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Community Profile: Vancouver - Historic City with a High-Tech Future |
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Written On: May/June 2004 |
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Written By: by Paul Schlienz |
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Vancouver, Washington is a community with deep roots in history and limitless future potential.
Located at the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette rivers, Vancouver was named, in 1792, by British Lieutenant Robert Gray after his commanding officer Captain George Vancouver. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, on their historic mission of exploration, were the first U.S. citizens to see this strategic spot in 1805.
The region, then known as Oregon Country, would come under the dominance of the British Hudson’s Bay Company. In 1825, the company established Fort Vancouver as its administrative headquarters and main supply depot for its fur trade.
By 1843, the Oregon Trail had opened the fertile Willamette Valley to American settlement. Fort Vancouver supplied the settlers. When Britain relinquished all claims to Oregon Country south of the 49th parallel, in 1846, Fort Vancouver became part of the Washington Territory. In 1849, the U.S. Army took over the fort.
Beyond the stockade, a civilian community, incorporated as Vancouver, in 1857, began to grow. The city and surrounding Clark County flooded with settlers. Lumber and agriculture became the economic mainstays.
In the 20th century, Vancouver remained a community where history was made.
In 1937, the first flight over the North Pole took off from Russia and landed at Vancouver’s Pearson Field. During World War II, Vancouver’s Kaiser Shipyards built much of the U.S. Navy’s fleet.
Following World War II, Vancouver was transformed by cheap, hydroelectric power. The aluminum and pulp industries, which use prodigious amounts of electricity, set up shop in Clark County, providing thousands of jobs.
By the 1980s, the beginnings of a high-tech industry could be seen when Sharp Microelectronics moved to Clark County. With easy access to Portland’s highly skilled workforce and cheaper, more plentiful land than could be found in Oregon, Clark County’s nascent high-tech industry grew by leaps and bounds when Washington approved research and development tax breaks in 1989.
In the 1990s, Clark County’s population grew by 45 percent. Semiconductor firms, such as Linear Technologies, SEH, and Wafer Tech all set up shop in the county and provided thousands of well paying, highly skilled jobs.
Then came the dot-com bust and the 9-11 recession. Clark County’s semiconductor industry suffered along with the rest of Washington. Meanwhile, Vancouver’s aluminum industry shut its doors due to the spike in electric rates.
Clark County, like the rest of the state, is slowly emerging from this economic setback. Mightily helping the county rebound is HB 2546, championed by AWB, passed by the Legislature and signed into law in February. This bill renews the research and development tax breaks, which were set to expire this year.
“The tax breaks are going to have a big effect,” said John Marck, president of the Clark County High-Tech Council. “The driving force to keep companies here and to keep them migrating to this area is competitiveness. This area has to be competitive with the rest of the world. If it’s not, companies have to go somewhere else.
“With the signing of that legislation, a number of companies that have R&D strengths in this area are likely to stay. It will probably also encourage other companies to move some of their research and development into the area.”
Oddly, for an area that attracted a high-tech industry, one of Clark County’s greatest vulnerabilities has long been its lack of a four year university. This liability is, however, rapidly disappearing.
North of Vancouver, a Washington State University (WSU) branch campus has greatly expanded educational opportunities for southwest Washington. The campus offers 15 bachelor’s programs and eight graduate programs. WSU-Vancouver students currently take their lower division credits at community colleges and transfer to WSU-Vancouver for upper division and graduate courses. In the near future, the campus will also offer lower division courses.
Boasting a new engineering and science institute, WSU-Vancouver has strong links to Clark County’s high-tech industry.
“State funding for that engineering and science institute really came as a result of those high-tech businesses who want to recruit locally in those fields,” said Jennifer Lightheart of WSU-Vancouver. “Those companies have been very generous in donating equipment and other features in our Engineering and Life Sciences Building.”
Vancouver’s economic vitality can also be seen along the Columbia River. The Port of Vancouver is an enormous presence in Clark County. With four terminals and 13 working berths, the port is the third largest in Washington, and has generated 5,500 jobs. With Vancouver’s excellent rail and highway connections, cargo can easily be transported to and from the port over land.
The port, which is the West Coast port of entry for Subaru of America, also handles agricultural products, wood chips, lumber, minerals, and liquid cargo. Reflecting the decline of the Northwest’s aluminum industry, it is now receiving aluminum imports.
Most exciting of all are the port’s prospects for future expansion.
“We have another 11,000 acres of property called Columbia Gateway that is not developed,” stated Maureen Chan-Heflin, the port’s spokesperson. “We are looking at development on 550 acres. We hope to have this property ready in three to five years.”
Long overshadowed by nearby Portland in population, Vancouver is coming into its own as a center of commerce and a great place to live or visit. Centered around Esther Short Park, Washington’s oldest public square, Vancouver’s formerly neglected downtown bursts with life, activity and new construction. A convention center and Hilton hotel are coming in 2005. Vancouver’s riverfront is accessible to the public through beautiful parks and trails.
Vancouver’s rich history is plainly visible at the Fort Vancouver National Historic site, which features a replica of the original Hudson’s Bay Company fort, U.S. Army barracks and the beautiful Officer’s Row. Nearby Pearson Field, with its vintage aircraft museum, remains the oldest active U.S. airfield.
“Vancouver’s attracted a lot of sharp people, and we’ve got some interesting, neat things here,” concluded Bruce Holmstrom, owner of the Vancouver Oil Company. “It’s a great place to live.”
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