Aberdeen, Washington

Aberdeen is a city located in Grays Harbor County, Washington State, USA, . Aberdeen was founded in 1878 by early settler Samuel Benn when he merged his lands with the neighboring settlement of Wishkah to create Aberdeen. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 16,461. The city is the economic center of Grays Harbor County bordering the cities of Hoquiam and Cosmopolis. Aberdeen is sometimes called the "Gateway to the Olympic Peninsula" or the "Birthplace of Grunge", as likely the most famous Aberdonian was Kurt Cobain. Other notable people from Aberdeen include The Melvins.

History

The early settlers who came to the eastern edge of Grays Harbor in the 1880s called the place Wishkah after the nearby river. But some objected, and the city was eventually renamed for a local salmon cannery. Like its Scottish namesake, Aberdeen, it was situated at the mouth of a river.

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Though the largest and best known of the three cities on Grays Harbor, Aberdeen lagged behind neighbors Hoquiam and Cosmopolis in the early years. When A.J. West built the future city's first sawmill in 1884, the other two municipalities had already been in business for several years.

Related Topics:
Grays Harbor - Hoquiam - Cosmopolis

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Aberdeen was officially incorporated on May 12, 1890. On October 16, 1903, a massive fire swept through the city's commercial district, destroying 140 buildings and killing four people. The number of people living here grew by eleven-fold in fifty years, going from from 1,638 in 1890 to 18,846 in 1940.

Related Topics:
May 12 - 1890 - October 16 - 1903 - 1940

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For a time Aberdeen had the distinction of being "the roughest town west of the Mississippi" because of its gambling, prostitution, extreme drug use, and violence. The city was off-limits to military personnel as late as the early 1980's, and with its currently high poverty and unemployment, police and judicial corruption, and drug use, has had little luck altering its public image.

Related Topics:
Mississippi - Gambling - Prostitution - Drug use - Violence - Poverty - Unemployment - Police - Judicial - Corruption

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On a more sombre note, Aberdeen is given much of its charactor from the town's high school. Weatherwax High sports programs have always been a large part of the community and it should be noted that, in football, Aberdeen holds the longest high school sports rivalry west of the Mississippi with it's neigbor Hoquiam High School, eclipsing 100 years (the 100th game was played on September 17, 2005, and Aberdeen won 24 to 7). The rivalry is known amongst all the townsfolk and every year when this game occurs you can be assured most of the population is in attendance.

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In 2002, the Weatherwax building of Aberdeen High, one of Aberdeen's most historical buildings (built 1909), was burnt to the ground by two of its own students just after midnight. Students have since been spread out over the remaining campus, even using remains of an old church for classroom space until the new school is built. Construction of the new building has begun and should be ready in the coming years.

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Famous Aberdonians include grunge rocker Kurt Cobain (technically born in nearby Hoquiam), painter Robert Motherwell, Nobel-winning physicist Douglas Osheroff, photographer Lee Friedlander, choreographer Trisha Brown, artist Elton Bennett, Pittsburgh Stelers player Mark Bruner, and novelist Robert Cantwell.

Related Topics:
Kurt Cobain - Hoquiam - Robert Motherwell - Douglas Osheroff - Robert Cantwell

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Kurt Cobain blamed the city of Aberdeen for much of his depression, and his up-bringing, though percieved by non-Aberdonians as unusually harsh, was rather typical of those who've grown up in the lower-rungs of the town's social ladder. The city and its residents are largely considered infamous throughout western Washington.

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