[15] Bellevue was first settled by European Americans in 1869 by William Meydenbauer and Aaron Mercer, who claimed homestead tracts several miles apart.

[16] By the early part of the 20th century, Bellevue had acquired a reputation as a weekend getaway destination for Seattle residents, who would arrive by ferry at Meydenbauer Bay and spend the day at nearby Wildwood Park.

[18] Prior to the opening of the Lake Washington Floating Bridge in 1940, Bellevue was mostly rural farmland area with little development.

[19] He envisioned plans that included the bridging of Lake Washington and an area filled with golf courses and airports.

[20] Once the Murrow Memorial Bridge opened, access from Seattle improved, and the area began to evolve into a bedroom community.

The primary reason was that some 90 percent of the agricultural workforce in the area was of Japanese ancestry, and all of these farmers and their families had been forcibly interned in camps following the start of World War II.

[25] By the 1970 census, Bellevue had become the fourth most populous city in the state of Washington, behind only Seattle, Spokane, and Tacoma.

[26] Bellevue remains one of the largest cities in the state, with several high-rise structures in its core and a burgeoning business community.

[citation needed] These include the Spring District, a mixed-use residential and commercial neighborhood which was developed on 36 acres (15 ha) of industrial land around a future light rail station.

South of I-90, the city continues up Cougar Mountain, at the top of which is an unincorporated King County location called Hilltop.

Bellevue is bordered by the cities of Kirkland to the north and Redmond to the northeast along the Overlake and Crossroads neighborhoods.

[33] Bellevue is an economic hub of the Seattle region's Eastside and home to the headquarters of various sizes, including the U.S. operations for many international firms.

[40][41] Several high-rise residential buildings are also planned in downtown, spurred in part by future light rail service, on former retail and low-rise commercial lots.

As of 2018, one in three Bellevue residents was born outside the United States, most likely due to the prevalence of multinational technology companies in the city.

[10] In a 2020 survey of Centers for Disease Control data, Bellevue was ranked first among small U.S. cities with the highest percentage of physically active adults, with 86 percent reporting that they exercise.

The biennial Bellevue Sculpture Exhibition draws thousands of visitors to the Downtown Park to view up to 46 three-dimensional artworks from artists around the country.

[55] The festival initially began in 1925, and continued to 1942 when many Bellevue's strawberry farmers were incarcerated as part of the Japanese Internment.

After a lengthy fundraising campaign, a remodel, and a new mission to become a national center for the fine art of craft and design, the museum reopened on June 18, 2005 with an exhibition of teapots.

[63] Since the 1970s, the city has taken an active role in ensuring that its commercial development does not overwhelm its natural land and water resources.

The Blackhawks in 2005, despite being ranked 13th in the league, made it to the championship game in front of 15,000 fans in Little Rock, Arkansas.

[68] The Seattle Redhawks of the Western Athletic Conference, an NCAA Division I baseball team, have played their home games in Bellevue since 2010.

[69] Bellevue has a council-manager form of government with seven non-partisan council members elected at large for staggered four-year terms.

[citation needed] Of the 61,742 residents who cast ballots in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, 66.11% voted for Hillary Clinton, compared to 24.58% for Donald Trump.

The Jewish Day School of Metropolitan Seattle is located in Bellevue, serving students from Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 8.

[76] Downtown Bellevue has wide streets with few mid-block connections and an incomplete sidewalk network; it has been labeled as "pedestrian unfriendly" and hostile to cycling.

The Bellevue Transit Center, which serves both Metro and Sound buses, is located in the heart of the downtown business district and is connected to Interstate 405 by NE 6th St. and a direct-access Texas T HOV ramp.

[84] The 2 Line of Sound Transit's Link light rail system is planned to run from Seattle through Mercer Island and Bellevue before ending in Redmond.

[90] Bellevue was also served by a railroad, a Burlington Northern branch line known as the Woodinville Subdivision, which included the historic Wilburton Trestle.

The line is now disused, though part of the track bed at Wilburton Station will be reused by Sound Transit's light-rail construction.

Some sections of the railroad in Bellevue were demolished in 2008 to make way for the expansion of I-405 and will require the construction of additional structures to supplement the existing right of way.