The county was originally named after William Rufus King who was Vice-President when the Washington Territory was created. In 1986 a motion was introduced by Ron Sims (a black Democrat from Seattle), and Bruce Laing (a white Republican from suburban Renton) to rename the county after Martin Luther King, Jr.[1] No public hearings or votes were taken on the change.[2] On February 24, 1986, the King County Council passed Council Motion 6461 five votes to four setting forth the historical basis for the renaming of King County in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.[3] Because only the state can charter counties, this change was not made official until April 19, 2005, when Washington Governor Christine Gregoire signed Senate Bill 5332 into law. Council member Larry Gossett shepherded the County Council to a public vote on February 27, 2006 to change the county’s logo from a royal crown to an image of King’s face.[4]On March 12, 2007, the new logo was unveiled.[5] Martin Luther King Jr. visited King County only once during his lifetime for two days in November 1961.[6] So King County, which contains Seattle, was named for William Rufus King for A HUNDRED AND THRITY FIVE YEARS (1852-1986) before the King County Council decided to change which King it was supposedly named for… How ridiculous is this?!?!? Imagine if we decided that Vancouver was no longer named for George Vancouver but some other, more recognizable, person with the same surname?
