Checkpoint: Kirkland
Welcome to Kirkland, Washington! Kirkland is a suburb of the famous Seattle, but still
has much to offer in its own right. For example, the waterfront, pictured to the left, has art galleries, restaraunts, parks, beaches, public art, including bronze
sculptures, and even a performing arts center. The city was also the orginal home of the Seattle Seahawks. At the time, the team's headquarters and training
facility were located at the Lake Washington Shipyard, now called Carillon Point, from the 1976 through 1985 season, then at Northwest University, which is nearby.
Contant with most other areas in the United States, the land was originally discovered and inhabited by Native Americans, English Settlers did not arrive until the
late 1860s. It was not until 1886 that Peter Kirk moved here, after hearing that iron deposits had been found, knowing that other components necessart to smelting steel,
such as limestone, were redily available in the area. Kirk, however, was not a US Citizen, and could not buy land. As such, he went into business with Leigh S. J. Hunt.
Together, they purchased thousands of acres, and construction was started on a new steel mill, named the Moss Bay Iron and Steel Company of America. Kirk would go on to
establish the town, and name it after himself, in 1888, making it one of the earliest cities on the Eastside (information courtesy of Wikipedia.com,
image courtesy of Jelson25 / CC BY-SA).
Regarding pop culture, Kirkland has had a few notable people. It has been the home to Gail Brodsky, professional
tennis player. Brodsky has had some notable moments in her career as a tennis pro, such as a win over Coco Vandeweghe in the 2008 US Open, which won her a wild card. Her pro career
would continue until 2012, when she started to feel burtn out, and decided to begin coaching tennis, shortly after failing to qualify for the US Open. However, Brodsky ended up deciding to
return to professional tennis, even winning a UTSA Pro Circuit event in Ashland, Kentucky, in the summer of 2018 (information courtesy of ESPN
). Kirkland has also been the home of MLB Players Travis Snider, Tom Evans, and Ken Lehman, NFL player David DeCastro, and many more (information courtesy of Wikipedia.com).
Perhaps most notably, however, it was the birthplace of Layne Staley. Stayley was the original singer for american grunge band Alice in Chains. Along with Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Stone Temple Pilots,
Alice in Chains was one of the biggest acts of the 1990's. Their original album, Facelift, gained massive popularity with the single Man in the Box. This fame was
only built upon with their follow-up album, Dirt, debatebly the best grunge album of all time, potentially ever better than Nirvana's Nevermind. It features songs
such as Them Bones, Rooster, Angry Chair, and of course, Would?. Unfortunately, Staley was found dead on April 19th, having overdosed on a speedball, a mixture of cocaine and
heroin (information courtesy of IMDB, image courtesy of Rex Aran Emrick / CC BY-SA).
To further explore Kirkland, click here
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