Kenmore Air Harbor is the largest seaplane-only passenger facility of its kind in the United States.

[5] Kenmore is connected to nearby areas by State Route 522 and the Burke-Gilman Trail, which both run east–west along the lakeshore.

Kenmore's official flower is the dahlia, bird the great blue heron, and evergreen the rhododendron.

[6][7] Among them were the "ssts'p-abc" ("meander dwellers"), who settled near the river's mouth at two villages—the larger of which was "tlah-WAH-dees" between modern-day Kenmore and Bothell.

[7][8] The Sammamish were removed from their lands in 1856 following the Puget Sound War and moved to the Port Madison and Tulalip Indian reservations.

[9] Scotsman John McMasters and his wife Annie arrived in Puget Sound in May 1889 from Kenmore, Ontario, intending to establish themselves in the shingle-making trade.

McMasters and his business partner, Chris Kruse, leased land from Squire and opened a shingle mill on the northeastern shore of Lake Washington on January 1, 1901.

Although relatively close to Seattle proper thanks to Bothell Way's status as one of the few improved roads then heading north from downtown it was nonetheless far enough out that Department of Revenue officers could, for the most part, ignore it.

The Blind Pig, a roadhouse on Shuter's Landing at Lake Washington, was probably the most famous of the Kenmore speakeasys.

Routine violence and fist-fights at the Inglewood Tavern earned that establishment an alternative name: the Bucket of Blood.

This archipelago of dining and entertainment - over 30 different restaurants, dance halls, bars, and clubs in a three-block area - remained a major part of Kenmore's identity through the 1940s.

Once the Great Depression hit, Kenmore became home for a small settlement of workers under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Back to the Land program.

After the end of World War II, Kenmore became home to US Army Nike Hercules missile batteries as part of cold-war era defense plans.

These nuclear-tipped anti-aircraft missiles were intended to protect Seattle and environs from Soviet bombers, should war break out.

At the same time, Kenmore's immediate proximity to Seattle—just two miles (3 km) north of modern Seattle city limits— made it an early target of post-war housing development.

Housing development continued throughout the Kenmore area for the next several decades, mostly following the postwar suburban model; industrial and commercial growth followed quickly behind, and within a few decades, most of the old Kenmore dining and drinking had vanished, replaced by shopping centers, industrial development, and housing.

The city gained its first college in 1996, with the relocation of Bastyr University from Seattle onto the grounds of the former St. Edward Seminary.

[14] The idea gained popular support through the 1990s, however, partly in response to the passage of the Washington State Growth Management Act of 1990.

Formation of an exploration committee in 1995 led to a successful public vote shortly thereafter, and the city formally incorporated on August 31, 1998, 97 years after its original founding.

Design plans were submitted to the city the following summer, with a conceptual overview made available to the public at the same time.

As such, it is usually considered Marine west coast in nature, with damp, cool winters, and mild, dry summers, despite being further north than cities such as Toronto, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec.

[citation needed] Kenmore also hosts one of the last industrial ports on Lake Washington, at the mouth of the Sammamish River.

Larger local businesses near the port include Rinker Materials's Kenmore plant, Kenmore Ready-Mix (cements and asphalts, a division of Glacier Northwest), Pacific Topsoils (topsoils and landscape construction materials), Michael Homchick Stoneworks (stone fabrication and installation), Plywood Supply (lumber, plywood, and millwork, wholesale, retail, and company headquarters), and several others.

City of Kenmore police duties are subcontracted through the King County Sheriff's Office; the original City of Kenmore Fire Department's duties were expanded via agreement with nearby Lake Forest Park, becoming the Northshore Fire Department.

Once a month, a Kenmore city government update is printed within the newspaper as a two- to four-page supplement.

For its part, the city also sends out a quarterly eight-page newsletter to all residents discussing government activities, development project status reports, budgetary summaries, and a community events calendar.