La Conner, Washington
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La Conner is a town in Skagit County, Washington, United States with a population of 965 at the 2020 census. It is included in the Mount Vernon–Anacortes, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
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La Conner was first settled in May 1867 by Alonzo Low and was then known by its post office name, Swinomish. Its location on the Swinomish channel was an ideal safe harbor for ships. In 1869, J.S. Conner bought the settlement's trading post and in 1870 had the name changed to honor his wife, Louisa Ann Conner. The French-appearing "La" represented her first and middle initials. When Skagit County was created out of Whatcom County in 1883, La Conner was chosen as the county seat, but would only hold that designation until November 1884 when the seat was moved to Mount Vernon.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
In early 2020, nine businesses in downtown La Conner announced their closures—mostly attributed to lost revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic and from the cancellation of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Geography
[edit]La Conner is located along the Swinomish Channel, across from the Swinomish Indian Reservation on Fidalgo Island, in western Skagit County. The Rainbow Bridge, a steel arch bridge, connects La Conner to the Swinomish Indian Reservation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The town is north of Skagit Bay and is connected to nearby highways by local roads.<ref>Template:Cite WSDOT map</ref> The center of town, known as "the Hill",Template:Citation needed roughly bounded by Second, Morris and Commercial streets and the Swinomish Channel, is a historic district and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.Template:Citation needed
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of Template:Convert, of which, Template:Convert is land and Template:Convert is water.<ref name="Gazetteer files">Template:Cite web</ref>
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Economy
[edit]La Conner is located at the edge of the Skagit Valley, the largest tulip-growing region in the world and host of an annual tulip festival in April. Other crops grown in the area include potatoes, vegetable seed and grain.Template:Citation needed
Demographics
[edit]As of 2000 the median income for a household in the town was $42,344, and the median income for a family was $52,083. Males had a median income of $40,074 versus $26,875 for females. The per capita income for the town was $24,308. About 8.8% of families and 11.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.3% of those under age 18 and 8.1% of those age 65 or over.
2010 census
[edit]As of the 2010 census,<ref name="wwwcensusgov">Template:Cite web</ref> there were 891 people, 467 households, and 224 families residing in the town. The population density was Template:Convert. There were 526 housing units at an average density of Template:Convert. The racial makeup of the town was 87.1% White, 0.7% African American, 5.1% Native American, 1.0% Asian, 3.4% from other races, and 2.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.2% of the population.
There were 467 households, of which 18.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.6% were married couples living together, 8.8% had a female householder with no husband present, 2.6% had a male householder with no wife present, and 52.0% were non-families. Of all households 45.8% were made up of individuals, and 24.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.91 and the average family size was 2.70.
The median age in the town was 52.8 years. Of all residents 16.8% were under the age of 18; 4.3% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 18.3% were from 25 to 44; 34.5% were from 45 to 64; and 26.2% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 45.1% male and 54.9% female.
Landmarks
[edit]La Conner's Rainbow bridge connects La Conner to Fidalgo Island, which includes the gated Shelter Bay Community, the Swinomish reservation, and the city of Anacortes. The center of town—roughly bounded by 2nd, Morris, and Commercial streets and Swinomish Channel—is a historic district, listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Also on the NRHP is the Bethsaida Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church Parsonage east of town.Template:Citation needed
Notable residents
[edit]- Guy Anderson, painter<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Brian Cladoosby, politician and president of the National Congress of American Indians<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Morris Graves, painter<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Art Hupy, photographer and founder of the Museum of Northwest Art<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Tom Robbins, novelist<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Joseph C. Shell, politician<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Barbara Straker James, painter and curator<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Hulet M. Wells, radical labor activistTemplate:Cn
Education
[edit]The city lies within the boundaries of the La Conner School District.<ref>Template:Cite map</ref>
Arts and culture
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The Museum of Northwest Art showcases a permanent collection of northwest artists and revolving shows throughout the year. The town is also home to the Skagit Historical Museum,<ref>Skagit Historical Museum</ref> with perhaps the best view in town, and the Quilt Museum,<ref>Quilt Museum</ref> located in one of the oldest homes in town, the Gaches Mansion.
The town of La Conner is home to several fine art galleries, including La Conner Seaside Gallery, Forum Arts, Earthenworks, and Alek's Art Studio. Visual artists, painters, and photographers have also worked from spaces in and around La Conner, including Northwest School members Guy Anderson,<ref name="SeattleTimes1982GuyAnderson">Template:Cite news</ref> Morris Graves, and Richard Gilkey.Template:Citation needed Fishtown, an informal artists' community housed in a cluster of old cabins and fishing shacks on the north fork of the Skagit River delta, housed many artists from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s.Template:Citation needed
Also famous for its many feral domestic turkeys, the town named the turkey as their "Official Town Bird in 2005".<ref>YouTube - La Conner Town Turkeys</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On August 8, 2006; however, a debate was heard in town council about whether the birds should be removed because of nuisance complaints about noise, fecal matter, and ingestion of garden materials.<ref>Laconner.net Template:Webarchive</ref> As of October 2010, the town council declared the turkeys to be a nuisance and has since taken action to have them removed from the town limits.
La Conner's public library, which is run by the town government and serves residents of the local school district, opened on November 26, 1993, at a former storefront.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Plans to construct a permanent library were announced in 2012 with a ten-year fundraising campaign. Construction on the new library began in October 2021 and was completed the following year at a cost of $5 million. The Template:Convert building opened on October 18, 2022, and includes community spaces, a rooftop solar array, and signage in English, Spanish, Braille, and Lushootseed.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Sister cities
[edit]La Conner has the following sister cities.<ref>Sister Cities, States, Counties & Ports Template:Webarchive</ref>
- Template:Flagicon White Rock, BC, Canada
- Template:Flagicon Kenmare, Ireland<ref>Laconner.net Template:Webarchive</ref>
- Template:Flagicon Olga, Russia
- Template:Flagicon San Rafael del Sur, Nicaragua