Seven hills of Seattle

The term seven hills of Seattle refers unofficially to the hills the U.S. city was built on and around, though there is no consensus on exactly which hills it refers to. The term has been used to refer to several other cities, most notably Rome and Constantinople.

The seven hills

Walt Crowley considered the main candidates for the seven hills to be:

• First Hill, nicknamed "Pill Hill" because of the many hospitals and clinics located there
• Yesler Hill – presently Yesler Terrace
• Cherry Hill – located to the east of First Hill (previously called Second Hill or Renton Hill – both these names have passed out of common usage)
• Denny Hill – regraded, now called the Denny Regrade
• Capitol Hill
• Queen Anne Hill
• Beacon Hill

The hills above were associated with seven boulders in the City of Seattle's Seven Hills Park.

Other hills people sometimes consider among the "seven hills of Seattle" include:

• West Seattle – originally incorporated as a separate city, and not annexed by Seattle until 1907
• Magnolia
• Graham Hill
• Crown Hill – not annexed until 1954
• Mount Baker

Geology

Seattle's topography is due largely to Pleistocene ice age glaciation. Nearly all of the city's seven hills are characterized as drumlins (Beacon Hill, First Hill, Capitol Hill, Queen Anne Hill, Mount Baker) or drift uplands (Magnolia, West Seattle).

"Seven Hills of Seattle" annual walk

The Seattle-Bergen Sister City Association (Sister Cities International) sponsors an annual "Seven Hills of Seattle" walk. Seattle's sister city, Bergen, Norway, is known as the City of Seven Mountains.

See also

• List of cities claimed to be built on seven hills
• Seven hills of Rome - probably the origin of the romanticism of 'seven hills'.
• History of Seattle before 1900

Notes

References

• Hugh Ferriss (1953). Power in Buildings: An Artist's View of Contemporary Architecture. Columbia University Press. p. 22. ISBN 978-0598382313. LCCN 53012306.
• Walt Crowley (January 14, 2003), "Seattle's Seven Hills", HistoryLink, Seattle: History Ink
• Seven Hills Park, Seattle Parks and Recreation, retrieved 2013-10-24
• Seven Hills Park (formerly Capitol Hill Park) development Pro Parks project information: Boulders plan (PDF), Seattle Parks and Recreation/Mithun, Inc, August 23, 2010, archived from the original (PDF) on December 25, 2019, retrieved 2013-10-24
• Greg Johnston (November 13, 2008), "Fantastic Four: String Together These Emerald Parks for a Gem of an Urban Hike", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, p. 10 – via ProQuest
• Williams, Hill (October 2, 1989), "Scientists Find Old Denny Hill – at Bottom of Puget Sound", The Seattle Times, p. C1 – via ProQuest
• David Wilma (October 12, 2005), "Seattle annexes the area north of N 85th Street to N 145th Street on January 4, 1954", HistoryLink, Seattle: History Ink
• "Seven Hills? One Capitol Hill park gets its 'official' name", The Seattle Times (Local), retrieved 2013-10-24
• "2011 Summer Guide: May events — Seven Hills Walk", The Seattle Times, May 18, 2011
• Join Sound Steps/Seattle-Bergen Sister City Association for the 9th Annual Seven Hills Walk, Seattle Parks and Recreation, May 2, 2012, retrieved 2013-10-24
• "Seven Hills of Seattle walk with the Seattle-Bergen Sister City Association", Norwegian American Weekly, June 2, 2009, retrieved 2013-10-24
• "Community celebrates Myrtle Reservoir Park", Press release, City of Seattle, April 25, 2011, archived from the original on November 5, 2013 (Partial story rendition from HighBeam.com archive.)
• Nelson, Richard (July 15, 1990), "Rite of Northwest Passage The Good Rain Across Time and Terrain in the Pacific Northwest by Timothy Egan (book review)", The Los Angeles Times – via ProQuest
• Geology of Seattle and the Puget Sound on YouTube, narrated by Nick Zentner (Central Washington University Department of Geological Sciences). Uploaded March 2, 2015 by Hugefloods.com (Nick Zentner and Tom Foster: Discover the Ice Age Floods).
• Troost, Kathy Goetz; Booth, Derek B. (2008), Geography of Seattle and the Seattle area, Washington, Geological Society of America, doi:10.1130/2008.4020(01), ISBN 978-0813741208