Seattle’s long-ago battle to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. January 18, 2021 at 5:15 am
Activist Eddie Rye, Jr. stands next to the mural of Martin Luther King, Jr. near Cherry Street and MLK Jr. Way. (Feliks Banel) LISTEN: Seattle’s long-ago battle to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Your browser does not support the audio element.
It’s fairly well known around Washington state that King County is named in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Of course, when it was originally named back in 1852, what’s now the State of Washington was part of Oregon Territory, and the county’s namesake was William Rufus DeVane King. King was sworn in as vice president in Cuba and only made it as far as Mobile, Alabama before he died six weeks later in 1853. King’s running mate in the election of 1852 had been, you guessed it, Franklin Pierce.