This is a complete list of the governors of Washington Territory and Washington state. The list includes birth and death dates and dates of office. Washington Territory was founded on March 2, 1853. Washington became a state on November 11, 1889.
Territorial Governors
Isaac Stevens (1818-1862), term of office, 1853-1857
Charles H. Mason (1830-1859), Acting, terms of office, 1854, 1855, 1857
Fayette McMullen (1810-1880), term of office, 1857-1859
Charles H. Mason (1830-1859), Acting, term of office, 1858-1859
Richard D. Gholson (1802-1861), term of office, 1859-1861
Henry M. McGill (1831-1915), Acting, term of office, 1860-1861
William H. Wallace (1811-1879), term of office, 1861
L. Jay S. Turney (d. 1881), Acting, term of office, 1861-1862
William Pickering (1798-1873), term of office, 1862-1866
George E. Cole (1826-1906), term of office, 1866-1867
Marshall F. Moore (1829-1870), term of office, 1867-1869
Alvin Flanders (1825-1894), term of office, 1869-1870
Edward Salomon (1836-1913), term of office, 1870-1872
Elisha P. Ferry (1825-1895), term of office, 1872-1880
William A. Newell (1817-1901), term of office, 1880-1884
Watson C. Squire (1838-1926), term of office, 1884-1887
Eugene Semple (1840-1908), term of office, 1887-1889
Miles C. Moore (1845-1919), term of office, 1889
State Governors
Elisha P. Ferry (1825-1895), term of office, 1889-1893
John H. McGraw (1850-1910), term of office, 1893-1897
John R. Rogers (1838-1901), term of office, 1897-1901
Henry McBride (1856-1937), term of office, 1901-1905
Albert E. Mead (1861-1913), term of office, 1905-1909
Samuel G. Cosgrove (1841-1909), term of office, 1909 – served for a day
Marion E. Hay (1865-1933), term of office, 1909-1913
Ernest Lister (1870-1919), term of office, 1913-1919
Louis F. Hart (1862-1929), term of office, 1919-1925
Roland H. Hartley (1864-1952), term of office 1925-1933
Clarence D. Martin (1884-1955), term of office, 1933-1941
Arthur B. Langlie (1900-1966), term of office 1941-1945
Mon C. Wallgren (1891-1961), term of office 1945-1949
Arthur B. Langlie (1900-1966), term of office 1949-1957
Albert D. Rosellini (1910-2011), term of office, 1957-1965
Daniel J. Evans (1925-2024), term of office, 1965-1977
Dixy Lee Ray (1914-1994), term of office 1977-1981
John Spellman (b. 1926), term of office, 1981-1985
Booth Gardner (1936-2013), term of office, 1985-1993
Mike Lowry (1939-2017), term of office, 1993-1997
Gary Locke (b. 1950), term of office, 1997-2005
Christine Gregoire (b. 1947), term of office, 2005-2013
Jay Inslee (b. 1951), term of office, 2013-present
Governors of Washington Territory and Washington State
- Posted 5/11/2003
- HistoryLink.org Essay 5454
Sources:
"Territory Governors" and "State Governors," Washington State Library Website (http://www.statelib.wa.gov/governor/gov_table.htm), accessed July 17, 2003. Note: This entry was corrected on November 10, 2004, August 8, 2010, January 25, 2012, and April 1, 2019, and updated periodically with links to HistoryLink biographies.
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