On March 7, 1883, the Sunset Telephone Company starts operating with 90 Seattle subscribers. In 1876 Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) invented the telephone, which was demonstrated two years later in...
On March 10, 1883, the Woman's Club of Olympia is founded for study and the mutual improvement of its members. Founders are Abbie Howard Hunt Stuart (ca.1840-1902), Emily Olney French (1828-1897), Mar...
On March 13, 1883, three Ellensburg men -- Walter A. Bull (1838-1898), Nathan W. Preston (1854-1933), and Henry M. Bryant (1841?-1919) -- incorporate the Seattle and Walla Walla Trail and Wagon Road C...
The opening of a post office is an important marker of the beginning of a community. Redmond Post Office, called Melrose Post Office when it opened on June 28, 1881, is renamed Redmond on March 19, 18...
The opening of a post office is an important marker of the beginning of a community. On April 12, 1883, the Vashon Post Office opens. Samuel C. Herriott is the first postmaster. Vashon is located on V...
Thorp Mill begins operation in the Kittitas Valley in April 1883. This four-story gristmill, built by Oren Hutchinson, provides farmers throughout the valley both the convenience of local processing f...
On July 9, 1883, voters re-elect Republican Henry G. Struve as mayor of the City of Seattle on July 10, 1882.
In September 1883, Jorgen Eliason (1847-1937), Poulsbo's first permanent settler, rows into Dog Fish Bay on the eastern side of the Kitsap Peninsula, north of Bremerton. Eliason has followed Ole Stubb...
In 1883, a group of some 17 families led by Johann Frederich Rosenoff arrive in Adams County and settle near Ritzville. They are known as Volga Germans because they are German-speaking and German-iden...
On September 17, 1883, the town of Cheney celebrates the visit of Benjamin P. Cheney (1815-1895), a director of the Northern Pacific Railroad. He admires the town that had been named after him two ye...
On November 1, 1883, the Washington Territorial Legislature creates Lincoln County by partitioning the very large Spokane County into Spokane and Lincoln counties. Washington's territorial governor ra...
In 1883, voters choose Asotin as county seat of Asotin County. Asotin wins the honor and economic advantage over its rival town, Asotin City. Both towns are located on the Snake River in Washington's ...
On November 20, 1883, the town of La Conner in Washington Territory incorporates, a mere eight days before the Territorial Legislature creates Skagit County from the southern portion of Whatcom County...
On November 24, 1883, the Washington Territorial Legislature establishes Kittitas County out of the northern portion of Yakima County. Ellensburg is named the county seat.
On November 28, 1883, the Washington Territorial Legislature creates Douglas County. It does so by partitioning off a portion of Lincoln County.
On November 28, 1883, the Washington Territorial Legislature creates Adams County. It does so by partitioning the large Whitman County into Whitman, Franklin, and Adams counties.
On November 28, 1883, a statute passed by the Washington Territorial Legislature earlier that day is approved by the governor and Skagit County comes into existence. It is formed from the southern par...
On December 1, 1883, the only town in the Yakima Valley is incorporated as Yakima City. Four hundred settlers live there. In 1917 Yakima City will change its name to Union Gap.
On December 4, 1883, the Tolt Post Office opens. Moses Morris, the first postmaster, distributes the mail from his log cabin.
On January 1, 1884, a Territorial Act ratifies the motion to incorporate the town of Ellensburg. Ellensburg is located in Kittitas County just east of the Cascade Mountains at the confluence of the Ya...
In 1884, the steam scow Squak begins ferrying passengers across Lake Washington. An ungainly looking vessel, the flat-bottom boat is able to traverse the shallow Squak slough into Lake Sammamish. The ...
On January 7, 1884, the separate incorporated towns of Tacoma City and New Tacoma merge to become a single city, in accordance with a law passed by the territorial legislature the previous November. M...
On February 24, 1884, an American mob crosses the Canadian border and lynches 14-year-old Louie Sam, a member of the Sto:lo tribe. Louie Sam was a suspect in the murder of Nooksack (future Whatcom Cou...
In 1884 John R. Lewis (1855-?), an early Douglas County pioneer, plants the county's first wheat crop. At the time the Big Bend region's shrub-steppe sagebrush-covered terrain is thought suitable onl...