In the summer of 1889, soon-to-be-famous British author Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) visits Tacoma. He writes extensively about the still-raw pioneer city, including references to a horse-drawn streetc...
Shortly after the Great Fire of June 6, 1889, British writer Rudyard Kipling (1865-1923) visits Seattle. He describes the city as a "horrible black smudge." With wharves destroyed, his steamer must ti...
On the evening of July 4, 1889, a devastating fire sweeps through Ellensburg, destroying approximately 200 Victorian-era homes and leveling structures on 10 business blocks.
On July 4, 1889, prospector Joseph L. Pearsall (b. 1855) files a claim for the Independence of 1776 Mine, the first mining claim staked in the Monte Cristo region. This is a region in Snohomish County...
On July 8, 1889, Seattle voters approve creation of a city-owned water system, as proposed the previous fall by Mayor Robert Moran (1857-1943), and elect the mayor to a second one-year term. The vote ...
In the summer of 1889, Thea Foss (1857-1927), a recent immigrant and new bride from Norway, buys the rowboat that launches the Foss Launch Company. Sitting on the porch of her houseboat on the Tacoma ...
On July 25, 1889, Ohaveth Sholum Congregation, Seattle's first Jewish congregation, is established in time for the High Holiday services that year.
In 1889, Prof. James Parkinson reports that waste discharges into Lake Washington threaten Seattle's drinking water supply. The report is ignored and the pumping plant at Holgate Street is expanded to...
On Sunday, August 4, 1889, fire destroys most of downtown Spokane Falls. It begins in an area of flimsy wooden structures and quickly engulfs the substantial stone and brick buildings of the business ...
The opening of a post office is an important marker of the beginning of a community. On August 6, 1889, Des Moines Post Office opens. James F. Hiatt is the first postmaster. Des Moines is located on t...
The opening of a post office is an important marker of the beginning of a community. The West Seattle Post Office is established on August 6, 1889. Charles M. Cooper is the first postmaster.
On August 17, 1889, delegates to the Washington State Constitutional Convention in Olympia tack two amendments, one for woman suffrage and the other for Prohibition, onto the ballot by which voters wi...
On August 21, 1889, the Maple Leaf Post Office, located in a future neighborhood of Seattle, starts distributing mail. The postmaster is Stewart H. Seelye, who serves till the post office closes on Ma...
The opening of a post office is an important marker of the beginning of a community. On August 22, 1889, the Ballard Post Office opens. Abraham G. Thompson is the first postmaster. Ballard, located fi...
On September 10, 1889, farmers from eight local Granges meet in LaCamas (later Camas) in the Odd Fellows Hall and organize the Washington State Grange.
On October 1, 1889, Washington voters ratify the state's first constitution and elect the first state officials. Republican Elisha P. Ferry (1825-1895) is elected governor. The new constitution is rat...
On October 17, 1889, the first Monroe Street Bridge in Spokane is completed. The first bridge on the site is a rickety wooden affair built by the Spokane Cable Railway Company in partnership with the ...
On October 17, 1889, the Seattle Fire Department is officially created, a few months after Seattle's devastating Great Fire of June 6, 1889. Gardner Kellogg, who had been a volunteer firefighter since...
On Saturday, October 18, 1889, the Spokane Falls & Northern Railway, built by Daniel Chase Corbin (1832-1918) under contract with the Northern Pacific, reaches Colville. Prior to that time, transporta...
The opening of a post office is an important marker of the beginning of a community. On October 30, 1889, the Snoqualmie Post Office opens. Sherman S. Guilfoil is the first postmaster. It is located ...
On November 11, 1889, Washington becomes the 42nd state of the United States of America when U.S. President Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901) issues a proclamation declaring that its "admission ... into t...
On November 18, 1889, one week after Washington's admission as a state, its new government is officially installed as Governor Elisha P. Ferry (1825-1895) and the other new state officers take the oat...
On November 19, 1889, Judge Isaac Lichtenberg (1845-1905) hears the first case to be tried in King County Superior Court — the divorce trial of Smith vs. Smith — in a makeshift two-story b...
On December 2, 1889, Dr. Thomas T. Minor (1844-1889) and two companions, G. Morris Haller and Lewis Cox, attempt to canoe 12 miles from Stanwood to Whidbey Island on a duck-hunting expedition. They ar...