On October 14, 1880, it is reported that 750 head of cattle being driven from Eastern Washington to Seattle via Snoqualmie Pass should arrive in Seattle early next week. The herd is from Colville and ...
On November 2, 1880, Pierce County residents vote to move their county's seat from Steilacoom to New Tacoma on Commencement Bay. New Tacoma, controlled by the Northern Pacific Railroad, has experience...
On November 2, 1880, Clara McCarty (1858-1929) is elected superintendent of Pierce County schools. McCarty, still in her early twenties, is the first woman in Pierce County to win elective office. She...
On November 26, 1880, the newly formed Oregon Improvement Company (OIC) completes the purchase of the Seattle & Walla Railroad & Transportation Company and the Seattle Coal & Transportatio...
On December 7 and 12, 1880, two earthquakes strike the Puget Sound region. Frightened residents rush out of buildings. They are felt in Portland, Oregon, in Port Townsend, in Seattle, at the coal mine...
In 1881, the Seattle newspaper Intelligencer combines with the Post to become the Post-Intelligencer.
On February 24, 1881, the Birch Bay Post Office opens. Though it will survive only 10 years, the community itself will grow into a pleasant resort destination. Birch Bay is located in northwestern Wha...
On March 13, 1881, around 60 Chinese ring-necked pheasants arrive in Port Townsend aboard the ship Otago. United States consul general Owen Nickerson Denny (1838-1900) and his wife Gertrude Jane Hall ...
Virgil G. Bogue (1846-1916), along with James Gregg, Andy Drury, and Mattew Champion, discover the pass through the Cascade Mountains, later called Stampede Pass, after a grueling survey trip up the G...
On March 21, 1881, armed citizens from Cheney steal into Spokane Falls and make off with the entire Spokane County government.
The opening of a post office is an important marker of the beginning of a community. The Houghton Post Office is established on June 20, 1881. James Curtis is the first postmaster. It is located se...
On June 20, 1881, the Hubbard Post Office is established on the east side of Lake Washington just north of Kirkland. The town of Hubbard is named after the Hubbard family, and Martin W. Hubbard (1850-...
On June 25, 1881, the first train arrives in Spokane Falls. The Northern Pacific Railroad line runs only from Wallula near the Oregon border, but will connect to tracks being built over the Rockies fr...
The opening of a post office is an important marker of the beginning of a community. Woodinville Post Office is established on June 27, 1881. Susan Woodin is the first postmaster. Woodinville is locat...
Just before dusk on July 2, 1881, Seattle receives the following news in a Washington D.C. telegraphic dispatch: "The President is dead. He died at 4 o'clock this afternoon." The message has taken sev...
On July 11, 1881, voters re-elect Republican Leonard P. Smith as mayor of the City of Seattle.
In 1881, John Dolbeer (1827-1902) of Crescent City, California, invents the donkey engine and revolutionizes logging. A single-cylinder steam engine is connected to a horizontal capstan and they are m...
On August 20, 1881, the Spring Hill Water Company is incorporated in Seattle, with a capital of $25,000. This privately owned water system is Seattle's first integrated distribution system, and later ...
In 1881 Dayton, located in Columbia County, opens what is claimed to be the first accredited high school in Washington state. After setbacks in its first couple of years, the school's first class will...
In autumn 1881, the Klickitat County Agricultural Society holds the first Klickitat County Fair at newly erected fairgrounds about a mile outside the town of Goldendale. The Fair is held annually for...
On September 19, 1881, the Seattle telegraph office receives the words "The President dead." Eighty days after being struck by an assassin's bullets, U.S. President James A. Garfield (1831-1881) dies ...
In the fall of 1881 a smallpox epidemic strikes Columbia County. The epidemic rages from October through December, and becomes such a threat that the town of Dayton is quarantined for 10 days in Novem...
On October 12, 1881, after Seattle police officer David Sires is fatally shot, Ben Payne is arrested and charged with the offense. Sires dies a few days later. Payne, who proclaims his innocence, will...
On November 10, 1881, the city of Dayton, county seat of Columbia County, is reincorporated. The Washington Territorial Legislature initially incorporated it under the Act of 1877. However, this incor...