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Diablo Dam incline railway climbing Sourdough Mountain, 1930. Courtesy Seattle Municipal Archives, 2306.
Children waving to ferry, 1950. Courtesy Museum of History and Industry.
Loggers in the Northwest woods. Courtesy Washington State Digital Archives.

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This Week Then

6/19/2025

Vintage Pride Week poster

News Then, History Now

Three Incorporated

Castle Rock incorporated in Cowlitz County on June 20, 1890, and Deer Park became a city in Spokane County on June 24, 1908. And on June 20, 1961, Lake Forest Park incorporated in King County.

Freedom Celebrated

On June 19, 1890, African Americans from Tacoma and Seattle, many of them former slaves, gathered in Kent to celebrate the area's first Juneteenth, which marked the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, news of which did not reach Texas slaves until June 19, 1865.

Autos Demonstrated

On the day the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition opened in Seattle, six cars left New York in a transcontinental auto race. Twenty-three days later, on June 23, 1909, the first car to cross the finish line in Seattle was Henry Ford's Model T, which had just entered production a few months earlier. The car was disqualified, but not before Ford got all the publicity he needed to make it the most popular selling car of its era. Fifty years later, the Ford Motor Co. held a re-enactment of the race. This time they played it smart, and only Ford cars were entered.

Three Buildings Made

In Seattle, June 23 marks the opening day of three major civic institutions: Volunteer Park's Seattle Art Museum in 1933; the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in 1988; and the Experience Music Project – now MoPOP – in 2000.

Relax in the Shade

Fifty years ago this week, on June 20, 1975, Tolmie State Park was dedicated on the Nisqually Reach shoreline northeast of Olympia, and was the site of a pioneering beach-restoration project designed by engineer and environmental activist Wolf Bauer. This week also marks the anniversary of Cama Beach State Park, which opened on Camano Island on June 21, 2008. And on June 20, 2016, the Mukilteo City Council adopted the Japanese Gulch Master Plan to create a public park in the heart of the city.

Honors Delayed

Twenty-five years ago this week, on June 21, 2000, posthumous Medals of Honor were given to William Kenzo Nakamura and James Okubo for heroism during World War II. Nakamura died in battle, and Okubo died in 1967, but both men had been denied Medals of Honor during the war because of their Asian ancestry.

Today in
Washington History

New On HistoryLink

Image of the Week

Mount Rainier flying saucer

The modern phenomenon of UFOs was born on June 24, 1947, when pilot Kenneth Arnold spotted nine mysterious objects flying along the crest of the Cascade Range.

Quote of the Week

"How can people change their minds about us if they don’t know who we are?"

–Harvey Milk

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