On August 2, 1875, Bailey Gatzert (1829-1893) is elected as the first and to date (2005) only Jewish mayor of Seattle.
On September 5, 1875, settler Erasmus M. Smithers files a plat for a Town of Renton with the King County Assessor. He has lived and farmed in the Black River area for some 20 years, and, together with...
On October 23, 1875, Dr. Dorsey Syng Baker (1823-1888) completes the Walla Walla & Columbia River Railroad from Wallula, on the Columbia River, to Walla Walla. Work on the railroad began in 1871, and...
On November 4, 1875, the SS Pacific, en route to San Francisco from Victoria, B.C. with approximately 275 passengers and crew, collides with the S/V Orpheus, 40 miles southwest of Cape Flattery. Both ...
On November 11, 1875, Columbia County is formed out of Walla Walla County, which had been established on April 25, 1854. The area comprising the new county had been home to a number of diverse native...
On November 12, 1875, the Washington Territorial Legislature enacts a law that incorporates the City of Tacoma, sets its metes and bounds, establishes its form of governance, and prescribes several ot...
On November 16, 1875, gale force winds (32-63 mph) hit Western Washington for six hours, destroying three Seattle warehouses, knocking two chimneys off the University of Washington building, which is ...
In 1876, Thomas P. Freeman opens the Pioneer Variety Store at the corner of Yesler Way and 2nd Avenue in Seattle. He sells crockery, glassware, hardware, and new and used goods. Freeman, a shoemaker b...
In 1876, the City of Seattle buys the site of the future Volunteer Park. Volunteer Park is located on Capitol Hill between E Prospect and E Galer streets and Federal Avenue E and 15th Avenue E. The la...
In 1876, a volunteer fire company, Seattle Engine Company No. 1, forms in Seattle shortly after a fire occurs in T. P. Freeman's store in the center of the business district. Seattle purchases its fir...
In 1876, the Scandinavian Immigration and Aid Society forms in Seattle. The purpose of the society is to encourage migration to Seattle from Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Demmark, and Iceland).
In May 1876, Benjamin Coplen (1843-1912), a homesteader on Hangman (present Latah) Creek south of Spokane, discovers huge, mysterious bones in a bog near his spring. These fossils and others unearthed...
In the summer of 1876, partners Joe Wilson and Donald McDonald begin removing a massive logjam on the Skagit River. For nearly 100 years, its lower section, located a half mile below the fledging town...
In June 1876, Clara McCarty (1858-1929) is the first person to graduate from the Territorial University (later the University of Washington) in Seattle. McCarty will become a teacher and then superint...
On June 3, 1876, miners drive 40 Chinese mineworkers from the from the Newcastle mines. Newcastle is located in the Puget Sound region in east King County. As of January, 300 miners were employed ther...
On Monday, June 5, 1876, Eldridge Morse (1847-1914) dedicates the Snohomish Atheneum beginning with the words, "Around me are many familiar faces of brave, true-hearted pioneers, who, a few years ago ...
On June 8, 1876, the Seattle City Council passes an ordinance for the first ever large-scale grading of a Seattle street. For the next 11 months, contractor George Edwards and his crews use picks, sho...
On June 27, 1876, a notice appears in the Daily Pacific Tribune announcing a meeting that evening at the home of Catherine Maynard (1816-1906) "to take steps for the organization of a Young Men's Chri...
On July 10, 1876, voters elect Gideon A. Weed as mayor of the City of Seattle.
On August 7, 1876, Dexter Horton (1825-1904) and 14 others adopt articles of incorporation establishing the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) of Seattle. In its statement of purpose, the group ...
On September 5, 1876, Seattle pioneer Henry L. Yesler (1810?-1892) enters a not-guilty plea to a charge of illegal gambling. The charge arises out of his attempt to dispose of much of his property thr...
On September 16, 1876, in his new newspaper The Northern Star, underemployed frontier lawyer Eldridge Morse (1847-1914) publicizes the first agricultural fair of Snohomish County, which was held two y...
On September 27, 1876, grain grown by Thurston County pioneer and farmer William Owen Bush (1832-1907) is awarded a top prize at the nation's centennial exposition in Philadelphia and judged among the...
On December 25, 1876, delegates from the Suquamish Tribe's Port Madison Reservation celebrate Christmas at Tulalip. On Christmas Eve, a delegation from the Suquamish Tribe had arrived to speak to the ...