On April 4, 1884, 15 women meet and organize The Ladies Relief Society to address "the number of needy and suffering cases within the limits of the city" (Seattle Children's Home). The society will bu...
On April 20, 1884, the first train crosses the Snake River on the Northern Pacific Railroad's bridge at Ainsworth, a railroad construction town located at the junction of the Snake and Columbia Rivers...
In May 1884, Kent Prairie School opens. The year before, settlers in north Snohomish County had petitioned the county superintendent of schools for a second time to form a school district of their own...
In June 1884, the Western Washington Woman's Christian Temperance Union holds its first annual convention in Seattle. Mrs. W. F. Thomas, president, informs the delegates that the international WCTU "w...
In June 1884, Charles B. Wright (1822-1898), president of the Northern Pacific Railroad, organizes the Tacoma Light and Water Co. to provide drinking water and electric lights. The City Council grants...
On June 17, 1884, the first Northern Pacific Railroad train runs from Tacoma to Seattle, giving Seattle citizens hope of regular service between the two cities. Seattle passengers and Duwamish and Whi...
On July 10, 1884, the City of Seattle formally accepts a donation of approximately six acres from David Denny (1832-1903) for use as Seattle's first public park. Denny had granted the city use of the ...
On July 14, 1884, voters elect businessman John Leary (1837-1905) as mayor of the City of Seattle. Leary, whose wide-ranging investments include real estate, railroads, banking, and publishing, runs f...
On August 23, 1884, George and Etta Brackett file a plat for the first townsite in Edmonds. The plat includes provisions for a mill site, water, and parks. It is the first plat filed in a spot that w...
On September 23, 1884, Seattle entrepreneur Frank Osgood (1852-1934) inaugurates service on the city's first streetcar line. For a nickel, passengers can ride Seattle Street Railway cars drawn by a te...
The opening of a post office is an important marker of the beginning of a community. On October 29, 1884, the Kent Post Office opens. Nicholis H. Martin is the first postmaster. It is located 16 mi...
On November 28, 1884, the Northern Pacific Railroad establishes Pasco at the confluence of the Columbia and Snake rivers. Northern Pacific Engineer Virgil G. Bogue (1846-1916) names the site after the...
On December 17, 1884, the tracks of the Northern Pacific Railway's Cascade Branch reach the vicinity of Yakima City, then a thriving county seat with around 500 inhabitants. Residents do not celebrate...
In 1885, Alvinza Gardner Tillinghast opens his Puget Sound Seed Gardens on the Padilla Flats in Skagit County north of LaConner. Already experienced in growing cabbage seed, Tillinghast operates the b...
In 1885, Nordvest Kusten (Nordvestkusten), an early Swedish publication, is issued. This file contains a list of early Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish periodicals issued in Seattle.
The city of Enumclaw, Washington, comes into existence in 1885 when the Northern Pacific Railroad routes its transcontinental line through Frank and Mary Fell Stevenson's homestead. Enumclaw nestles o...
On February 5, 1885, the Donnelly Post Office opens with Simon Donnelly as the first postmaster. The office is in King County on the southwest shore of Squak Lake (now Lake Samammish), where a sawmill...
On March 4, 1885, Dirty Dan Harris (1833?-1890) and friends raise an enormous United States flag on a 110-foot pole in front of his hotel in Fairhaven (Whatcom County). Daniel "Dirty Dan" Harris (1833...
In March 1885, commercial coal production begins at Mine No. 14 of the Black Diamond Coal Mining Co. in the Green River Coal Field in King County. The completion of rail service on December 12, 1884, ...
On April 15, 1885, the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad Company is incorporated. This route, the present-day (1999) Burke-Gilman Trail, connects Seattle's tidewater to Sumas, Washington, on ...
On May 20, 1885, an arsonist lights a fire that destroys most of the business district of the town of Whatcom (Whatcom County). But all is not lost: Those fighting the fire save most of the town's l...
On July 13, 1885, voters elect Republican Henry L. Yesler (1810-1892) to a second term as mayor of the City of Seattle.
The opening of a post office is an important marker of the beginning of a community. On July 22, 1885, Black Diamond Post Office opens. William B. Jones is appointed postmaster. Black Diamond is loc...
On August 3, 1885, the first Chautauqua on Puget Sound is held at Dilworth Point (later renamed Ellisport) on Vashon Island. Named after Chautauqua, New York, where it was founded in 1874, the movemen...