Burien — Thumbnail History (historylink.org) The City of Burien is located in the Highline area of southwest King County, just west of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and about 14 miles south of downtown Seattle. Incorporated in 1993, Burien contains some of the neighborhoods that developed from homesteads settled in the 1870s and 1880s once Military Road was cut through between Fort Steilacoom near Tacoma and Seattle. Roads connecting the neighborhoods grew into a popular highway dubbed the High Line or Highline Highway between Seattle and Tacoma in 1915, and the name Highline has been used since for this portion of southwestern King County…