Keyword(s): Kate Kershner
State Senator Calvin "Cal" Anderson, who represented the 43rd District (encompassing portions of Seattle including the Capitol Hill neighborhood), was Washington's first openly gay state legislator. O...
Benton City is a small municipality of some 3,000 residents on the north bank of the Yakima River near the center of Benton County in the Columbia Basin region of southeastern Washington. A hunting an...
Dolly Connelly was a journalist and photographer in the Pacific Northwest. As a stringer for Time, Life, and Sports Illustrated, she covered topics that included the new outdoor recreational activitie...
Covington is a small municipality located in King County, about 20 miles southeast of Seattle. Originally a stop on a railroad line connecting Kanasket to Auburn, Covington began to grow in the early ...
Gene Duvernoy headed the land-conservation nonprofit Forterra (previously known as the Cascade Land Conservancy) from its start in 1991 through 2018. Trained as an environmental engineer and a lawyer,...
The town of Grandview, located near the eastern border of Yakima County in South Central Washington, was formed when two small groups of settlers in the Yakima Valley came together to create a town si...
Robert Gruhn was a Seattle-based attorney who was involved in many Northwest non-profit organizations as both volunteer and legal counsel. Gruhn drafted and shepherded to passage landmark legislation ...
Morey Haggin was a Spokane-area environmentalist and political activist, one of the first champions of conserving and protecting Spokane's natural habitat. His son, Bart Haggin, went on to take up his...
Claudia Kauffman was the first woman Native American elected to the Washington State Senate. She was raised in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Seattle where her mother, Josephine, championed American ...
Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney, a child of migrant workers, served eight terms in the Washington State House of Representatives. Her parents came to America in 1919 from Mexico, and from the age of 5 Kenney...
The town of Normandy Park is located in King County, on the shores of Puget Sound between the cities of Des Moines and Burien. Native American tribes traveled to the area to gather clams on the area b...
Pottery Northwest, a nonprofit pottery studio and education center, is located in lower Queen Anne in Seattle (226 1st Avenue N). It developed out of the Seattle Clay Club (1948-mid-1960s) after membe...
Mark E. Reed was a state legislator and business leader. Reed was born in Olympia and settled in Shelton, Mason County, after joining the Simpson Logging Company. He went on to take over that company ...
John Henry Ryan and his wife Ella Ryan were two of the earliest African American business owners in Tacoma, where they owned and were the editors of The Forum, a weekly newspaper in the Tacoma area. A...
On September 20, 1909, the Yakima Valley settlement of Grandview is certified as a town of the fourth class. The certification by the Yakima County Auditor comes after an election held on September 18...
On June 26, 1914, Westport is officially incorporated as town of the fourth class in Chehalis (later Grays Harbor) County. It is located in Southwestern Washington on the south shore of Grays Harbor. ...
On February 22, 1917, the Washington State Senate passes a first-aid measure that includes a progressive compensation package for those hurt on the job. Mark Reed (1866-1933), timber baron and one of...
On May 23, 1943, local activists and community members form the Bremerton branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Established in response to segregation and r...
On July 14, 1945, Washington's Secretary of State officially certifies the incorporation of Benton City. Residents had voted, 76 to 32, in favor of incorporation in an election held two weeks earlier....
On June 8, 1953, Normandy Park is officially incorporated as a town of the third class in King County. Early development in the 1920s and 1930s brought a few homeowners to Normandy Park, and residents...
On June 13, 1955, the county auditor and board of commissioners for Benton County officially incorporate the city of West Richland. In an election held on June 7, 1955, the majority of the roughly 600...
On June 20, 1962, former Teamsters Union President Dave Beck (1894-1993) begins serving three concurrent prison sentences at McNeil Island Federal Penitentiary. Beck was convicted of embezzling money ...
On August 1, 1963, Pulitzer Prize winning poet and University of Washington English professor Theodore Roethke (1908-1963) is found dead in a swimming pool at the Bainbridge Island home of Prentice (1...
In December 1966, Pottery Northwest gains status as a nonprofit. A pottery studio and education center, the organization developed out of the Seattle Clay Club (1948-mid-1960s). It is located at Seatt...
On March 30, 1988, explorer and educator Helen Thayer (b. 1937) becomes the first woman to trek solo to the magnetic North Pole. Accompanied by her dog Charlie, a husky mix trained to warn of nearby p...
On April 1, 1994, Snohomish County residents Helen Thayer (b. 1937) and her husband Bill Thayer (b. 1926) set out for a year in the Arctic Circle, where they plan to study the behavior of arctic gray ...
On August 10, 1995 a funeral and memorial service is held for State Senator Calvin "Cal" Anderson (1948-1995). Anderson, Washington's first openly gay state legislator, died on August 4 from an AIDS-r...
On January 5, 1997, Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney (b. 1936) is appointed to a vacated seat in the Washington State House of Representatives. A Democrat, she will represent the 46th District, which covers S...