Showing 1 - 20 of 127 results
Aberdeen -- Thumbnail History
Aberdeen is located at the confluence of the Chehalis and Wishkah rivers at the head of Grays Harbor, at the southern end of the Olympic Peninsula. The region's rich fisheries and abundant timber supported a number of Native American communities and served to attract white American settlement in the mid-nineteenth century. During the latter half of the nineteenth century a number of small communities were established on Grays Harbor, but Aberdeen quickly grew to dominate as the commercial and cultural hub. Lumber, fisheries, and shipbuilding have fueled the local economy for much of the region's history, but recently extractive industries have declined and tourism and commercial retail have increased.
File 7390: Full Text >
Arlington -- Thumbnail History
The City of Arlington is situated in one of the most beautiful river valleys in Western Washington, the Stillaguamish. Flanked by the river and its forks, this rural Snohomish County town has a rich history of logging and agriculture. Incorporated in 1903, it has seen tremendous growth in the past decade, yet manages to keep its small town flavor at its core.
File 8416: Full Text >
Auburn -- Thumbnail History
The city of Auburn, located 20 miles south of Seattle, was home to some of the earliest white settlers in King County. Nestled in a fertile river valley, it has been both a farm community and a center of business and industry for more than 150 years.
File 675: Full Text >
Bainbridge Island (Winslow) -- Thumbnail History
Eagle Harbor lies on the eastern side of Bainbridge Island, which is located in central Puget Sound directly west of Seattle. Until 1990 the community situated on the harbor was named Winslow. In 1990 Winslow voted to annex the entire island and the following year it voted to change its name to Bainbridge Island. The town on the harbor began in the 1870s as a handful of white settlers in a community called Madrone. Farming formed the foundation of the town's economy and fueled its growth, with the most notable crop eventually becoming strawberries grown by Japanese American farmers. In 1902 Hall Brothers Shipbuilding moved their operation to Eagle Harbor, and Madrone changed its name to Winslow (after Winslow Hall). The firm became the predominate industry. During the latter half of the twentieth century the easy ferry commute to Seattle spurred residential development, which continues today.
File 8274: Full Text >
Barneston -- Thumbnail History
The company mill town of Barneston, located in King County 40 miles southeast of Seattle, manufactured 15 million to 25 million feet of timber annually for most of a quarter-century. Established in 1898, the town prospered along the Cedar River until the City of Seattle disallowed all human habitation within the watershed in order to keep the water pure. Barneston was razed in 1924.
File 2489: Full Text >
Bellevue -- Thumbnail History
The City of Bellevue is a modern, metropolitan community dotted with skyscrapers. Although it didn't incorporate until 1953 and has experienced most of its rapid growth since then, its history goes back many decades, as a farming center, inland port, and milling center.
File 313: Full Text >
Bellingham -- Thumbnail History
In 1852, two Californians in search of site for a lumber mill arrived at the mouth of northwest Washington's Whatcom Creek, on the edge of the Puget Sound. The spot was close to the forests and streams they would need to supply and power their lumber business, and it had a good harbor that they could use to ship their products to market in San Francisco. The same natural bounty soon drew other newcomers. They formed four settlements: Whatcom, Sehome, Fairhaven, and Bellingham. In 1904, after a series of consolidations, the four towns became one city: Bellingham, at the time the state's fourth-largest municipality. Yet even as the town boomed, most of its citizens -- miners, cannery workers, railroad builders, and loggers -- counted on the land and water around them for their livelihoods. At the beginning of the twenty-first century Bellingham still relies on the land to survive, but now caters to skiers, hikers, kayakers, and sightseers.
File 7904: Full Text >
Black Diamond -- Thumbnail History
The city of Black Diamond, located along the Cascade Mountain range, in King County, 25 miles southeast of Seattle, was built as a company town for the Black Diamond Coal Company in the late 1800s.
File 460: Full Text >
Blaine -- Thumbnail History
Blaine (Whatcom County) is located in extreme Northwestern Washington; the northern edge of its city limit is the Canadian border. The area was originally inhabited by a band of Native Americans known as the Semiahmoo. Caucasian settlers first arrived in 1858 during the Fraser River Gold Rush, when not one, but two communities named Semiahmoo were briefly established. Permanent settlement came in 1870, and eventually the two Semiahmoos became one Blaine. In the early twentieth century, Blaine was known for its canneries, including one of the largest in the country, the Alaska Packers Association, located on Semiahmoo Spit. Today (2009) the four-star Semiahmoo Resort sits on the spit, and on the northern outskirts of Blaine the Peace Arch and Peace Arch Park provide a unique and attractive gateway for those entering or leaving the United States. In 2008, the U.S. Census estimated Blaine's population at 4,975.
File 9148: Full Text >
Bothell -- Thumbnail History
Loggers founded the King County community that became Bothell in the 1880s. After the trees were cut, Bothell became a farm community on the highway between Seattle and Everett. After World War II, the community grew into a suburb as homes took over the farms and dairy pastures. Between 1950 and 1992, the city expanded and the population multiplied 25 times. By the end of the twentieth century, Bothell reached out of King County and had become the third largest employment center in Snohomish County.
File 4190: Full Text >
Carnation/Tolt -- Thumbnail History
Carnation (previously Tolt), a rural community along the Snoqualmie River in eastern King County, was founded early in the settlement of the county. The town was named after the world-famous Carnation Dairy, a dairy operation that located in Tolt in 1910.
File 391: Full Text >
Cashmere -- Thumbnail History
The town of Cashmere in Chelan County has to be one of the most picturesque in the state of Washington. It is situated on the southern bank of the Wenatchee River about midway between its turbulent upper reaches at Leavenworth and its more placid confluence with the Columbia at Wenatchee. The 8,500-foot Mt. Cashmere, called Po-Kum by the Wenatchi Indians, and neighboring peaks of the Cascades are clearly visible to the west. The narrow benches of land surrounding the town are covered with fruit orchards. The area was once the domain of the Sinpesquensi (or Sinkaensi or Sinpeskuensi) band of the Wenatchi, who found a bountiful supply of food in the salmon, camas roots, berries, and game animals of the region. The first white settlers called the tiny village Mission, or Old Mission, after the Catholic work established among the Indians along Mission Creek, which flows into the Wenatchee at present Cashmere. The first white settler was Alexander Brender (b. 1851), an immigrant from Germany. William Bourgwardt and D. S. Farrar soon followed. The settlemen's growth was assured with the coming of the Great Northern Railway in 1892 and the town was platted the same year. A post office was established in 1889 with John Frank Woodring as postmaster. In 1904 Mission was incorporated and the name changed to Cashmere. The introduction of irrigation in much of the Wenatchee Valley greatly enhanced agriculture, particularly the growing of apples and other fruit, for which Cashmere has become renowned. Today Cashmere thrives on a combination of fruit production, tourism, and a small industry for which it is famous, the candymakers Aplets & Cotlets. In 2007 the population was 2,820.
File 8750: Full Text >
Cathlamet -- Thumbnail History
As you approach Cathlamet by water, this small town still retains the look of a turn-of-the-century riverfront village. The only incorporated town in Wahkiakum County, this historic community rising up the hillside from the northern banks of the lower Columbia River has seen its share of history float by its shores. Long before the town of Cathlamet came into being, the land on which it stands was a Native American village occupied by the Wahkiakum or Cathlamet Tribe. The name "Cathlamet" (Kathlamet) is said to have come from the local Chinookan language spoken there that refers to a "rocky shore."
File 8917: Full Text >
Cedar Falls -- Thumbnail History
Cedar Falls, originally a City Light company town, is located in the upper Cedar River watershed, 30 miles southeast of Seattle. The town's history also encompasses nearby communities that housed railroad workers, water department personnel, and loggers. A diverse collection of families lived in the rural setting for much of the twentieth century, but by the 1960s, the town began fading away. Now the center of operations for the Seattle Public Utilities, the townsite will soon (2001) be the home of the Cedar River Watershed Education Center.
File 2537: Full Text >
Centralia -- Thumbnail History
Centralia's location halfway between the Columbia River and Puget Sound makes it a natural place for people to settle. It is situated in Southwestern Washington on the Chehalis River at its confluence with the Skookumchuck River. For thousands of years people have relied on the natural resources of the area -- timber, fish, fertile land, coal, and a level plain amidst rolling hills -- to build their lives and communities. Even today, as the region relies less on its natural resources, its central location on the plain that wends its way among the hills between Seattle and Portland has enabled the town to remain vital.
File 8487: Full Text >
Chehalis -- Thumbnail History
Chehalis, the seat of Lewis County and long a commercial center for area farmers and loggers, grew out of claim settled in 1850 by Schuyler (1810-1860) and Eliza (1826-1900) Saunders near the confluence of the Newaukum and Chehalis rivers. Known then as Saunders' Bottom because of its marshy ground, Chehalis gained footing as a town once the Northern Pacific Railroad established a depot there in 1873. Over the years, local residents have built a town with a varied economy, relying on logging, mining, farming, small industry, retail, and residents and businesses that Interstate 5 brought to town. Adaptation to changing circumstances has been a strength of the community, particularly in the last 50 years as the economy has experienced a fundamental shift away from relying on natural resources. Note that the name Chehalis was given to a Washington county organized in 1854. In 1915 that county was renamed Grays Harbor County.
File 8645: Full Text >
Cheney -- Thumbnail History
Cheney was first settled in 1878 under the name Willow Springs, soon to be changed to the less poetic designation of Section 13. That was the survey name given to a green, spring-filled oasis in Eastern Washington that was designated to become a future depot stop along the Northern Pacific Railroad. The town was finally re-named Cheney after Benjamin P. Cheney (1815-1895), an influential director of the Northern Pacific line. By 1880, so many settlers and land speculators had arrived in anticipation of the railroad that the town was able to wrest away the county seat from the more-established village of Spokane Falls (soon to lose the word "Falls"), 16 miles to the east. However, Cheney seized the prize only after some citizens sneaked into Spokane Falls in the dead of night and made off with the county records. Cheney retained the county seat only until 1886 when another vote was held and Spokane won. In 1889, Cheney was awarded one of the state normal schools (a college for training teachers). The State Normal School at Cheney evolved into Eastern Washington University, which today remains the center of the city's cultural and economic life. Cheney is also an important agriculture center, on the edge of some of the state's most important wheat-growing areas. Today, the city is also a bedroom community for nearby Spokane. By 2007, its population was just over 10,000.
File 8248: Full Text >
Darrington -- Thumbnail History
The town of Darrington, located in Snohomish County 30 miles east of Arlington, was once known as the Burn or Sauk Portage. Darrington got its name from the flip of a card. With settlement beginning in the early 1890s, it gained its reputation as a jumping off place for mineral exploration and later logging. Never incorporated until 1945, it remained a rough and tumble place well into the 1950s. Today it is the gateway to exceptional outdoor activities such as hiking, mountain climbing and other outdoor recreation. Currently it numbers 1,500 citizens.
File 8798: Full Text >
Des Moines -- Thumbnail History
The City of Des Moines, located 15 miles south of Seattle along the shores of Puget Sound, has never been a large center of industry like other Seattle suburbs. Although it incorporated as recently as 1959, it has been a Northwest community for over 100 years.
File 697: Full Text >
DuPont -- Thumbnail History
DuPont, located in southern Pierce County near Steilacoom, flourished as a company town from 1906 to 1976 with the singular purpose of producing dynamite. Because of the volatile nature of the town's product, safety became an important feature of every aspect of life, from the prohibition against drinking to maintaining grazing animals to control grass. The village is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the only former company town in the state with most of the houses remaining as they were. The village of Dupont, now known as the "old downtown" of the city, is today adjacent to Northwest Landing, a new housing development built on former dynamite production land and later annexed to DuPont.
File 5633: Full Text >
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Showing 1 - 20 of 293 results
Captain George Vancouver names Port Townsend on May 8, 1792.
On May 8, 1792, British Royal Navy Captain George Vancouver (1757-1798) names an extensive bay at the northeast corner of the Olympic Peninsula for the Marquis of Townshend, a British general. The "h" is later dropped and the bay is now called Port Townsend. The city of Port Townsend, now the county seat of Jefferson County, is founded in the 1850s at the mouth of the bay and adopts its name.
File 5291: Full Text >
North West Company builds Fort Nez Perce on future site of Wallula in 1818.
In 1818, the North West Company builds Fort Nez Perce on the Columbia River at the mouth of the Walla Walla River. The North West Company competes with the Hudson's Bay Company for control of the fur trade in Western Canada and the Northwest. The post will be called Fort Walla Walla (distinct from the U. S. Army's Fort Walla Walla on the site of present-day Walla Walla) and it will operate until 1855, when it will be abandoned due to war with the Native Americans.
File 5178: Full Text >
Walla Walla Frenchtown is established about 1824.
Around 1824, the Walla Walla Frenchtown is established near the mouth of the Walla Walla River. The community is associated with the Hudson's Bay Company post first built by the French Canadian Northwest Company in 1818 as Fort Nez Perces and later, after the Hudson's Bay Co. and the Northwest Co. merge, renamed Fort Walla Walla. Frenchtown is a general designation used throughout North America for locations characterized by the early settlement of people of French extraction. Frenchtowns are often associated with early fur-trading posts, especially those of the Hudson's Bay Company, but are typically located at some distance from the posts. This Frenchtown, like others, will outlive the fur-trading posts because its inhabitants will maintain their French Canadian character through common architectural forms, land division patterns, and the Roman Catholic religion.
File 8615: Full Text >
Edmund Sylvester and Levi Smith stake a claim on the future site of Olympia in October 1846.
In October 1846, Edmund Sylvester and Levi Lathrop Smith stake a joint claim to 320 acres on Budd Inlet at what will become Olympia. Smith choses a two-acre clearing to build a 16-foot-square log cabin. The Squaxon tribe maintained a winter settlement there that they called "Cheet-woot" or bear (at high tide, the shoreline resembled a bear). Smith names the property Smithfield. Sylvester settles on Chambers Prairie.
File 5088: Full Text >
Schuyler and Eliza Saunders settle at future site of Chehalis on May 1, 1850.
On May 1, 1850, Schuyler (1810-1860) and Eliza (1826-1900) Saunders choose a homestead near the confluence of the Newaukum and Chehalis rivers. They are the first non-Indian settlers in the immediate vicinity, though there are a number of other settlements nearby along the Chehalis River. Neither Schuyler nor Eliza have town-building ambitions and the land on which they settle would gain a reputation for its sogginess. But Saunders' Bottom, as it came to be known, would eventually grow into the town of Chehalis with the help of the Northern Pacific Railroad and later settlers' desire to make the town a commercial center.
File 8649: Full Text >
Zakarias Martin Taftezon, Ulrich Freund, and Clement Sumner file land claims to the future city of Oak Harbor on January 4, 1851.
On January 4, 1851, Zakarias Martin Taftezon (1821-1901), Swiss Ulrich Freund, and New Englander Clement W. "Charlie" Sumner file claims under the Donation Land Law at what will become the city of Oak Harbor.
File 8226: Full Text >
Oregon Territorial Legislature forms Pacific County on February 4, 1851.
On February 4, 1851, the Oregon Territorial Legislature forms the new Pacific County. The county starts quite small and will soon increase in size. The county seat begins in Pacific City, near what is now Ilwaco, and moves several times, ending up in South Bend.
File 7865: Full Text >
Alfred A. Plummer and Charles Bachelder settle on the site of future Port Townsend on April 24, 1851.
On April 24, 1851, Alfred A. Plummer (1822-1883) and Charles Bachelder land on a beach at the mouth of Port Townsend, an extensive bay at the northeast corner of the Olympic Peninsula in what is now Jefferson County. They immediately file land claims and begin building a cabin. Plummer and Bachelder are the first non-Indians to settle in the area called Kah Tai by the Clallam Indians whose land it is. Six months later they join with two newer arrivals, Loren B. Hastings (1814-1881), and Francis W. Pettygrove (d. 1887) to establish the new town of Port Townsend, which they name for the bay.
File 5290: Full Text >
The schooner Robert Bruce burns in Willapa Bay, leading to the settlement of Bruceville (later Bruceport), on December 11, 1851.
On December 11, 1851, the schooner Robert Bruce is deliberately set on fire by the ship's cook and burns to the water line. The schooner is in Willapa Bay in what is now Pacific County in southwest Washington, where it is loading a cargo of oysters from the bay for shipment to San Francisco. The oystermen aboard are all rescued, and having lost their ship and belongings they build cabins on the beach and settle at the spot. The "Bruce boys," as they come to be called, continue in the oyster trade and soon earn enough money to buy new ships. The new settlement is named after the burned ship -- it is first called Bruceville and shortly thereafter changed to Bruceport.
File 5433: Full Text >
The first non-Indian families arrive at the new settlement of Port Townsend on February 23, 1852.
On February 23, 1852, the families of Loren and Lucinda Hastings and Francis and Sophia Pettygrove arrive at the site of Port Townsend with another family and several single men. They are the first non-Indian families to settle in the new town that Hastings and Pettygrove, along with Alfred Plummer and Charles Bachelder, are founding on the Olympic Peninsula in what is now Jefferson County.
File 5289: Full Text >
Seattle Beginnings: first Seattle Post Office opens on October 12, 1852.
The opening of a post office is an important marker of the beginning of a community. On October 12, 1852, the first Seattle Post Office is established. Arthur A. Denny (1822-1899) is appointed postmaster.
File 384: Full Text >
Seattle appears in print for the first time on October 30, 1852.
On October 30, 1852, the Olympia newspaper Columbian prints an advertisement for Dr. David S. Maynard's store, the "Seattle Exchange." This (and a notice in the same issue about Henry Yesler's sawmill) marks the first use of the name Seattle in print.
File 1754: Full Text >
Isaiah and Lorinda Scammon settle on a Donation Land Claim at the future South Montesano on January 15, 1853.
On January 15, 1853, Maine natives Isaiah L. (b. 1822) and Lorinda (Hopkins) Scammon settle on a 619-acre Donation Land Claim on the south bank of the Chehalis River opposite the mouth of the Wynoochee. Lorinda names the claim Mount Zion. The northern portion of this claim will become Montesano, seat of Grays Harbor County.
File 7773: Full Text >
Captain William Talbot establishes a steam sawmill at Port Gamble in July 1853.
In July 1853, Captain William C. Talbot (1816-1881) establishes a steam sawmill as the Puget Mill Co. at Port Gamble. Ten men, mostly from Talbot's hometown of East Machias, Maine, construct a bunkhouse, a cookhouse, and a store before starting work on the mill. The site is on a sand spit the local Native Americans call Teekalet, meaning "brightness of the noonday sun." The settlers call the mill Teekalet until they change the name to Port Gamble in 1868. The mill will operate continuously for 142 years, from 1853 to 1995.
File 5486: Full Text >
1853 Census: First census of Washington Territory counts a population (exluding Indians) of 3,965 in 1853.
In late summer or fall of 1853, United States Marshall J. Anderson has the responsibility of taking the first census in Washington Territory. He counts a population of 3,965, of which there are 1,682 males eligible to vote. The census is conducted to establish legislative districts for the Territorial Legislature. It excludes Indians, who are far more numerous than settlers.
File 2551: Full Text >
Governor Isaac Stevens selects Olympia as capital of Washington Territory on November 28, 1853.
On November 28, 1853, Isaac Stevens (1818-1862), the first governor of Washington Territory, issues a proclamation that names Olympia as the capital of the new Territory. Olympia, founded in 1850, is located in Thurston County on the shores of Budd Inlet, the southernmost extension of Puget Sound. At the time, it is among the largest settlements in the Territory. Although it is subsequently surpassed in population and commercial prominence by other cities, Olympia retains its position as capital of the Territory and later of Washington state.
File 5054: Full Text >
West Seattle Beginnings: Alki Post Office opens on April 29, 1854.
The opening of a post office is an important marker of the beginning of a community. On April 29, 1854, the Alki Post Office is established. Charles Terry (1830-1867) is appointed postmaster.
File 385: Full Text >
Washington Territorial Legislature incorporates the City of Vancouver on January 23, 1857.
On January 23, 1857, the Washington Territorial Legislature passes an act incorporating the City of Vancouver, a Clark County settlement of just over 918 acres located on the north bank of the Columbia River, 90 miles east of the Pacific Coast. It is the territory's second incorporated city, following only Steilacoom in Pierce County, which gained that status in 1854. The Vancouver legislation sets the boundaries of the city and establishes the office of mayor, a seven-member "common council," and other official positions. Over the next 150 years Vancouver will grow to a population of more than 164,000 (2009) and will become the fourth largest city in the state.
File 9115: Full Text >
First post office in Mason County is established at Oakland on April 24, 1858.
On April 24, 1858, the first post office in Mason (then called Sawamish) County was established at Oakland, the county seat. Weekly mail service between Olympia in the South and Seabeck on Hood Canal involves an arduous journey by the letter carrier via rowboat, canoe, and horseback. The main post office on Oakland Bay will merge with the Shelton post office in 1889 and Oakland will be abandoned as a community.
File 7727: Full Text >
Town of Walla Walla is named on November 17, 1859.
On November 17, 1859, Walla Walla County commissioners name the town that has grown up around the U.S. military Fort Walla Walla. They elect to name the town Walla Walla. The town begins with a rich history, which includes Native North Americans, fur traders, missionaries, soldiers, and pioneers. Walla Walla's earliest businesses are raising cattle and supplying the fort. The town will be incorporated and become the county seat in 1862. A gold rush followed by a growing agricultural industry will help Walla Walla become the largest city in Washington Territory by 1880. During the twentieth century, Walla Walla will continue to develop as an agricultural center for various crops, including wheat, onions, apples, peas, and wine grapes.
File 8478: Full Text >
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Showing 1 - 14 of 14 results
Black Diamond and Franklin (King County coal towns), as seen in 1902
This article about the east King County coal towns of Black Diamond and Franklin is reprinted from The Coast, Vol. 3, No. 2 (March 1902).
File 8862: Full Text >
Bob Tschida Remembers Tacoma's Gunnysack Kids
In the late 1930s when I and my friends from our Tacoma neighborhood would venture toward town, we would always have a gunnysack tucked over our belts. That way we would not lose it or have to carry it in our hands. The purpose of the gunnysack was to make our forays pay off in more than one way. We had to be self-sufficient and self-reliant in those days. There was no such thing as asking your folks for small change. They didn’t have any spare nickels or dimes. And carrying a lunch was out of the question. We were on our own and we accepted that fact.
File 5545: Full Text >
Cathlamet in the 1930s (Marjorie Bacon Brown Remembers) by Crystal J. Ortmann
This portrait of Marjorie Bacon Brown and of Cathlamet in the 1930s was written by Crystal J. Ortmann.
File 8747: Full Text >
Coal Mining in an east Pierce County area known as Pittsburg (1889-1909), Spiketon (1910-1916), and finally Morristown (1917-1927)
East Pierce County's Carbon River coal district was once dotted with a dozen small mining communities. Wilkeson, Carbonado, South Prairie, and Burnett survived, but Fairfax, Manley-Moore, Melmont, Montezuma, Morristown, and Wingate all met the fate awaiting mining towns when their minerals cease to be economically viable. This is the story of one of those communities; initially known as Pittsburg, later as Spiketon, and finally as Morristown. It is written by William Kombol, Manager of Palmer Coking Coal Company located in Black Diamond (King County), Washington.
File 8262: Full Text >
Durham: a King County Coal Mining Town
This reminiscence of childhood in the King County coalmining town of Durham was written by Nina Elizabeth “Betty” (Morris) Falk in 1990-1991. Betty Morris (Falk), was born on March 26, 1920, in Tacoma, Washington, to Nina Marie Morris and John Henry Morris. Her father was a co-owner with his brothers and the mine superintendent at Durham. Betty married Carl Gustav Falk (1920-1997) on December 19, 1942, in Enumclaw, and they raised five children. Betty Falk died on April 16, 2006, in Kent, Washington. Her nephew William Kombol found this memoir amongst her papers, transcribed and edited it, and added genealogical and coal production information. The Durham Colliery was originally organized by Peter Kirk's Moss Bay Iron & Steel Co in 1886 to supply coal for his planned Kirkland steel mills. Durham was named for a town in Kirk’s native north England. Coal production commenced in 1888 but was shut down within a year. The mine re-opened in 1915 as Durham Colliery Co. The name was changed in 1922 to Morris Bros. Coal Co., changed again in 1932 to Durham Coal Co. and yet again in 1933 to Palmer Coking Coal Co. Bill Kombol is manager of the Palmer Coking Coal Co., today (2006) located in Black Diamond.
File 7996: Full Text >
Emory C. Ferguson Recalls Early Days in Snohomish County
Often referred to as the patriarch of Snohomish, Emory C. Ferguson (1833-1911) was a pioneer who followed the same routes as many early adventurers who came West in the late 1850s. He first searched for gold but found better money selling goods to the prospectors and soon traveled north to join with others building roads and settlements in the Pacific Northwest. Ferguson chose for himself land that eventually became the city of Snohomish where he stayed for the rest of his life. Here he served as postmaster, mayor, realtor, saloon keeper, store proprietor, legislator -- even justice of the peace -- and was on hand to give birth to Snohomish County when it was formed in January of 1861. A well-loved pioneer figure in his senior years, "Old Ferg" helped to humorously craft his own image through his writings and after-dinner speeches in which he depicted himself as a rugged pioneer once living alone in the wilderness. The following accounts, collected by Margaret Riddle, were taken from early Snohomish County newspapers.
File 8492: Full Text >
Enumclaw: My Home Town by Jim Merritt
This reminiscence of Enumclaw in the 1920s and 1930s was written by James Edward Merritt (1920-2000). Jim Merritt was born on October 7, 1920, in South Prairie, Washington, the sixth child born to Frank and Emily (Morris) Merritt. His father, Frank, was a mine foreman for Morris Brothers Coal Mining Co., Inc. and Palmer Coking Coal Co., Inc. through most of his working career. Emily (Morris) Merritt was the fourth child born to George and Mary Ann (Williams) Morris, who emigrated from Wales, and sister to John H. Morris and Jonas Morris. Jim Merritt was first cousin to George, Jack, and Evan Morris, Betty Falk, and Pauline Kombol. Jim grew up in Enumclaw and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in sociology. He was a social worker for the State of Oregon most of his working career. Jim married Emily Fergus in 1955 and together they had two children: Penelope and Fergus. Jim lived in Eugene, Oregon most of his adult life, where he later wrote his memoirs. This sketch of his early life in his hometown of Enumclaw originated as a chapter of his family history booklet Origins: Emily and Frank Merritt -- Their Story. Jim passed away on December 6, 2000 in Eugene, Oregon. Bill Kombol, first cousin once removed to Jim Merritt, assembled this story in 2007 from Jim Merritt's original manuscript.
File 8609: Full Text >
Everett's Boomtown Beginnings 1891-1892
The rapid development that brought Everett into being came with a price and nowhere is this better told than in the newspapers and photographs of the time. It can be imagined that many families, arriving at the town site with little more than hopes and dreams, found that their new home clearly resembled a battlefield. But their excitement with creating a new city is clearly evident. The following news items tell the tale. First is from the Everett News, followed by three essays written by children, published in the Everett Times. This People's History was contributed by Margaret Riddle.
File 8525: Full Text >
Fred Grow -- Reminiscence of a Bainbridge Island Pioneer (1958)
This is a 1958 interview of Fred Grow, a Bainbridge Island pioneer, by Natalie Rudolf. Fred Grow arrived as a child about 1881, and grew up to become a deputy sheriff and later a Justice of the Peace in the town of Winslow. The interview is reprinted from the Bainbridge Review, May 1, 1958, p. 1.
File 8388: Full Text >
Morris Brothers Coal Mining Company, Inc.
This history of the Morris Brothers Coal Mining Company, incorporated on December 15, 1921, and situated in east King County at Durham, was written by Betty (Morris) Falk (1920-2006) and originally appeared in the Black Diamond Historical Society newsletter in 1996. Notes and edits were added by William Kombol, manager of the Palmer Coking Coal Company located in Black Diamond. The Palmer Coking Coal Co. is directly descended from Morris Brothers Coal Mining Company, and William Kombol is the grandson of John Henry Morris.
File 8420: Full Text >
Remembering Metaline Falls and the Lehigh Portland Cement Plant, 1947-1969 by Alfred Schaeffer
This reminiscence about Metaline Falls and the Lehigh Portland Cement Plant was written by Alfred Schaeffer (1914-2009), who served as plant manager from 1947 to 1969. This piece was originally printed in 1999 in The Big Smoke, the publication of the Pend Oreille County Historical Society, located in Newport. It is reprinted here with kind permission.
File 8787: Full Text >
Seattle Neighborhoods -- Past, Present, Future
Seattle, Washington, with 563,000 people, is the largest city in the state and the 24th largest in the nation. But as in most urban settings, people in Seattle seldom think of themselves as residing in the city as much as inhabiting visually and culturally distinct neighborhoods. From trendy Belltown to Scandinavian-influenced Ballard to the diverse Chinatown-International District, Seattle neighborhoods offer a fascinating range of architecture, cuisine, and lifestyles that reflects the diversity of the city. This essay was prepared to help orientate attendees at the American Historical Association annual meeting in Seattle, January 6-9, 2005.
File 7196: Full Text >
Seattle's Potlatch Bug (1912)
This essay on Seattle's Potlatch, the Ad Club, and Seattle's Potlatch Bug is based on materials found in the library of Seattle's Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI). It was prepared by MOHAI historian Lorraine McConaghy, Ph.D.
File 8213: Full Text >
Westport -- The Grays Harbor County Town (around 1912) by Bernice Garner Marsters
This People's History consists of a letter written in June 1958, describing life in Westport during the years following 1912. Westport is located in Grays Harbor County on a peninsula on the Pacific coast at the southern entrance to Grays Harbor. The letter was written by Bernice Garner Marsters (1896-1969), who was born in Aberdeen and grew up in Westport. Bernice's mother, Matilda Stone Garner (1869-1912), died in 1912 and Bernice had to drop out of school (in Aberdeen) to return to Westport to take care of the younger children. This letter was submitted to the People's History library by Alex Magdaleno. His mother, Lamora Garner Magdaleno, found the letter in her aunt Bernice's papers after she died. She retyped it, leaving the spelling as it was.
File 9175: Full Text >
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