Before Seattle, Wash., was famous for the Space Needle, the Seahawks and legal recreational marijuana, it garnered acclaim for being the “boomtown” of the West. The figures back up its nickname: Between 1900 and 1910, the city’s population grew 194 percent from 80,671 to 237,194. With population came urbanization, and soon Seattle was the home of the tallest building west of the Mississippi for more than four decades after they built the L.C. Smith building in 1914.
Population booms continued over the 20th century with the rise of highways and automobiles. And today, with a population of over 650,000 people, the Emerald City continues to be a boomtown of the West.
