Quincy Update: Some Growth, No Starbucks Yet

For a town like Quincy, built on potatoes and apples, the arrival of high tech has proved an inspirational and a cautionary tale. With its two stoplights, four banks and almost 6,000 residents - two-thirds of them Latino, many of whom work the fields, orchards, vineyards and packing plants - Quincy seemed an unlikely destination for the likes of Intuit, or Microsoft and Yahoo, which also have built data centers in town. The median income ($35,000) and the median price of a home ($108,000) are far below the state medians. Unemployment is relatively high and education levels relatively low - typical of the divide between Washingtonians east of the Cascade Mountains and those west of them. Still, Quincy has done better than many small towns. Some believe the high-tech utilities - which town officials courted - will further transform it.