Hilltop is the second-oldest cooperative residential development in King County. It was established in 1947, founded by individuals who, after bypassing convential real estate developers, planned a community that was founded on the desire to utilize principles of modern planning and architectural design to enhance the natural beauty of each home site and to make possible a sharing of benefits and opportunities among the members on as equal and democratic a basis as possible. Founding members intended that site plans and buildings should have a straightforward contemporary character and that there should be no racial restrictions and no requirements as to the size or cost of homes. [Source: A half-century on the hill: collected memories from 50 years of community living. Edited by Connie Reed, et al. Hilltop, Wash.: Hilltop Community, 1998?]