The opening of a post office is an important marker of the beginning of a community. On January 21, 1888, the Cedar Mountain Post Office opens. Lawrence J. Coleman is appointed postmaster. Cedar Mo...
In February 1888, Madame Lou Graham (1861-1903) steps off the steamer Pacific Pride and begins her project of founding a sumptuous, lucrative, and expensive house of prostitution. She establishes the ...
On February 23, 1888, six Seattle civic leaders meet to organize an exclusive private gentleman's club, The Rainier Club. Formally incorporated on July 25, 1888, it becomes Seattle's preeminent privat...
On March 7, 1888, the first county seat of Okanogan County is established at the mining town of Ruby City. Seven months later, voters disgusted with the unruly nature of Ruby City, will move the count...
On April 6, 1888, Jochin Henry Timmerman is executed by hanging in Goldendale for the murder of William Sterling. The crime occurred on October 4, 1886, in the eastern part of the Horse Heaven Hills i...
On April 11, 1888, William G. Langford (1835-1893), Associate Judge of the District Court of Washington Territory, issues an order to incorporate Pullman and appoint a five-member Board of Trustees to...
On April 15, 1888, Spokane enters the streetcar age as the city's first horse-drawn streetcar rumbles down Riverside Avenue toward a new development called Brown's Addition. The streetcar becomes the ...
In May 1888, Nels K. Tveit and his partner, N. C. Johnson, arrive at the "forks" of the Stillaguamish River to set up the first store in the area. Experienced at running general merchandise stores in ...
On May 13, 1888, seven blocks of downtown Goldendale are destroyed by fire. The burned area encompasses most of the town's business district and some residential areas. Damage from the fire is estim...
The opening of a post office is an important marker of the beginning of a community. Bothell Post Office opens on May 25, 1888. Gerhard Ericksen is the first postmaster. Bothell is located 13 miles...
On May 27, 1888, the Stampede Pass railroad tunnel, located in the Cascade Mountains about 50 miles east of Tacoma and roughly 20 miles northwest of Cle Elum, is completed. The tunnel, which crosses f...
On May 30, 1888, the Tacoma Street Railway inaugurates service. This is the first transit system in Tacoma and consists of bright yellow, horse-drawn, 14-passenger streetcars with upholstered seats. T...
On June 4, 1888, the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. incorporates. The incorporators are lumber and real-estate magnates who arrive that day by train from Minnesota and Wisconsin. The next day Tacoma...
On June 6, 1888, most of Ritzville's business district burns to the ground. At 4:30 p.m. a fire breaks out in the large American Exchange Hotel due to a defective flue. A southwest wind sweeps the fla...
On July 5, 1888, the Queen City Cycling Club holds Seattle's first bicycle tournament, featuring entries from all over Washington Territory and Oregon.
On July 9, 1888, voters elect businessman Robert Moran (1857-1943) as mayor of the City of Seattle. He will be elected to a second term the following year before going on to a career in shipbuilding a...
On July 19, 1888, the Ilwaco Steam Navigation Company's railroad makes its first run from Ilwaco to Long Beach. In 1889 tracks will be laid to Nahcotta, completing the line. The railroad, soon to be c...
The opening of a post office is an important marker of the beginning of a community. Ross Post Office opens on July 30, 1888. Alfred J. Villers is the first postmaster. The post office is located with...
On August 14, 1888, the Washington territorial Supreme Court rules the woman suffrage law unconstitutional. The court hears the trumped-up case of Nevada Bloomer, a Spokane saloonkeeper's wife. (The l...
On August 17, 1888, Roslyn miners strike for an eight-hour day, and the Northern Pacific Coal Company brings in trainloads of Black miners as strikebreakers. To protect the strikebreakers and to intim...
The opening of a post office is an important marker of the beginning of a community. On September 10, 1888, the Chautauqua Post Office opens. Edward E. Perry is the first postmaster. Chautauqua (re...
On September 20, 1888, the schooner Oscar and Hattie reaches the port of Tacoma with 50,000 pounds of halibut on ice. The iced halibut is shipped from Tacoma to Boston on the Northern Pacific's transc...
On September 24, 1888, Seattle mayor Robert Moran addresses a letter to the Common Council suggesting a gravity water system with a source at Cedar River. Although the Cedar River had been considered ...
The opening of a post office is an important marker of the beginning of a community. Maury Post Office is established on October 13, 1888. Charles H. Davis is the first postmaster. The post office ...