In 1899, four years after the Northern Pacific reached Hoquiam's sister city of Aberdeen, it was extended into Hoquiam, thus completing the capitalist project begun a decade earlier. Although its ear...
In October 1899, the Young Men's Christian Association of Seattle opens the city's first full-fledged vocational school, with a staff of 15 teachers offering instruction in 27 different subjects. Clas...
In 1899, Seattle's earliest known Japanese newspaper, The Report, is issued. The Japanese YMCA publishes the paper and Reverend Shievesatta Hara, the Japanese Baptist Church pastor, is editor. It is i...
On January 6, 1899, the first phase of the Denny Regrade is completed. The regrade of Denny Hill is one of several projects designed to make more level the steep hills of Seattle. The regrade is start...
On January 14, 1899, the four-masted bark Andelana is lying at anchor at Tacoma preparatory to taking aboard a large shipment of wheat bound for Europe. During the night, a squall sweeps across Commen...
On February 2, 1899, an Act of the Washington State Legislature changes the name of Gilman (previously Squak) to Issaquah. Although the King County town just south of Lake Sammamish has been known as ...
On February 21, 1899, the City of Seattle purchases the Coppin waterworks under Ordinance 5246. The City buys the system, originally owned by the Dexter Horton Company, for $200.
On March 2, 1899, both houses of the United States Congress pass legislation creating Mount Rainier National Park, dominated by the glacier-capped, 14,411 foot mountain located in Pierce County. The p...
On March 2, 1899, the Washington State Legislature approves the incorporation of Prosser -- at the time located in Yakima County -- as a Fourth Class City. Six years later, Benton County will be carve...
On March 6, 1899, the Seattle Star reports that the Sunset Telephone and Telegraph Company is occupying new quarters at 1108 3rd Avenue (at Spring Street) in Seattle. Seventy "girls" make 26,000 switc...
On April 19, 1899, the City of Seattle lets a contract for Cedar River Pipeline Number One. The contract, prepared by City Engineer R. H. Thomson (1856-1949), calls for a complete water system running...
On April 26, 1899, the City of Seattle grants rights under Ordinance 1188 to the John S. Maggs water system. This privately owned supply remains in use for more than 50 years, making it the last syste...
On May 9, 1899 the United States government establishes the Columbia River Quarantine Station at Knappton Cove about six miles across the Columbia River from Astoria, Oregon. Construction is complete...
On May 29, 1899, Temple de Hirsch is founded in Seattle on principles of reform Jewish thought. Today (2005), it is the largest Reform congregation in the Pacific Northwest.
On June 24, 1899, the Lewiston-Clarkston Bridge, the first bridge to span the Snake River between Washington and Idaho, opens for traffic. The 1,700-foot-long bridge connects Clarkston, Washington (...
On July 31, 1899, tiny 18-month-old Dorothy Baker throws the switch that starts the generators housed in the rock beneath Snoqualmie Falls, located in east King County. Electricity begins flowing to S...
In September 1899, the first transport ship between Seattle and the Philippines, the Marion Chilcott, departs. Trade has opened following the Spanish American War and the subsequent Philippine-America...
On September 6, 1899, Carnation condensed milk is manufactured for the first time. The Carnation milk factory is located in Kent, in King County.
On September 7, 1899, Alfred Hamilton (1872-1902) shoots and kills prominent attorney David. M. Woodbury (1849-1899) without provocation. Hamilton, a notorious miscreant, has been wandering around Ana...
On September 14, 1899, Seattle businessman Sam Hill (1857-1913) and 13 other men organize the Washington State Good Roads Association at a meeting in Spokane. Among the founders is Seattle City Engine...
On October 18, 1899, a 60-foot totem pole from Fort Tongass, Alaska, is unveiled in Seattle's Pioneer Square and "greeted by cheers of a multitude of people." The totem had been stolen from a Tlingit ...
In 1899, shortly after arriving in Seattle with his family, J. E. Standley (1854-1940) opens a store on 2nd Avenue and Pike Street that purveys Indian curios and other items. In November 1901, Standle...
On November 6, 1899, First Washington Volunteer Infantry returns from fighting in the Philippines, one of the fronts of the Spanish American War. Governor John R. Rogers declares a state holiday to ce...
On November 10, 1899, at about 11:30 p.m. two roughly dressed masked men with guns rob eight or nine passengers on the Ballard Street Car line.