Vancouver, Washington

Vancouver shares its name with the larger city of Vancouver in southern British Columbia, Canada, approximately 300 miles (480 km) to the north. Both cities were named after British sea captain George Vancouver, but the US city is older. Vancouver, British Columbia, was incorporated 29 years after the incorporation of Vancouver, Washington, and more than 60 years after the name Vancouver was first used in reference to the historic Fort Vancouver trading post on the Columbia River. City officials have periodically suggested changing the U.S. city's name to Fort Vancouver to reduce confusion with its larger and better-known northern neighbor. Many Pacific Northwest residents distinguish between the two cities by referring to the Canadian city as "Vancouver, B.C." and the United States city as "Vancouver, Washington," or "Vancouver, USA."[20][21][22] Local nicknames include "Vantucky" (though this is often used as a derogatory term)[23][24][25][26][27] and "The 'Couv(e)".[28]

Vancouver lies just north of Portland, Oregon, with which it shares a similar climate. Both are classified as warm-summer Mediterranean (Csb) on the Köppen climate classification, with certain key exceptions. High pressures east of the Cascade Range create something of a venturi effect, leading to cold east winds down the Columbia River Gorge. Unsheltered by the Willamette Valley, Vancouver has historically seen colder temperatures, including "silver thaw" storms where freezing rain cakes limbs and power lines. Such storms can paralyze Vancouver. This occasionally freezes the river, and in 1916 cut electric power in the city for almost two weeks. Rainfall occurs frequently throughout the fall, winter, and spring, but ceases around the middle of June, with dry and warm weather lasting through September. Average annual precipitation is 42 in (1,100 mm). Heavy snowfalls are infrequent and snow often falls and doesn't stick, with major snowstorms only occurring every 2–4 years. Close proximity to the river was also a concern for flooding, before dams constricted the river, destroying features such as Celilo Falls. Periodic floods have been a nuisance, with two of the most destructive occurring in June 1894 and May 1948. The 1948 Columbia River flood almost topped the Interstate Bridge's support piers and completely destroyed nearby Vanport, Oregon. Other unusual storms include the Columbus Day Storm of 1962 and an April 5, 1972, tornado which rated F3 on the Fujita scale, striking a local school. An EF1 tornado struck on January 10, 2008, just after noon, causing moderate damage along a two-mile (3.2 km) path from Vancouver Lake to the unincorporated Hazel Dell area.

Because many Vancouver residents work in Portland, there is typically significant rush-hour traffic congestion on two bridges that cross the Columbia River – the Interstate Bridge and the Glenn Jackson Bridge. In 2017 there were 297,932 weekday vehicle crossings on the two bridges.[30]

As of the 2020 census, 190,915 people, and 75,663 households in the county.[2] The population density was 3,917.2/sq mi.The racial makeup of the city was 76.5% White, 2.3% African American, 0.6% Native American, 5.5% Asian, 1.6% Pacific Islander, and 9.1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 14.7% of the population.[2]

The average household size was 2.46 people.[2]

22.1% of the population were under 18, and 6.2% were under 5. 15.7% of people were older than 65. The gender makeup of the city was 50.6% female, and 49.4% male.[2]

The median household income was $67,462, but the per capita income was $36,053. 12.7% of the population was below the poverty line.[2]

The ancestry of the city is 16.1% German, 10.9% English, 9.7% Irish, 3.9% Norwegian, 2.9% Italian, 2.8% French,1.5% Polish, and 0.7% Subsaharan African.[2]

As of the census[34] of 2010, there were 161,791 people, 65,691 households, and 40,246 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,482.4/sq mi (1,344.6/km²). There were 70,005 housing units at an average density of 1,506.8/sq mi (581.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 80.9% White, 2.9% African American, 1.0% Native American, 5.0% Asian, 1.0% Pacific Islander, 4.3% from other races, and 4.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 10.4% of the population.

There were 65,691 households, of which 31.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.6% were married couples living together, 13.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.5% had a male householder with no wife present, and 38.7% were non-families. 30.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 3.02.

The median age in the city was 35.9 years. 24% of residents were under the age of 18; 9.4% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 28.9% were from 25 to 44; 25.3% were from 45 to 64; and 12.4% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.8% male and 51.2% female.

As of the census of 2000, there were 143,560 people, 56,628 households, and 36,298 families living in the city. The population density is 3,354.7 people per square mile (1,295.3 people/km²). There were 60,039 housing units at an average density of 1,403.0 units per square mile (541.7 units/km²). According to the 2010 US Census, The racial makeup of the city was 76.2% White, 2.9% African American, 1.0% Native American, 5.0% Asian, 1.0% Pacific Islander, and 4.80% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 10.4% of the population.[35] 16.4% were of German, 9.2% English, 8.4% Irish and 7.9% American ancestry. 89.2% spoke English, 5.1% Spanish, 3.2% Russian, 1.4% Ukrainian and 1.1% Vietnamese at home.

There were 56,628 households, out of which 33.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.3% were married couples living together, 12.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.9% were non-families. 27.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 3.06.

In the city, 26.7% of the population was under the age of 18, 9.8% was from 18 to 24, 32.1% from 25 to 44, 20.6% from 45 to 64, and 10.7% was 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.8 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $41,618, and the median income for a family was $47,696. Males had a median income of $37,306 versus $26,940 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,192. 9.4% of families and 12.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.1% of those under the age of 18 and 8.2% of those 65 and older.

According to the city's 2012 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report,[44] the largest employers in the city are:

PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center is the largest employer in Vancouver.

Grant Street Pier, on Vancouver waterfront

Clark County Historical Museum

In 1997, the city of Vancouver decided to dedicate the next 15–20 years to redeveloping and revitalizing the downtown core, west of I-5 and south of Evergreen Boulevard. The first projects started in the early 2000s with the construction of many tall condominium structures around Esther Short Park. The most lauded outside investment was the construction of a Hilton hotel directly across from the park. The Downtown redevelopment of Vancouver continued after a slowdown during the 2009–2012 recession. Numerous projects began to rise up around the city core and as of mid-2020 more than three dozen projects with mid-rise or high-rise structures were completed, under construction, or proposed.[45][46]

In 2016 the first ground was broken[47] for the $1.5 billion, 21-block redevelopment of Vancouver's waterfront at the former site of Boise Cascade Paper Mill. The site had been inaccessible to the public for more than 100 years. The project was planned for 3,300 residential units, and roughly 1 million square feet of office and retail space.[48] Around 15,000 people were in attendance for the official grand opening, in 2018, of the project and associated public space including Grant Street Pier, a cable-stayed viewing deck that extends out over the Columbia River.[49][50]

The Redevelopment of Terminal One master plan was approved by the city council in 2017.[51] This $500 million project will include multiple phases over several years including a seven-story AC Marriott hotel that began site preparation and construction in late 2019.[52] Future plans in the master plan called for a mixed-use complex of mid-rise buildings on four blocks and a complete rebuild of the original 100-year Terminal One dock and pier. A public open-air market is also planned.

The Columbian newspaper moved to a new seven-story office building adjacent to the Hilton in 2008. Two years later, The Columbian filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and the building defaulted to Bank of America. In June 2010, the City of Vancouver agreed to purchase the office building for use as a new city hall for $18.5 million, a fraction of the $41.5 million sale price the owners of The Columbian office building had been asking prior to filing for bankruptcy. In 2011, the city consolidated five separate buildings housing 300 employees into the new building, located at 415 W. 6th Street. The move saved the city approximately $1 million a year in facility lease and maintenance costs.[53]

The Fort Vancouver Regional Library District opened a new library on C Street at Evergreen Boulevard in 2011. Future plans on C Street include a new Marriott hotel and roughly 250 new condominiums.

Panoramic scrolling image of Vancouver skyline taken from Hayden Island in 2023.

Every June since 2006, the Recycled Arts Festival held in Esther Short Park has featured the work of dozens of artists whose creations are made from at least 75% reused or recycled materials, along with live music and food.[56]

Since the mid-1960s, Vancouver hosted a Fourth of July fireworks display on the grounds of Fort Vancouver National Historic Site that draws many people to the city. The display routinely ran to 45 minutes, attracted up to 60,000 visitors and was broadcast on area television, one of the largest west of the Mississippi River. Due to the death of key organizer "Mister Fireworks" Jim Larson and a poor economy, the show was not held in 2009.[57] A shorter, redesigned show debuted in 2010 and brought in approximately 35,000 people.[58] As of 2019, The Historic Trust (formerly the "Fort Vancouver National Trust"[59]) continues to organize the fireworks event.[60] The fireworks were not held in 2020 or 2021 due to COVID-19.[61]

4 Days of Aloha, also known as the Hawaiian Festival, takes place in late July in Esther Short Park, Clark College, and Fort Vancouver. Started in 2012 by "Aunty" Deva Yamashiro, a hula dancer and self-appointed cultural ambassador for Hawaii, the festival features live music, dance performances, craft workshops, and a celebration of Hawaiian food, arts, and culture.[62]

Late August features the Vancouver Wine and Jazz Festival in Esther Short Park, which brought 13,500 attendees in 2012 and which is considered the largest jazz festival in the Pacific Northwest.[63][64]

The Marshall House in Officers Row, built in 1886 and later named after George C. Marshall

Mother Joseph was one of the first architects in the region, and because of its relatively long history, Vancouver contains a variety of buildings. Homes vary from Victorians and craftsman bungalows downtown, to small wartime tract housing and ranch-styles mid-town, with rural styles and larger homes in the outer ring. In addition to the reconstructed Fort Vancouver at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, the city was named one of the National Register of Historic Places' "Dozen Distinctive Destinations" for 2003.[65]

Other notable buildings in Vancouver include:

• The Covington House at 4201 Main Street, a log cabin and boarding school built 1846–1848
• Officers Row, including the Grant House (first house on the Columbia Barracks) and the Queen Anne-style 1866 Marshall House
• Mother Joseph's Providence Academy, dedicated in 1873, where Evergreen Boulevard crosses Interstate 5
• The Proto-Cathedral of St. James the Greater (formerly St. James Church) saw its first Roman Catholic Mass celebrated August 16, 1885
• The Carnegie library at Sixteenth and Main, which opened on New Year's Eve 1909, to showcase its unusual electric lights; it is now the site of the Clark County Historical Museum
• The 1914 Chicago-style U.S. National Bank (now the Heritage Building) at sixth and Main
• The 1916 U.S. Post Office at 1211 Daniels Street
• The vertical-lift Interstate Bridge, which opened on February 14, 1917, Oregon's 58th anniversary
• The 1935 art deco telephone exchange building at Eleventh and Washington
• The 1941 Clark County Courthouse, designed by prolific local architect Day Hillborn
• Smith Tower, a round downtown apartment building for the elderly, built in 1965
• The Hilton Hotel and Vancouver Convention Center across from Esther Short Park

Many of these buildings have been repurposed. The 1867 Slocum House, an Italianate villa-style residence originally built one block south of its current location in Esther Short Park, was moved to its present location in 1966 and now houses a winery and art gallery.[66] The Carnegie Library was expanded in the 1940s, becoming the Clark County Historical Museum after a new library was built in 1963. Other buildings have been torn down for urban renewal or renovated to house professional offices for lawyers and accountants.

Vancouver has two school districts: Vancouver Public Schools and Evergreen School District.

The Vancouver Public Schools cover most of west Vancouver and has seven high schools: Hudson's Bay High School, Columbia River High School, Fort Vancouver High School, Lewis and Clark High School, Skyview High School, Vancouver School of Arts and Academics, and Vancouver iTech Preparatory (grades 6–12). It also has six middle schools: Alki Middle School, Discovery Middle School, Gaiser Middle School, Jason Lee Middle School, Thomas Jefferson Middle School, and McLoughlin Middle School.

Vancouver Public Schools' elementary schools include Sarah J. Anderson, Chinook, Eisenhower, Felida, Ben Franklin, Fruit Valley Community Learning Center, Harney, Hazel Dell, Hough, Martin Luther King, Lake Shore, Lincoln, Marshall, Minnehaha, Peter S. Ogden, Eleanor Roosevelt, Sacajawea, Salmon Creek, Truman, Walnut Grove, and Washington.

The Evergreen School District covers most of east Vancouver and has seven high schools: Evergreen High School, Mountain View High School, Henrietta Lacks Health and Bioscience High School, Heritage High School, Union High School, Legacy High School, and Cascadia Technical Academy (formerly Clark County Vocational Skills Center).[67]

The district has six middle schools: Cascade, Covington, Frontier, Pacific, Shahala, and Wy'East.

Evergreen School District's 21 elementary schools are: Burton, Burnt Bridge Creek, Columbia Valley, Crestline, Ellsworth, Emerald, Endeavour, Fircrest, Fisher's Landing, Harmony, Hearthwood, Illahee, Image, Marrion, Mill Plain, Orchards, Pioneer, Riverview, Sifton, Silver Star, Sunset, and York.

Vancouver is also home to the Washington School for the Deaf and Washington School for the Blind, and (through Evergreen School District) Home Choice Academy, for home-schoolers.

• Clark College (two-year)
• Gateway Seminary
• Washington State University, Vancouver

Vancouver's public transit service is provided by C-Tran.

Vancouver has two interstate freeways, I-5 and I-205, both of which run north–south, across the Columbia River into Portland and toward Seattle. It also has two heavily travelled state highways within the city limits. SR 14 begins at I-5 in downtown Vancouver and makes its way east. It is a freeway all the way until Camas. SR 500 begins from I-5 at 39th Street in north Vancouver, travels east connecting with I-205, and continues east into the suburb of Orchards where the freeway terminates at Fourth Plain Boulevard, and meets with the south end of north–south-oriented 117th Ave., SR 503. A third state highway, SR 501, starts at I-5 and heads west through downtown and continues along a path that runs between the Columbia River and Vancouver Lake.

The area's mass transit system is C-Tran, the Clark County Public Transportation Benefit Area Authority, which operates 135 buses, vanpools, and paratransit vehicles. There are also a number of express routes into Portland's downtown.

There have been multiple discussions about extending Portland's Max Light Rail system into Vancouver. In 1995, Clark County voters rejected a ballot measure that would have funded a light rail extension north into Vancouver.[68] Opposition to paying for light rail was strong at that time, but slowly declined over the following several years, eventually leading Vancouver officials to begin discussing the idea again.[69][70] Meanwhile, TriMet reconstituted its planned MAX line to Vancouver as a shorter line running only within Portland, which could potentially be extended across the river and into Clark County at a later date. This extension of the MAX system opened in 2004 as the Yellow Line,[71] running as far north as the Portland Expo Center, approximately 1 mile (2 km) south of downtown Vancouver. In 2012, Vancouver voters rejected a sales tax proposal to fund light rail operations in connection with the Columbia River Crossing proposal.[72] In 2022, Interstate Bridge Replacement Program includes a new proposal for a light rail extension into downtown Vancouver.[73]

Vancouver has always been well served by rail; current freight railroads operating in Vancouver include the BNSF, Union Pacific, and the local shortline Lewis and Clark Railway. Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides service to Vancouver Station. The long-distance Coast Starlight and Empire Builder serve the city, as well as the regional Amtrak Cascades.

Pearson Field, located near downtown Vancouver, is the main airport serving the city. The airport is intended primarily for general aviation without any commercial air service. The nearest commercial airport is Portland International Airport (PDX).

In 2008, Vancouver passed a citywide law requiring anyone on a wheeled device such as a bicycle, skateboard, scooter or skates to wear a helmet while on any sidewalk, street, trail or other public property. Many local cyclists opposed the law as a misuse of city funds and police efforts, as well as encroachment on personal freedoms. Despite opposition from the public, the Vancouver City Council passed the measure 5–1 with then Mayor Royce Pollard saying, "...statistics be damned. I support this."[74][75]