W. T. Preston

The Wilson Hotel (also known as the Wilson Block) is a historic building in downtown Anacortes, Washington, United States. It was built in 1890 during a speculative land boom when cites across northern Puget Sound were competing to become the western terminus of the Great Northern Railway's transcontinental route. It was designed by Pickles and Sutton and built by David Wilson, all of Tacoma, and was built of locally made brick. The building's design is Romanesque with masticated stone bases, rounded windows and roman arches. Rechristened the New Wilson Hotel after a remodeling in 1911, The hotel was expanded in 1926 with a 4-story addition that matched the height of the original 3-story building. It served as a hotel into the 1970s when it was converted to apartments. Recently, the Wilson underwent complete restoration and earthquake retrofitting. The work was completed in 2007. The Wilson currently features retail on the main floor and low income housing on the upper floors.

The Department of Safety was an artist-run community space founded in 2002, located in Anacortes, Washington's old police and fire station. It housed an all-ages music venue, art gallery, artist residency program, zine library, darkroom, artists' studios and living amenities for a handful of residents. Department of Safety provided hostel accommodations for travelers from 2002 until 2005, when the operators decided to focus on the Artist in Residence program. Department of Safety hosted music festivals, workshops, high school classes, hundreds of concerts, art exhibits, recording sessions, weddings, halloween parties and lectures.

Anacortes High School is a high school in Anacortes, Washington, United States. It is operated by Anacortes School District, also known as Anacortes School District No. 103.A building project at the school led to a claim from Sturgeon Electric, an electrical construction subcontractor, over unexpected expenses.

Anacortes ( AN-ə-KOR-təs) is a city in Skagit County, Washington, United States. The name "Anacortes" is an adaptation of the name of Anne Curtis Bowman, who was the wife of early Fidalgo Island settler Amos Bowman. Anacortes' population was 17,637 at the time of the 2020 census. It is one of two principal cities of and included in the Mount Vernon-Anacortes Metropolitan Statistical Area. Anacortes is known for the Washington State Ferries dock and terminal serving Lopez Island, Shaw Island, Orcas Island, and San Juan Island. There is also a Skagit County-operated ferry that serves Guemes Island, a residential island located across Guemes Channel, north of Anacortes.

Guemes Island is a small island in western Skagit County, Washington, United States. It is located north of Fidalgo Island and the city of Anacortes, and is accessible by private boat and by the Guemes Island ferry operated by Skagit County. Guemes Island was named after the Viceroy of New Spain, Juan Vicente de Güemes, who commissioned an expedition that revealed the islands to Spain in 1794.

The Oyster Run is a motorcycle rally held annually each September since 1981 in Anacortes, Washington. It is the largest rally in the Pacific Northwest with 2006 attendance estimated in the tens of thousands.There was no rally in 2020 or 2021 due to the pandemic.

Washington's 40th legislative district is one of forty-nine districts in Washington state for representation in the state legislature. The district includes San Juan County as well as portions of Whatcom and Skagit counties.The district's legislators are state senator Liz Lovelett and state representatives Debra Lekanoff (position 1) and Alex Ramel (position 2), all Democrats.

Little Cranberry Lake is located within Anacortes Community Forest Lands on Fidalgo Island in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Washington. The lake is deepened by a dam on the northern end which was constructed in the 1930s. The previous dam had broken in 1921 releasing a large amount of water which crashed down the hills to the beach.The lake basin is part of a 10-mile long, north-south wilderness corridor that roughly follows an ancient moraine, which snakes its way down the middle of the island. This moraine is a major source of gravel for the region which adjoins Anacortes, Washington. The trails in this corridor are maintained but are of variable quality. Almost all are ideal for mountain biking, in particular. Little Cranberry Lake is a popular swimming location, especially for visitors to the annual summer music celebration, What the Heck Fest.

The 2010 Tesoro Anacortes Refinery disaster was an industrial accident that occurred at the Tesoro Anacortes Refinery in Anacortes, Washington on April 2, 2010. Seven workers received fatal burns in an explosion and ensuing fire when a heat exchanger violently ruptured after a maintenance restart.

Anacortes Community Forest Lands (ACFL) consists of mostly forested lands surrounding and adjoining Little Cranberry, Heart, and Whistle Lakes on Fidalgo Island, west and south of Anacortes, Washington. Its highest point is Mount Erie, the highest point on the island at 1,273 feet (388 m). Sugarloaf, 1,044 feet (318 m) and 0.6 miles (1.0 km) north of Mount Erie, is its second highest peak. As well as the aforementioned lakes, ACFL contains a number of smaller lakes, ponds and wetlands. ACFL originated in the August 2, 1919, purchase by the city of Washington Power, Light and Water Company equipment and lands for $135,000. Prior to 1989, the forest was logged for the revenue that it produced. In the late 1980s, the forest produced little or no net income and a community organization, Friends of the Forest, was formed to oppose logging. Subsequently, a survey by the Parks Department indicated that the community favored non-forestry uses of those lands, and a study showed that the forest trails were highly valued for recreational use. In 1990, the Forest Endowment Fund was started. On April 15, 1991, the City Council ended logging, except to remove downed or dangerous trees, from the permitted uses of the forest. In 1998, a Conservation Easement Program (CEP) was adopted by the city council as a means of funding ACFL and preserving the forest. Contributions to the CEP preserve the forest at a rate of $1000 per acre. The conservation easements are held and monitored by Skagit Land Trust. As of mid-2007, over $1.5 million had been contributed and 1,500 acres (6.1 km2) was preserved.The forest includes lakes, bogs and wetlands, low mountains and rocky cliffs. Most of the forest has been logged once or twice, but a notable grove of low-elevation old-growth forest remains. The upper story is dominated by Pinaceae (Pine Family) including Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas-fir), Tsuga heterophylla (Western Hemlock), Pinus contorta (Shore Pine), and Abies grandis (Grand Fir), as well as Acer macrophyllum (Bigleaf Maple), Arbutus menziesii (Pacific Madrone), and Alnus rubra (Red Alder). Important understory species are Gaultheria shallon (Salal) and Acer circinatum (Vine Maple).

Fidalgo is an unincorporated community in Skagit County, in the U.S. state of Washington.

The Puget Sound Refinery is an oil refinery on March Point near Anacortes, Washington, United States. It is operated by HF Sinclair and is one of the largest employers in Skagit County. The refinery has a capacity of 145,000 barrels a day, making it the 52nd largest in the United States, in 2015, with facilities that include a delayed coker, fluid catalytic cracker, polymerization unit and alkylation units. HF Sinclair’s refinery produces three grades of gasoline, fuel oil, diesel fuel, propane and butane. This plant is currently the only refinery in Washington state unable to accommodate tight oil via rail. The permitting process is currently underway for the proposed 60,000 b/d unloading capacity of the East Gate Rail Project.