On February 4, 1889, the citizens of Roslyn, which began as a coal camp three years earlier, present a petition to Judge L. B. Nash requesting that their city be incorporated. He duly proclaims Roslyn to be an incorporated town, and the city government is organized. Yet the decree will later be nullified. The city is re-incorporated on April 26, 1890, after Washington achieves statehood.
Upon granting the first decree, the court appointed as town trustees William Mohr, James Graham, Charles Miller, and chairman Isaac Brown. However, Roslyn's first incorporation became caught up in a dispute over Washington Territory's incorporation law. The courts soon determined that the law was unconstitutional because it allowed government entities other than the legislature to grant incorporation. So Roslyn's incorporation was declared null.
That same year, Washington became a state. The legislature adopted a new general incorporation law on March 27, 1890. On April 2, 1890, the town petitioned to re-incorporate as a third class city under the new state laws. An election was set for April 17, 1890. Incorporation passed by a vote of 237 in favor, one opposed. The re-incorporation was officially registered with the Washington Secretary of State on April 26, 1890.
