Showing 1 - 20 of 506 results
400 Yesler Way: Seattle Municipal Building 1909-1916, Seattle Public Safety Building 1917-1951
The Seattle building located at 400 Yesler Way was constructed as a Municipal Building in 1909 and provided space for Seattle City offices, the City jail, an emergency hospital, the police department, and a health and sanitation department. The architect of the concrete and steel-framed building was Clayton D. Wilson. In about 1912, a penthouse for a nurses' residence was added onto the roof. In 1916, City offices relocated to the new County-City Building (now the King County Courthouse), leaving the 400 Yesler building to the purposes for which it was originally intended: to be the city's first public safety building. And so it remained until 1951, when a new public safety building was built (which has since been demolished). The old public safety building was abandoned, then sold in 1957 to private owners. Toward the end of 1976, the City negotiated with the owners to renovate the building and lease it to the City for offices. The inside of the building was gutted and redeveloped, and some City offices moved there in 1977 and early 1978. King County bought the building in 1991 and in the late 1990s waterproofed and renovated the rotting foundation levels. Today, 400 Yesler Way continues to grace Yesler Hill between 4th and 5th avenues and Yesler Avenue and Terrace Street, a beaux arts, government building that dates from the early years of the twentieth century.
File 9336: Full Text >
Aberdeen -- Thumbnail History
Aberdeen is located at the confluence of the Chehalis and Wishkah rivers at the head of Grays Harbor, at the southern end of the Olympic Peninsula. The region's rich fisheries and abundant timber supported a number of Native American communities and served to attract white American settlement in the mid-nineteenth century. During the latter half of the nineteenth century a number of small communities were established on Grays Harbor, but Aberdeen quickly grew to dominate as the commercial and cultural hub. Lumber, fisheries, and shipbuilding have fueled the local economy for much of the region's history, but recently extractive industries have declined and tourism and commercial retail have increased.
File 7390: Full Text >
Abortion Reform in Washington State
On November 3, 1970, Washington voters approved Referendum 20, which legalized abortion in the early months of pregnancy. Fifteen other states had liberalized their abortion laws by that time, but Washington was the first -- and so far the only -- state to do so through a vote of the people. It was a triumphant moment in a campaign that had its genesis in 1967, in the office of Seattle psychologist Samuel Goldenberg, who had been asked to help two patients, one middle-aged and the other a young college student, both desperate for a way to end an unwanted pregnancy.
File 5313: Full Text >
Adams County -- Thumbnail History
Adams County is a predominantly rural county located in southeastern Washington, with Ritzville serving as county seat. Since 1952 Columbia River water brought through the Columbia Basin Project has irrigated region's fertile volcanic soil. Adams County measures 1,925 square miles, ranking it 14th in size among Washington's 39 counties. It is bordered to the north by Lincoln County, to the east by Whitman County, to the south by Franklin County, and to the west by Grant County. As of 2005, Adams County has a population of 17,000, two-thirds of whom live in rural parts of the county. Othello (population 6,120) and Ritzville (population 1,730) are the largest towns. Agricultural pursuits include dry-land wheat farming, irrigated apple orchards, and field crops (primarily potatoes). The vegetable- and fruit-processing industry, especially potato processing and French fry manufacturing, provides most of the county's industrial employment. As of 2006, Adams County's population was 52 percent Hispanic, with most Hispanic residents being of Mexican heritage.
File 7835: Full Text >
Adams, Nora B. (1928-2004)
Nora B. Adams was an African American Seattle Public School principal who left more than $1 million in her estate to three of her major interests. She left $600,000 to the Seattle Public Schools Scholarship Fund and divided the rest between cancer and heart research. A shrewd investor, Adams divested herself of stock brokers and managed her own portfolio. She devoted 37 years to education, as a teacher and as an administrator and was one of the first black female principals in the city. According to her nephew, Gordon McHenry Jr. (Boeing executive and former member of the Seattle Public Library Board), she was the quintessential educator, not given to idle chatter but insisting on thoughtful and meaningful conversation.
File 8506: Full Text >
Admiralty Head Lighthouse
The Admiralty Head Lighthouse, built in 1903 by the Army Corps of Engineers, is located in Fort Casey State Park near Coupeville on Whidbey Island. The beacon, high on a bluff, 127 feet above sea level, was an important navigational aid, especially for sailing ships entering Admiralty Inlet from the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It replaced the Red Bluff Lighthouse, a wooden Cape Cod style structure built in 1861. Although decommissioned in 1922, the Admiralty Head Lighthouse received national recognition in 1990 when the U.S. Postal Service selected it for a collection of five commemorative lighthouse stamps honoring the U. S. Coast Guard's bicentennial.
File 5710: Full Text >
Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (1909): Committees
The 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition was held in Seattle on the University of Washington campus from June 1 to October 16. This was Washington's first world's fair and it celebrated 12 years of prosperity -- since the 1897 Alaska Gold Rush -- through the display of resources, products, and advantages of Washington and the region. More than three million people visited the fair from Washington cities and counties and from the rest of the country. Planning, funding, and producing the A-Y-P Exposition required the talents of many civic leaders. Many of these leaders served on the committees of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition Corporation. The Alaska-Yukon Exposition Corporation was formed May 8, 1906. On May 31, 1906, the word "Pacific" was added to the corporation's name. This file contains a list of the committees of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Corporation, as enumerated in the Secretary's Report of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (Seattle: Gateway Printing, 1911).
File 8630: Full Text >
Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (1909): The Olmsted Legacy
The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific (A-Y-P) Exposition was held in Seattle at the University of Washington campus from June 1 to October 16, 1909. Planning for its extensive landscaped grounds and many buildings began several years before opening day. In October 1906, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition Company hired landscape architect John C. Olmsted (1852-1920) of the prestigious Olmsted Brothers firm of Brookline, Massachusetts, to design the grounds. The A-Y-P Exposition Company leased the southern portion of campus where the forest had been cut over once, but where second-growth trees and dense underbrush covered the slope from about 41st Street to the lakeshore. Olmsted developed a plan that would serve the needs of the fair as well as those of the university after the exposition ended. His plan differed from other world's fair plans in that it relied on the natural scenery, including Mount Rainier and Lake Washington and Lake Union, for focal points around which he laid out the buildings, roads, and paths. By the time of the fair's opening in 1909, gardeners had transformed the forest into a park with avenues, paths, cascading water emptying into the Geyser Basin (now Drumheller Fountain), buildings, and beautiful vistas looking out onto Seattle's distinctive natural surroundings. A hundred years later, elements of the Olmsted design remain as legacies of the exposition.
File 8873: Full Text >
Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (1909): Woman Suffrage
During the first week of July 1909, suffrage proponents from across the country gathered in Seattle to participate in the 41st Annual Convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association and to celebrate Woman Suffrage Day at Washington's first world's fair, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific (A-Y-P) Exposition, currently underway on the University of Washington campus. The Washington Equal Suffrage Association convention, held the day before the National convention, drew suffragists from around the state. The suffragists, their conventions, and their appearances in area clubs and churches received copious coverage in local newspapers and captured the attention of thousands of Washingtonians attending the A-Y-P Exposition. Suffragists used the A-Y-P as a massive public relations opportunity and this exposure was an important component in how Washington women achieved the vote on November 8, 1910.
File 8587: Full Text >
Anderson, Otto (1857-1938): Seattle's Award-Winning Furniture Designer and Guitar-Maker
The excellent wood-working skills of Swedish immigrant, Otto Edward Anderson provided him with good job opportunities upon his arrival in the Pacific Northwest in 1888. One highlight of his career must have been winning a gold award at Seattle's first world's fair -- the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition -- for the innovative designs of some fine handcrafted furniture. But in hindsight, it seems that it was his years of making musical string instruments -- guitars, violins, and perhaps a mandolin -- and an association with the region's legendary instrument manufacturer, Chris J. Knutsen, which may bring him longer-lasting fame.
File 8916: Full Text >
Angell, Tony (b. 1940): Renaissance Man
Tony Angell is an eminent Pacific Northwest painter and sculptor whose work has often centered on birds, especially ravens and crows. He is also an author. Since 1971, he has been Washington State Director of Environmental Education. Washington State chapter of the Nature Conservancy. This biography of Tony Angell is reprinted from Deloris Tarzan Ament's Iridescent Light: The Emergence of Northwest Art (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002).
File 5329: Full Text >
Artists of Washington State During World War II
In 1935, a group of artists in New York City formed the American Artists Congress as a response to the growth of Fascism throughout the world. Three Washington state artists signed the original Call of the organization: Kenneth Callahan (1905-1986), Thomas Handforth (1897-1948), and Barney Nestor (1903-1974). Several other regional artists would eventually align themselves with the organization and participated in their exhibitions. Like their contemporaries, some Washington state artists addressed themes of war in their work, either in support of the effort or through anti-war and pacifist imagery.
File 8435: Full Text >
Asotin County -- Thumbnail History
Asotin County, formed out of Garfield County in 1883, is located in extreme southeastern Washington. In the 2000 Census, the county population was 20,551, and the population of Clarkston, its largest town, was 7,337. The county seat is the small town (pop. 1,095 in 2000) of Asotin, seven miles south of Clarkston. At 636 square miles, Asotin County is the sixth-smallest county in the state. It has a fertile agricultural region in the north-central region, while farther south, the terrain becomes more rugged and is marked by creeks and gullies. Elevations dip to as low as 740 feet in the northeastern corner near Clarkston, and rise to exceed 6,000 feet in the extreme southwestern region in the Blue Mountains. Asotin County's history has been primarily an agricultural one centered on farming and fruit orchards.
File 7643: Full Text >
Averill, Howard Earl (1902-1983)
Earl Averill -- he went by his middle name -- was a relatively small player from a small town who made it big in major league baseball. Born, raised, and retired in Snohomish, he didn’t begin his big-league career until 1929 when he was nearly 27, but quickly made up for the late start. In an era when many of the game’s legendary players were in their prime, Averill was an immediate and perennial star for the Cleveland Indians. He was selected to baseball's first six All-Star Games and batted .318 over a 13-year career. His Cleveland team record for home runs in a career lasted 57 years; his runs-batted-in record still stands. Fans loved him and opponents respected him, but baseball writers choosing candidates for enshrinement in the sport's hall of fame were not as impressed. They passed over him for more than three decades. Finally, a special selection committee made him a unanimous choice. In 1975, he became the first Washington state native to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. By then he had long been his hometown's most famous citizen. In fact, his nickname put the town in baseball's lexicon. He was called and is remembered as The Earl of Snohomish.
File 9513: Full Text >
Bagley, Daniel (1818-1905) and Clarence B. Bagley (1843-1932)
Daniel Bagley was a Methodist preacher who traveled west in covered wagons with his family in 1852 as part of the Bethel Party. He and his wife Susannah Whipple Bagley (1819-1913) and son Clarence Bagley arrived in Seattle in October 1860. Daniel Bagley established the Brown Church in Seattle in 1860 and besides preaching became a key advocate for the Territorial University and its location in Seattle. He also managed the Newcastle coal mines. His only son, Clarence Bagley, was 17 when he arrived in Seattle. He became a printer, publisher, and writer, a founder of the Washington State Historical Society, and the region's first and preeminent historian.
File 3470: Full Text >
Bainbridge Island (Winslow) -- Thumbnail History
Eagle Harbor lies on the eastern side of Bainbridge Island, which is located in central Puget Sound directly west of Seattle. Until 1990 the community situated on the harbor was named Winslow. In 1990 Winslow voted to annex the entire island and the following year it voted to change its name to Bainbridge Island. The town on the harbor began in the 1870s as a handful of white settlers in a community called Madrone. Farming formed the foundation of the town's economy and fueled its growth, with the most notable crop eventually becoming strawberries grown by Japanese American farmers. In 1902 Hall Brothers Shipbuilding moved their operation to Eagle Harbor, and Madrone changed its name to Winslow (after Winslow Hall). The firm became the predominate industry. During the latter half of the twentieth century the easy ferry commute to Seattle spurred residential development, which continues today.
File 8274: Full Text >
Bainbridge Island: A Close-Knit Community's Tragedy and Triumph by Washington State History Day winner Jack Hanley
Jack Hanley, a Junior at Seattle Prep, won first place in the Senior Division of the 2007 History Day competition with this essay on Bainbridge Island's Japanese American internment.
File 8177: Full Text >
Bank of Commerce (Yesler) Building (Seattle)
The Bank of Commerce Building (common name, Yesler Building) at 95 Yesler Way, is located on the southwest corner of 1st Avenue S and Yesler Way and was one of three "legacy" buildings commissioned by Henry L. Yesler (1810-1892) to celebrate Seattle's pioneers. Designed by architect Elmer H. Fisher (ca. 1840-1905) and built in 1890-1891, it was called the Bank of Commerce Building after the first of the three start-up banks it incubated between 1891 and 1905. The others were the Scandinavian-American Bank and the Seattle State Bank. All three were instrumental in bringing eastern capital to rebuild Seattle after the Great Fire of 1889, and they supported fledgling businesses, especially those of immigrants from Italy and Scandinavia. Although a third floor, designed by Albert Wickersham (1891-1920), was completed in 1906, the banks eventually outgrew the space, and by 1911 they had all moved to other facilities. The following decades were hard on the entire Pioneer Square area, and this former home of banks was reduced to housing a shoe store, dentists' offices, an Army surplus store, the Afro-American Club, and other short-term tenants. After World War II, the Yesler Building became one of the many properties of landowner Sam Israel (1899-1994), and is currently owned by Samis, the foundation he established in 1987. In 1970, the Pioneer Square area where the building is located was designated as both a National Historic District and a local preservation district, and shortly thereafter the building was upgraded structurally and renovated. Today, in 2009, the building remains the property of Samis, and temptingly offers the Rocky Mountain Candy Company on the first floor and Skyn Spa upstairs.
File 8984: Full Text >
Bartell Drug Company
George Bartell Sr. (1868-1956) opened his first drug store in 1890 in Seattle, and grew his business from a small fledgling enterprise to a thriving chain of pharmacies that by the 1920s were scattered throughout the city. Bartell Drugs continued to prosper into the 1940s, but subsequent changing times made it necessary for the company to reorganize its operations and resulted in the closing of some of its stores. Rapid growth returned by the late 1970s, and today (2010), the Bartell Drug Company has 57 stores throughout the Puget Sound region. It enjoys the distinction of being the oldest drug store chain in the United States, and has remained in the Bartell family during its long history.
File 9302: Full Text >
Barton, Kearney (b. 1931): The Man Who Engineered the Northwest Sound
Seattle's Kearney Barton is the man whose audio engineering work can be credited with forging the powerful aural esthetic that became widely known as the "original Northwest Sound." Numerous musicians also contributed to the process, but it was Barton who established what that "Sound" sounded like on classic records by pioneering area rock 'n' roll bands, including the Frantics ("Werewolf"), Playboys ("Party Ice"), Little Bill ("Louie Louie"), the Kingsmen ("Jolly Green Giant"), the Counts ("Turn On Song"), the Sonics ("Psycho"), and Don and the Goodtimes ("Little Sally Tease"). But Barton's half-century of work has also seen him produce recordings for a wide range of clients, including the Seattle and Portland opera companies, jazz/pop icon Quincy Jones, Scandinavian humorist Stan Boreson, country/pop diva Bonnie Guitar, the Supersonics and Sounders sports teams -- and even the performance soundtracks for Washington's 1984 Summer Olympics Gold Medalist swimmers, Traci Ruiz and Candy Costie. Perhaps most significantly though, through instructional classes held at his Audio Recording studios over the decades, Barton has trained and mentored an entire generation of students in the arts and sciences of audio engineering.
File 8719: Full Text >
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English fur trader John Meares names Cape Disappointment on July 6, 1788.
On July 6, 1788, English fur trader John Meares (1756?-1809) names the northern side of the entrance to the Columbia River, Cape Disappointment. The name reflects Meares' chagrin at not finding the Columbia River.
File 5621: Full Text >
Homeward bound, the Lewis and Clark Expedition leaves Washington state on May 5, 1806.
On May 5, 1806, after taking an overland shortcut from present-day Wallula to the vicinity of Clarkston, the Lewis and Clark Expedition leaves the confines of what is now Washington state. From here, the explorers will continue east, ending their 8,000-mile "voyage of discovery" in St. Louis, Missouri, four months later.
File 5398: Full Text >
David Thompson plants the British flag at the confluence of the Columbia and Snake rivers on July 9, 1811.
On July 9, 1811, at the mouth of the Snake River where it joins the Columbia, Canadian explorer David Thompson (1770-1857) erects a pole with a sign claiming the surrounding country for Great Britain. Thompson also leaves a British flag with the Wallula Indians, who control the area. The sign and flag are a statement to the American fur traders of John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company, who are competing with Thompson's North West Company of Canada, then still a British colony. The British claim does not prevail: the confluence of the Snake and Columbia now marks the intersection of Benton, Franklin, and Walla Walla counties in Washington.
File 5096: Full Text >
John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company establishes Fort Spokane in 1812.
In 1812, the Pacific Fur Company of John Jacob Astor (1763-1848), a New York merchant active in the fur trade with China, establishes a trading post called Fort Spokane near the current site of the city of Spokane in Eastern Washington. Astor's American company builds its post where the Little Spokane River joins the Spokane River, next door to Spokane House, a post established two years earlier by Astor's Canadian rival, the North West Company. After two years of trade rivalry, Astor's representatives sell all his Northwest posts to the North West Company, and Fort Spokane merges with Spokane House.
File 5101: Full Text >
North West Company builds Fort Nez Perce on future site of Wallula in 1818.
In 1818, the North West Company builds Fort Nez Perce on the Columbia River at the mouth of the Walla Walla River. The North West Company competes with the Hudson's Bay Company for control of the fur trade in Western Canada and the Northwest. The post will be called Fort Walla Walla (distinct from the U. S. Army's Fort Walla Walla on the site of present-day Walla Walla) and it will operate until 1855, when it will be abandoned due to war with the Native Americans.
File 5178: Full Text >
Hudson's Bay Company opens Fort Vancouver on March 19, 1825.
On March 19, 1825, the Hudson's Bay Company opens Fort Vancouver on a bluff above the north bank of the Columbia River where the city of Vancouver, Clark County, is now located. For the next 20 years, the British-owned company, with its Fort Vancouver headquarters presided over by chief factor Dr. John McLoughlin (1784-1857), is the leading non-Indian presence in the region.
File 5251: Full Text >
Hudson's Bay Company begins constructing Fort Colvile near Kettle Falls in early August 1825.
In early August 1825, the Hudson's Bay Company begins constructing Fort Colvile as a trading post. Fort Colvile is located at the upper end of the two-mile portage around Kettle Falls on the Columbia River. It will become the most important Hudson's Bay Company post in Eastern Washington. The company will continue to operate the post until 1871.
File 7993: Full Text >
United States Exploring Expedition Surveys the Columbia River during August and September 1841.
During August and September 1841, the United States Exploring Expedition, commanded by Lieutenant Charles Wilkes (1798-1877), carries out a hydrographic survey of the Columbia River from its mouth to the Cascades. The expedition's appearance at Fort Vancouver alarms the British Hudson's Bay Company officials.
File 5625: Full Text >
James Scarborough occupies Chinook Point on the Columbia River on December 1, 1843.
On December 1, 1843, Englishman James A. Scarborough (1805-1855) settles at Chinook Point on the Columbia River in what will become Pacific County, Washington. Scarborough will file a Donation Land Claim and occupy the property until his death in 1855. The land will ultimately become Fort Columbia, part of the U.S. Army’s defense of the mouth of the Columbia River.
File 7834: Full Text >
George W. Bush settles with his family at Bush Prairie near Tumwater in November 1845.
In November 1845, George W. and Isabella James Bush and their five sons settle near Tumwater on a fertile plain that comes to be known as Bush Prairie. They and their party, which includes their good friend Michael T. Simmons (1814-1867) are the first Americans to settle north of the Columbia River in what is now Washington. The Simmons party makes the historically significant decision to settle north of the Columbia primarily because the discriminatory laws of the provisional government of Oregon Territory prohibit George Bush, an African American who is a key leader of the group, from settling south of the river.
File 5646: Full Text >
Britain cedes its claims to the Pacific Northwest by signing the Treaty of Oregon on June 15, 1846.
On June 15, 1846, after 28 years of peaceful "joint occupancy" with the United States, Britain surrenders its claims to the "Oregon Country" south of the 49th parallel by signing the Treaty of Oregon.
File 5247: Full Text >
Cayuse attack mission in what becomes known as the Whitman Massacre on November 29, 1847.
On November 29, 1847, Cayuse tribal members attack white settlers and missionaries at Waiilatpu in what will become known as the Whitman Massacre. Thirteen whites are killed during three days of bloodshed, most of them on the first day; another escapes but is killed several days later.
File 5192: Full Text >
St. Anne's Mission is established on Umatilla River on November 27, 1847.
On Saturday, November 27, 1847, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Walla Walla, Augustin Magliore Alexander Blanchet (1797-1887), and John Baptist Abraham Brouillet (1813-1884) leave Fort Walla Walla and establish St. Anne's Mission in a cabin on the Umatilla River. Blanchet, Brouillet, and others had arrived at Fort Walla Walla in September and had spent October making preparations to open this mission and another at the confluence of the Yakima and Columbia rivers. Two days after Blanchet and Brouillet open St. Anne's, Protestant missionaries Marcus (1802-1847) and Narcissa Whitman (1808-1847) and others will be killed at the Waiilatpu mission. St. Anne's Mission will be abandoned, burned, reestablished, burned again, abandoned again, and reestablished again before its mission will be resumed.
File 9515: Full Text >
Indians and Oregon Volunteers battle in the future Columbia County on March 14 and 15, 1848.
On March 14 and 15, 1848, a notable battle between Oregon Volunteers and members of the Palouse Tribe takes place in present-day Columbia County during the Cayuse War. The fighting continues for 30 hours. The Oregon Volunteers are greatly outnumbered, but eventually fight their way across the Touchet River and to safety, though with casualties.
File 7807: Full Text >
Bishop Augustine Blanchet dedicates Washington's original St. James Cathedral at Fort Vancouver on January 23, 1851.
On January 23, 1851, Bishop Augustine Magloire Alexandre (A. M. A.) Blanchet (1797-1887) consecrates as a Catholic cathedral a rustic missionary church on land adjacent to the Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Vancouver headquarters. The wooden structure is built and paid for by Hudson's Bay at the request of Francis N. Blanchet (1795-1883), Father A. M. A. Blanchet's brother and the first Archbishop of the see, or diocese, of Oregon City. After serving as a simple parish church for the Roman Catholic residents of Fort Vancouver and the surrounding area, its status is upgraded to cathedral when the Nesqually (later Nisqually) diocese is created and A. M. A. Blanchet is appointed bishop. It will serve as the seat of the diocese until 1885, when a much grander St. James Cathedral is completed in the City of Vancouver. The new cathedral will be the headquarters of the church in Western Washington for more than two decades, then will revert to a parish church when Bishop Edward J. O'Dea (1856-1932) moves the diocese to Seattle and builds a new St. James Cathedral.
File 9126: Full Text >
Settlers of North Oregon convene a convention at Cowlitz Landing to form a separate territory on August 29, 1851.
On August 29, 1851, settlers of North Oregon convene a convention at Cowlitz Landing to form a separate territory. The attendees resolve that lawyer John Chapman should draft a memorial to Congress asserting that "the inhabitants North of the Columbia River receive no benefit ... whatever from the Territorial Government of Oregon" (Ficken, 26). Congress will ignore the plea for another year.
File 5560: Full Text >
Settlers begin loading logs on the ship Leonesa in King County's first export on December 9, 1851.
On December 9, 1851, all seven adult male settlers at New York (renamed Alki) begin cutting down trees and loading lumber on the ship Leonesa, bound for San Francisco. This represents the future King County's first export and first significant logging. The seven men are Arthur Denny (1822-1899), David Denny (1832-1903), Lee Terry (1818-1862), Carson Boren (1824?-1912), William Bell (1817-1887), John Low (1820-1888), and Charles Terry (1829-1867).
File 742: Full Text >
The schooner Robert Bruce burns in Willapa Bay, leading to the settlement of Bruceville (later Bruceport), on December 11, 1851.
On December 11, 1851, the schooner Robert Bruce is deliberately set on fire by the ship's cook and burns to the water line. The schooner is in Willapa Bay in what is now Pacific County in southwest Washington, where it is loading a cargo of oysters from the bay for shipment to San Francisco. The oystermen aboard are all rescued, and having lost their ship and belongings they build cabins on the beach and settle at the spot. The "Bruce boys," as they come to be called, continue in the oyster trade and soon earn enough money to buy new ships. The new settlement is named after the burned ship -- it is first called Bruceville and shortly thereafter changed to Bruceport.
File 5433: Full Text >
First irrigation ditch in the Yakima Valley is dug at the Saint Joseph Mission in 1852.
In 1852, Catholic Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate Father Charles Pandosy and Father Eugene Casmire Chirouse (1821-1892), in company with Yakama people, labor with shovels to dig the first irrigation ditch in the Yakima Valley. In time irrigation will so transform the natural sagebrush desert (an ecology known as shrub-steppe) that the Yakima Valley will become known as the fruit bowl of the nation.
File 5288: Full Text >
Peter Judson files Donation Land Claim to 321 acres in Tacoma in the fall of 1853.
In the fall of 1853, Peter Judson files a Donation Land Claim to 321 acres on Commencement Bay, just north of the settlement around Nicolas Delin's sawmill. Judson will abandon the claim in 1855 when Native Americans attack settlers in the region.
File 5016: Full Text >
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"Good Things Grow From Horse Manure": a Speech to the Seattle Rotary Club by Sam Mitsui
Sam Mitsui gave this speech to the Rotary Club of Seattle at the 5th Avenue Theatre on November 9, 2005. Mitsui is a member of the Nisei Veterans Committee of Seattle, Washington. His speech begins, "My name is Sam Mitsui and I am a Nisei, a second generation Japanese American, and my parents were called Issei, the first generation of immigrants from Japan."
File 7552: Full Text >
"Waiting For the Big One" by Walt Crowley
A condensed edition of this essay was published in The Seattle Times Sunday Opinion Section on October 30, 2005. This version offers a fuller tour of Washington's "tectonic" political shifts and elections.
File 7537: Full Text >
A Brief History of Primary Election Rules in Washington State
The method of nominating partisan candidates for public office and the structure of the primary in Washington state have been subjects of controversy and legislation throughout the past 100 years. The current dispute about the blanket primary is related to these past changes in the nominating process. Secretary of State Sam Reed and his staff wrote this history of primary election rules, which is reprinted from the Washington Secretary of State Website.
File 5738: Full Text >
A History of the Seattle Mayor's Desk
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels shares an undated "history" of his official desk, which dates back to 1928. The anonymous typescript was found in the desk by Mayor Nickels and is an artifact in its own right.
File 3959: Full Text >
A Proud Day by Vern Nordstrand
This is the story of a proud day in the life of Boeing mechanic (later Superintendent of Tooling) Vern Nordstrand (1918-2009). Nordstrand lived in the Green Lake neighborhood of Seattle with his wife, Dorothea Nordstrand.
File 8027: Full Text >
A second-hand account of one family's triumph over poverty, war, and the Great Depression by Gary Graupner
Gary Graupner grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, but tales of the hardships that his close family endured as they struggled with poverty, disease, war, and the Great Depression were passed down to him in vivid detail. This People's History begins with the arrival of his paternal grandfather in Newport, Pend Oreille County, at the start of the twentieth century. From there it traces one family's story as it faced the daunting challenges of its time, including the 1918 flu pandemic, World War II, and the Great Depression. It is above all a story of persistence, generosity, and success, both in war and in life: Gary Graupner's grandfather builds a business as a butcher and grocer and during the Depression helps to feed needy friends, neighbors, and even strangers; his father, Roy, learns the value of hard work at an early age, serves in the Pacific during World War II, and comes home to raise a family; two generations of Graupners persevere through challenges that later generations have not faced, at least not yet. This reminiscence is filled with charming anecdotes of daily life in an earlier age, and reflects on what we as a nation have learned, or perhaps failed to learn, from the lessons of the past.This is reprinted with kind permission from Nostalgia Magazine, Vol. 11, No. 4 (April 2009).
File 9060: Full Text >
A Story of Pioneering by Nicholas V. Sheffer (1825-1910), Part 2: Indian Wars
In 1909, Nicholas Sheffer (1825-1910) was Whatcom County’s oldest pioneer. He prepared his reminiscences for The Lynden Tribune, which ran them in three parts in August of that year as “A Story of Pioneering: Being a Personal Narrative of Early Days in Northwest Washington, told to the Tribune by N. V. Sheffer, of 1854.” HistoryLink.org was made aware of this account by Whatcom County family historian Susan Nahas who connected Sheffer’s information with the HistoryLink.org story of Julia Benson Intermelia (1855-1907), the half-Duwamish daughter of Seattle pioneer Henry Yesler (1810-1892). In Part 2 Sheffer serves in the Territorial militia and meets a number of Seattle pioneers.
File 7976: Full Text >
Ancient Order of Hibernians, 1890-2000
Irish organizations appeared in Washington after 1880. The Ancient Order of Hibernians was established in 1890, and it was one of the largest Irish nationalistic organizations. The Irish Rebellion of 1917 increased interest in Irish social, nationalistic, and religious organizations among some of the Irish in Washington state. This history of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Washington state was written by A. J. Burton, president of the Seattle chapter.
File 2276: Full Text >
Battling Union Busters with Gary Ewing (1942-2000)
Gary Ewing (1942-2000) died on October 5, 2000, one week past his 58th birthday. This extraordinary, courageous, funny man was a passionate champion of working people and a loyal friend of many. Gary was an officer in Teamsters Local 174 in the early 1980s and later a lobbyist and representative for waste management firms Rabanco, Emerald Service, and Cedar Grove Composting. He was a former president of the International District Rotary and active in many political and community groups. His wife Violet is a veteran teacher in Seattle Public Schools. In this account, Walt Crowley remembers Gary's role in creating an innovative ad campaign to resist "union-busting" by local beer distributors.
File 2723: Full Text >
Beginnings of the Columbia Basin Reclamation Project: A Reminiscence by W. Gale Matthews
In early 1952, W. Gale Matthews -- a resident of Grant County since 1890 and, at the time of this account, President of the Grant County Title Abstract Company -- provided his memories of the beginning of the Columbia Basin Reclamation Project. This project to irrigate large parts of the Columbia Basin in Eastern Washington famously gave birth to Grand Coulee Dam, which opened in 1941. Matthews account was transcribed from a speech he gave to the Grant County Historical Society in early 1952, and was edited by Eric L. Flom. Matthews tells of the early ridicule facing this proposal and the war of ideas waged between dam proponents and others advocating a rival irrigation scheme.
File 7963: Full Text >
Bill Newby and Seattle City Light's Skagit Hydroelectric Project, 1935-1996
Bill Newby (b. 1935) was born in the Seattle City Light community
of Newhalem on the Skagit River. He worked for City Light starting in
1955 as a laborer, digging ditches.
He retired in 1996 as Director of Operations on the
Skagit River hydroelectric project, responsible for three dams, four power houses,
and two communities. In this interview conducted by David Wilma for HistoryLink in January 2001, Bill Newby recalls life in Newhalem and on the Skagit Project.
File 2963: Full Text >
Bob Ingram recalls the early years of the University of Washington Police
Robert F. "Bob" Ingram was a police officer at the University of
Washington from 1951 to 1978, retiring with the rank of Captain and head of all
the department's criminal investigations. The following is extracted from a
history of the University Police compiled by Captain Steven H. Robinson (Ret.).
File 3966: Full Text >
Boeing B-17 Tail Gun Turret: A Story from the War Years by Vern Nordstrand
Vern Nordstrand (1918-2009) worked at Boeing for 40 years, retiring in 1979. In this story he recalls how during World War II he helped to build a tail gun turret for the B-17, and how he gradually realized what a vital piece of equipment this was for American flyers.
File 7137: Full Text >
Bryant, Alice Franklin (1899-1977)
Alice Bryant was a life-long peace activist and advocate for justice, based in Seattle. She was a world traveler, a prolific writer of letters to the editor, a lecturer, poet, essayist, and an author of books for children and adults. This biography is written by her granddaughter, Ruth Williams.
File 8865: Full Text >
Captain Aaron Bert, Washington National Guard, writes home from Iraq
Aaron Bert worked in the finance department of the City of Seattle until his Washington Army National Guard unit was activated for service in Iraq in 2004. In this email, he relates the death of SGT Damien Ficek on December 30, 2004. SGT Ficek grew up in Oregon and after active service in the U.S. Army, he went to work for Washington State University in Pullman and joined the National Guard.
File 7262: Full Text >
CHECC: Its role in the transformation of Seattle, 1967-1978, Part 2
A broad-based citizen-activist movement spearheaded the numerous political and social changes that took place in Seattle during the 1960s and 1970s. Although many organizations participated, this account (updated in February 2009) focuses on the role played by one of them -- Choose an Effective City Council (CHECC). It was written by CHECC participant Peter LeSourd. This is Part 2 of a two-part essay.
File 8144: Full Text >
Coal Mining in an east Pierce County area known as Pittsburg (1889-1909), Spiketon (1910-1916), and finally Morristown (1917-1927)
East Pierce County's Carbon River coal district was once dotted with a dozen small mining communities. Wilkeson, Carbonado, South Prairie, and Burnett survived, but Fairfax, Manley-Moore, Melmont, Montezuma, Morristown, and Wingate all met the fate awaiting mining towns when their minerals cease to be economically viable. This is the story of one of those communities; initially known as Pittsburg, later as Spiketon, and finally as Morristown. It is written by William Kombol, Manager of Palmer Coking Coal Company located in Black Diamond (King County), Washington.
File 8262: Full Text >
Cowley, Michael M. (1841-1915), Spokane pioneer
The author of this People's History, Benjamin H. Kizer, was a Spokane lawyer acquainted with local pioneer Michael M. Cowley. Cowley worked as a sutler (an Army storekeeper) and prospector, settled at Spokane Bridge, and finally became a respected Spokane banker. Kizer prepared this biographical sketch for The Pacific Northwesterner, Vol. 9, No. 2 (Spring 1965), pp. 25-31. It is here edited by David Wilma and reprinted with the permission of the publisher.
File 7334: Full Text >
Creating Cal Anderson Park by Kay Rood
Cal Anderson Park, a beautifully renovated and expanded park on Seattle's Capitol Hill, re-opened on September 24, 2005. Originally one of Seattle's Olmsted-designed parks (named "Lincoln Park,"), it had by 1993 deteriorated into weeds, trash, and a graffiti-covered rest room, and was avoided by community members as a druggy and dangerous place. Kay Rood and the community organization Groundswell Off Broadway was a prime mover in the process of organizing to rebuild the park into a beautiful community asset with an undergrounded reservoir, a playground, community buildings, a water feature, paths, gardens, and benches. This is Kay Rood's story of the long process of rebuilding the park, which is named for Cal Anderson, Washington's first openly gay legislator.
File 7603: Full Text >
Daniel Corbin and the Spokane Falls & Northern Railway
John R. Fahey, the author of this essay, was born and educated in Spokane. He graduated from Gonzaga University and went to graduate school in journalism and political science at Northwestern. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps as a provost marshal and in a program democratizing German prisoners of war. In civilian life he worked as a radio news editor and announcer with several stations and became program director on KHQ radio and TV. This piece first appeared as "Spokane Falls and Northern" in The Pacific Northwesterner, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Spring 1960), pp. 17-26. It is reprinted by kind permission.
File 7528: Full Text >
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