Newcastle, Washington, United States

🇺🇸 Newcastle is an Eastside city in King County, Washington, United States.

Although Newcastle was not incorporated until 1994, it has been an important settlement and town since the late 19th century and played a major role in the development of Seattle and the surrounding region. Newcastle was one of the region's first coal mining areas and its railroad link to Seattle was the first in King County. Timber also played a role in the early history of Newcastle. Coal delivered by rail from Newcastle's mines to Seattle fuelled the growth of the Port of Seattle and attracted railroads, most notably the Great Northern Railway.

Based on per capita income, Newcastle ranks 11th of 522 areas in the state of Washington to be ranked. In CNN Money's 2011 rankings of best places to live in the United States, Newcastle was in the top 20, along with nearby Sammamish. It ranked 17th in Newsweek's 2009 rankings of best places to live in the United States.

History Coal was discovered along Coal Creek in 1863 by surveyors Philip H. Lewis and Edwin Richardson, who had been working in the area for the General Land Office. Newcastle was named for the idiom "Coals to Newcastle" by a party of coal surveyors in 1869 according to F. H. Whitworth, who was part of the party. One of them suggested the name "New Castle" which was subsequently adopted by all parties of interest. The idiom itself refers to the English city of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Newcastle (originally spelled "New Castle") as a village was properly established by the 1870s, though the official date given for the founding of the town is 1869, as seen on the seal for the City of Newcastle. By 1872, 75–100 tons of coal per day were being produced at Newcastle. About 60 men worked at the mines. The Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad, the first railroad in King County, reached Newcastle from Seattle in 1878. Coal mining ended in 1963.

The area was an unincorporated area within King County until it incorporated as a city on September 30, 1994. Currently the city is a suburban community. Based on Newcastle's location north of Renton, south of Bellevue, and across Lake Washington from Seattle, these are the communities in which most of the residents of Newcastle work. East of south-east Lake Washington is a large quantity of hilly terrain, which creates opportunities for view properties. This created the impetus for the location of the Newcastle Golf Course, along with many high-value homes at higher elevations with views of downtown Bellevue, Seattle, and Mercer Island, as well as the Olympic Mountains. Notable attractions of the area include the Golf Club at Newcastle, a brand new Family YMCA, Lake Boren Park, a well developed trail system, and nearby Cougar Mountain in the east of Newcastle.

Newcastle and Newport Hills The community was not always known as Newcastle. When suburban development came in the 1960s, the old mining town of Newcastle was long gone and all but forgotten. The area then became known as Newport Hills.

In the early 1990s there was a movement to incorporate as a new city. But some members of the community objected—some believed that the new city would be too small to be viable, while others feared that the city council would be in the pocket of the hilltop golf course. In 1993, five parcels of Newport Hills each voted to annex themselves into Bellevue. Those 5 parcels comprised nearly half the population of the community. They became the Newport Hills neighborhood of Bellevue. When Newport Hills incorporated as a new city the following year, their first order of business was to choose a new name, since it would now be confusing to have a city of Newport Hills adjacent to the Newport Hills neighborhood of Bellevue. Residents voted on Cougar Mountain and Newcastle, and chose the latter.

Geography Coal Creek flows through the city from the Issaquah Alps to Lake Washington.

Newcastle is bordered to the north by Bellevue, to the south by Renton, to the east by unincorporated land on Cougar Mountain, and to the west by Lake Washington.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city of Newcastle has a total area of 4.46 square miles (11.55 km²), of which 4.45 square miles (11.53 km²) are land and 0.01 square miles (0.03 km²) are water.

Golf Newcastle is known for its 36-hole, 350-acre (140 ha) golf complex, which features two championship, 18-hole courses known as the Coal Creek and China Creek courses. Designed by golf course architect Robert E. Cupp in consultation with PGA Masters champion Fred Couples and in partnership with Oki Golf, the courses have views of Mount Rainier, Lake Washington, Lake Sammamish, the Olympic and Cascade mountain ranges, and the downtown skylines of the cities of Seattle and Bellevue. Practice and hospitality facilities include a heated driving range, a pro shop, an 18-hole mini-golf/putting range, private (pitching/putting/chipping) practice tees, and a 44,000-square-foot (4,100 m²) clubhouse with restaurants, pubs, and event spaces.