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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 VernonAnacortes, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area.


History

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. In early 2020, nine businesses in downtown La Conner announced their closures—mostly attributed to lost revenue during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
and from the cancellation of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.


Geography

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. The town is north of Skagit Bay and is connected to nearby highways by local roads. The center of town, known as "the Hill", 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 The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
. According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the town has a total area of , of which, is land and is water.


Economy

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.


Demographics

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 Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the town was $24,308. About 8.8% of families and 11.8% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 20.3% of those under age 18 and 8.1% of those age 65 or over.


2010 census

As of the 2010 census, there were 891 people, 467 households, and 224 families residing in the town. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was . There were 526 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 87.1%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.7%
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 5.1% Native American, 1.0% Asian, 3.4% from other races, and 2.8% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
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

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.


Notable residents

* Guy Anderson, painter * Brian Cladoosby, politician and president of the National Congress of American Indians * Morris Graves, painter * Art Hupy, photographer and founder of the Museum of Northwest Art * Tom Robbins, novelist * Joseph C. Shell, politician * Barbara Straker James, painter and curator * Hulet M. Wells, radical labor activist


Education

The city lies within the boundaries of the La Conner School District.


Arts and culture

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, with perhaps the best view in town, and the Quilt Museum, 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, Morris Graves, and Richard Gilkey. 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. Also famous for its many feral domestic turkeys, the town named the turkey as their "Official Town Bird in 2005". 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. 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. 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 building opened on October 18, 2022, and includes community spaces, a rooftop solar array, and signage in English, Spanish,
Braille Braille ( , ) is a Tactile alphabet, tactile writing system used by blindness, blind or visually impaired people. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displays that connect to computers and smartphone device ...
, and Lushootseed.


Sister cities

La Conner has the following sister cities. * White Rock, BC, Canada * Kenmare, IrelandLaconner.net
* Olga, Russia * San Rafael del Sur, Nicaragua


References


External links


Town of La Conner

Swinomish Indian Tribal Community
{{Authority control National Register of Historic Places in Skagit County, Washington Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Washington (state) Towns in Skagit County, Washington Towns in Washington (state)