Set on the impressive beauty of the Pacific Northwest is a lively urban hub -- Seattle also known as the “Emerald City”. The rich cultural history of Seattle includes contributions from the indigenous people, as well as from Scandinavians, Africans, Asian and Latinos, which were subsequently pulled by the thriving economy of the city.

In Seattle today, businesses like Boeing, Microsoft and Amazon are becoming a house of innovation. The Emerald City still attracts transplants and immigrants from around the world as one of the fastest-growing cities in United States of America.

Have you ever questioned why Seattle was named as the “Emerald City”? Okay, so let me give you a little history about that. Way back 1982, the Seattle-King County Convention and Visitors Bureau embraces “The Emerald City” as a sobriquet for Seattle and integrates it into a logo to encourage tourism. The Convention and Visitors Bureau pick out the name after putting on a competition for the city’s best nickname. A few participated in the competition and the lucky winner was California based writer and photographer -- Sarah Sterling-Franklin.

Majority of every city has its own nickname and also has an interesting back story for each. Most of the people in Seattle don’t even know it is being called the Emerald City. Some people think that Emerald City is from the Wizard of Oz but that has nothing to do with Seattle, right? I myself had the thought that Seattle is into emeralds (the gemstone) that’s why it’s called the Emerald City, but actually it has nothing to do with Seattle’s nickname either.

So I guess we are all wondering why it is called the Emerald City, let us not bewildered by it anymore. Based on my research, it is very visible for Seattle’s nickname for the reason that it has much to do with the city’s green scenery. We all know that Seattle is pretty much filled with greens, a lot of trees and mountains covered with greens. It is also inclined to Washington State being the Evergreen State. Seattle’s urban wonderland is surrounded by lush, dark green coastal rain-forests.

Why is Seattle so Green?

Seattle is ranked being number four world-wide and number two in the United States as the greenest city. Trees are not just nice backdrops in cities. These also help to cool and clean the air; give people shade, create wildlife homes, and make precipitation a benefit rather than something that is directed immediately towards storm sewers. We all want to be surrounded by calm and clean environment, right? This will give us a peace of mind as we drive by and explore the city.

When you take a drive form the south, you will definitely see lots and lots of evergreens, there are no shortage of greenery in Seattle. When you look around you will see green everywhere. The city is simply screened with all kinds of greenery throughout the year. It varies from all shapes and sizes. There are shrubs, ferns, moss trees and even wildflowers.

There are landmarks in the city which embodies Seattle’s nickname. There is Discovery Park which is known to be a full forest, the Washington Park Arboretum which holds a world class collection of woody plants and botanic garden.

Certainly, some seasons are greener than others. But you would be surprised to know that the summer season is when Seattle is the greenest, and it has to do with the rainy period that gives life to greenery scenes and which starts in September, and continues in autumn and winter. But there is not that much rain during summer, and there are even lawns that dry up as well.

The Emerald City is also often called the Rain City – for a very obvious reason, the Coffee Capital of World – this is the Origin of Starbucks, and Jet City -- because Boeing is located in the area. It is not atypical to see these names in businesses around the city or to use them here and there casually.

Other Nicknames in the Northwest City

Cities tend to have their own nicknames, as mentioned earlier. You may want to know what other northwest cities are also called.

Bellevue – It has been dubbed as “City in a Park”. For it is known to have many parks and trails. Parks in Bellevue are well-known for their breathtaking beauty.

Chewelah – Known to be the “Place For All Seasons”. This city is visitor friendly; people love to see the clean and pristine part of the State. The area is thriving in natural resources like, mountains, national parks and forests, lakes and streams. You can visit this place whether Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall.

Gig Harbor – Dubbed as the Maritime City, it is pretty obvious why they called this place the Maritime City since it grew up around the harbor being there and still has a major maritime presence.

Puyallup – This city is labeled as “The Land of Generous People”. The city’s name came from an Indian phrase meaning “the generous people”. The Indians are firm believer to always give more than needed or expected to other Indians who come to trade.

Spokane – The city’s nickname is the “Lilac City” which refers to a flowering shrub that has prospers since its introduction to the area in the early 20th century.