Bucoda, Washington

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bucoda is a town in Thurston County, Washington, United States. The population was 628 at the 2000 census.

In the 2004 US presidential election, Bucoda cast 51.09% of its vote for Democrat John Kerry [1].

1 History
2 Geography
3 Demographics
4 External links

[edit] History

Bucoda was officially incorporated on June 7, 1910. Originally named "Seatco" a native American word meaning evil spirit or devil. The Northern Pacific located a station at Seatco in 1872. Later, the town saw a boom in coal extraction and sawmilling. It was renamed Bucoda, using the first two letters of three principal investors in the local industrial boom- Buckley, Coulter, and Davis. For a time in the 1870s Bucoda was the site of Washington's first territorial prison. It garnered an infamous reputation as a harsh institution, the inmates used for dangerous and brutal manual labor in coal mining and logging. It was discontinued when the state relocated the operation to Walla Walla.

[edit] Geography

Bucoda is located at 46°47′52″N, 122°52′6″W (46.797722, -122.868454)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.1 km² (0.4 mi²), all land.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 628 people, 219 households, and 169 families residing in the town. The population density was 551.1/km² (1,419.7/mi²). There were 236 housing units at an average density of 207.1/km² (533.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 92.04% White, 0.80% Native American, 2.23% Asian, 0.32% Pacific Islander, 1.27% from other races, and 3.34% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.07% of the population.

There were 219 households out of which 37.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.6% were married couples living together, 15.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.8% were non-families. 13.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.87 and the average family size was 3.18.

In the town the population was spread out with 29.8% under the age of 18, 8.8% from 18 to 24, 29.6% from 25 to 44, 23.4% from 45 to 64, and 8.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 109.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 117.2 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $34,286, and the median income for a family was $32,708. Males had a median income of $36,071 versus $22,321 for females. The per capita income for the town was $16,613. About 18.5% of families and 25.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 41.2% of those under age 18 and 2.7% of those age 65 or over.