of salmon into Lake Sammamish and Issaquah Creek.

And it has kept electing mayors since 1892, when Frank W. Harrell became the first, of Gilman. Even after the city became Issaquah in 1899, he was returned to office every two years until 1918, according to Issaquah History On-Line.

KIRKLAND

Today, this city of about 45,050 residents has earned a reputation as a clean residential area with art galleries, lakeside views, good sailing opportunities, and youth sports.

But if the stars had lined up for founder Peter Kirk back in the 1880s, steel would have been a noticeable part of the city's legacy. The British businessman landed in this area with a dream to turn it into a "Pittsburgh of the West." He thought the mineral-rich Snoqualmie Pass and ocean shipping would bring him a fortune.

Factories and towering smokestacks, though, never joined the hills and roads east of Lake Washington -- thanks to an 1893 stock market tumble. That crash closed his Moss Bay Iron and Steel Works.

Ships did play an important part in the area's economy. Early on, the east side of Lake Washington was connected to the west by a ferry that plied a route to the streetcar tracks at the eastern foot of Seattle's Madison Street. The proximity to the lake gave rise to the building of ferries. And during the 1940s, ships were built for the U.S. Navy. The area also saw the state's first wool mill start in 1892. Wool milling became an important part of the economy.

Incorporated in 1905 and named after Kirk, the city has grown by annexing other neighborhoods, such as Totem Lake, North Rose Hill and South Juanita. Kirkland now stretches from its Houghton neighborhood bordering Bellevue on the south, to include the Juanita Bay area to the north.

Through the 1980s and 1990s, Kirkland threw off its blue-collar image to redefine itself as an upscale beach town with a high median family income and increasingly expensive homes. Many residents, especially high-tech employees, enjoy the city because it's near Redmond-based Microsoft Corp. and Seattle. But traffic congestion remains a local and regional headache.

MERCER ISLAND

Known by American Indians as a foggy place, and named for Seattle pioneer Thomas Mercer, Mercer Island entered the modern era July 2, 1940, when a bridge of concrete pontoons, the first of its kind, was floated across Lake Washington.

It connected the island to Seattle on the west, and on the east to U.S. 10, the Sunset Highway to Chicago.

The Lake Washington Floating Bridge also turned the island from a farming community with a smattering of summer homes into a Seattle suburb with million-dollar houses, a median home value of more than $500,000 and a school district with an ethos all its own.

Neither Eastside nor Seattle, islanders consider themselves in a world apart.

Incorporated within two months of each other as city (most of the island) and town (just the business district) in 1960, Mercer Island became a single entity in 1970 with city business conducted by a city manager through an elected City Council.

There were just 1,900 residents when the Lake Washington Floating Bridge was completed in 1940. Today, early 22,000 people live here.

REDMOND
When the first Europeans encountered the Sammamish River Valley in 1871, they found so many salmon that they called the place Salmonberg. Twelve years later it was named officially for its postmaster at the time, Luke McRedmond.

Located along the Sammamish River at the eastern terminus of State Route 520, the 16.6-square-mile city lies at the north end of Lake Sammamish about 11 miles east of Seattle.

Salmon still migrate up the stream on their way into Lake Sammamish and to the creeks that feed it. But dikes and ditches built for flood-control contributed to a reduction in their numbers. Redmond is leading an effort to reclaim the river for fish.

Incorporated in 1912 at a time when logging and agriculture fed the town, Redmond today contains the world headquarters of Microsoft and the national headquarters for Nintendo of America. Eddie Bauer, Safeco, AT&T Wireless and a host of medical companies, including Medtronic Physio Control and Space Labs Medical, have regional offices here or call Redmond home.Dozens of small city parks and school yards combine to make Redmond a highly livable -- and walkable -- community.

In addition to Sammamish River Regional Park, the city's more major attractions include King County's sprawling Marymoor Park and the Willows Run golf course, bookends for the city south and north. A complex of soccer fields known as Sixty Acres is just a chip shot east of the links on the river's flood plain.

Redmond has a council-mayor form of government with a full-time mayor and a part-time City Council.

WOODINVILLE

This city of primarly single-family homes still evokes a country charm. At least 12 wineries – one for every 766 residents – attract visitors who want to enjoy the outdoors and drink samples from boutique and larger companies.

Trees in this former logging town were once so important that residents lived in large stumps or used them for shelter from wet weather.

Ira and Susan Woodin became the first family to settle in the area, along with their daughters. From their home, the Woodins operated the area's first post office, church and school.

Loggers eventually moved to the area, and farmers soon followed to work the cleared land.

Today the city is more suburban, and many residents either work on the nearby Eastside (East of Lake Washington) or commute to Seattle and other cities.

EASTSIDE NEIGHBORHOODS