(PA= Port Angeles,
PH=Port Hadlock, PL=Port Ludlow, PT=Port Townsend)
1592
Juan de Fuca (Spanish) Expedition - NW
Coast; reported a strait in area,
leading to the Atlantic (mythical, but story
persisted 400 yrs.)
1669
Hudson's Bay Company chartered
1774
Juan
Perez (Spanish) Expedition - NW Coast; first recorded Indian-white
contact on the Pacific Coast with the landing
of Spanish sailors near
the Hoh River
1775
Juan
Francisco Bodega y Cuadra (Spanish) Expedition - NW Coast;
lost landing party to Indians near the Hoh (or
Quileute) River
1776-78
James Cook
(English) Expedition - NW Coast (Mt. St. Helens, no stops in area)
1780s-1815
English &
American merchants hunted Pacific Northwest sea otter for fur
trade with China
1787
Charles
Barkley (English fur trader) recorded Strait; wife aboard
1788
John Meares (English) Expedition - NW Coast; entered Strait (by naming
Mount Olympus, he set a theme for classical
names of other features)
1788
Robert Duffin attacked by Klallam Indians at Discovery Bay (with the Meares expedition)
1789
Robert Gray (U.S.) explored Strait for 50 miles (Clallam Bay); 1792 named Columbia River after (one of) his ships
1789-93
Alexander
Mackenzie (English) Expedition overland - Fraser River
1790
Manual
Quimper (Spanish) Expedition - NW Coast; explored Strait to New
Dungeness, and Port Discovery; claimed WA
coastline for Spain
1791
Spanish
military post established at Discovery Bay
1791
Francisco Eliza (Spanish) Expedition - NW Coast
1791-92
Alejandro Malispina (Spanish) Expedition - NW Coast
1791-93
George
Vancouver (English) Expedition - NW Coast
- fully explored
Strait; named area features for English
nobility and his officers: Puget Sound: Peter Puget, Mount Baker: Joseph
Baker, Whidbey Island: Joseph Whidbey, Discovery
Bay: HMS Discovery Port Townsend: Marquis of Townshend;
Admiralty Inlet-took control of area from Spanish
1792
Robert Gray, William Broughton (U.S.) Expedition - NW Coast
(see 1789)
1792
Alexander Baranov (Russian) Expedition - NW Coast
1792
Spanish
military post established at Neah Bay
1803-06
Lewis &
Clark (U.S.) Expedition overland - 1805 passed by southern end of
Coast Salish territory at Columbia River;
established general
American claim to area; est. Quinault Indian
pop. 800
1807
Simon
Fraser (English) descended Fraser River through Salish territory
1819
John
Jacob Astor (U.S.) organizes the Pacific Fur Company at mouth of Columbia River
(Astoria)
1820s-1830s
Beaver fur at a
premium
1824
Bureau of Indian Affairs created in U.S. War Department
1825
Hudson
Bay Company established Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River as first
trading post in area
1827
Hudson's
Bay Company established Fort Langley on lower Fraser River, first Hudson's
Bay Company trading post in Salish territory
1828
Hudson's Bay Company launches punitive expedition against Klallam; burned village at
Port Townsend "200 paces in length,"
continuous lodges style
1832-34
Hudson's Bay
Company established Nisqually House/Fort as first trading post and
agricultural settlement in Puget Sound; 1833
Klallam trading recorded
1836
Beaver, side-wheeler, 1st steamship in Pacific NW, Hudson's Bay Company
armed trader; used in Indian wars, as passenger vessel and tug; sank in 1888
1841
Charles Wilkes (U.S.) Expedition - Olympic Peninsula
(most names bestowed on landmarks are Chinook jargon, not
local native names);
reports potatoes being grown by Port Discovery Kallam
1843
City of Victoria (English) founded
1844
James Polk elected U.S. President
1846
Treaty: Oregon Country transferred from
England to U.S. with border set at
49th parallel (England retained Vancouver Island)
1848 (8/14)
Oregon Territory created; bill signed by President Polk; included states WA, OR, ID, some MT, WY
1848
First white man to settle area probably William Jarman who
arrived Port Townsend (then "Kah
Tai"), settled with Klallam (no property claim)
1849
Polk appointed General Joseph Lane as
governor of Oregon Territory
1849
Bureau of Indian Affairs transferred from U.S. War Department to Interior
Deptartment
1849
Vancouver Island declared a British
colony
1849
California gold rush; "green gold" in
Pacific NW shipped to build California cities
1850-1870
Ferries were sailing sloops or scows, "whitehalls" or canoes, etc.
1850-1859 Decade
1850
The Donation Land Act; 320 acres if single, 640 acres if married
1851 (4/24) Port Townsend settled
officially: Charles Bachelder, Alfred Plummer (arrived April 24 from California), with
Loren B. Hastings and Francis Pettygrove (arrived October from Portland);
four agreed to partnership, created town site; approximately 500 Indians living on
the beach just above high tide (Gorsline 1992).
1852
Hastings and Pettygrove returned to Portland for
families, brought back other settlers
in February; Plummer married, Bachelder left
1851
Seattle founded
1851
Area (?) customs center established at
Olympia
1852
(5/1)
Port Townsend population: 3 families, 15 bachelors
1852
Port Townsend platted: 144 blocks; applied for post office
1852
Port Ludlow: Sawmill built (Sayward & Thorndyke) 3,000
board feet/day on
Paradise Bay
1852
Glen Cove homesteaded by Albert Briggs (1st customs collector
in PT)
1852
Settlement of Dungeness area begun at Whiskey Flats
1852
(December)
Jefferson County carved out of Thurston county in division of
Oregon Territory; Port
Townsend made county seat
1853
(March)
Washington Territory created (193,071 sq. mi., including WA,
north ID, western MT)
in division of Oregon Territory; Olympia made capital with Isaac Ingalls
Stevens governor; at time, 3,965 pioneers settled in "area" - Port
Gamble & Ludlow sawmills, Sequim prairie settlement
1853
A.Y. Trask: first large boat built in the area (Port Discovery), 50
ton schooner built by John E. Burns of Boston
1853
James
Alden (U.S.) Coast Survey - Olympic Peninsula (names bestowed on features honor his
fiance and her family
members)
1853
Klallam murdered master and steward of the
John Adams
1853
Chimacum
established (British sailors jumped ship, including Bishop and Eldridge)
1853
Port Gamble
built as mill town by Pope & Talbot
1854
Klallam population estimated 1,500 warriors (Gibbs)
1854
Smallpox epidemic on Cape Flattery reduced Makah to population of 150
1854
Jefferson County divided in half; north half became Clallam
County with county seat
at Whiskey Flats
1854
Port Townsend: Customs House/Port of Entry moved from Olympia to
Port Townsend (strategic
location, lawlessness, smuggling whiskey, stealing logs, etc.); Revenue Cutter
Jefferson Davis arrived to police "Key City"
1854
L.B. Hastings constructed the Colonel Ebey, 20 ton, 40 ft.
schooner
1855
Point No
Point Treaty concluded to move Klallam and Chimakum to Skokomish
reservation; Gibbs’ census shows 926 Klallams
1855
Indian Wars; battle of Seattle finished
Native hope of white man leaving
1855
Fort Townsend Built: Blockhouse, established Port Townsend Home
Guards (Indian troubles)
1856
Port Townsend: Fort Townsend established
1856?
Port Townsend: Klallam village (at Water & Jackson) of
45 tenements burned; Indians towed by side-wheeler
North Pacific to Skokomish Reservation (Gorsline dates c.
1871?)
1857
Chimacum Tribe massacred in battle at
Kala Point
1857
Dungeness lighthouse constructed;
Catholic headquarters established at Esquimalt (on Vancouver
Island)
1858
Port Discovery established. (population 300),
Sawmill built- S.B. Mastick of San Francisco
1858
Road (first) built: Port Discovery to Port Townsend
1858
Port Townsend source for alcohol debilitating
Indians in area (report from Whidbey Island (Gorsline
1992:xix)
1858
Port Ludlow: Sawmill transferred to Amos, Phinney,
Hooke of San Francisco
1858
Port Townsend Built: E.S. Fowler House,
Rothschild's Kentucky Store established
1858
Port Townsend: Charles Eisenbeis arrived
1858
Fraser River gold rush
1859
Port Townsend population: 300 whites, 200 Klallam
1859
Port Townsend: 1st newspaper Port Townsend Register by
Travers Daniels and Dr. Sam McCurdy
1859
Port Townsend: 1st church established St. Anthony's
Mission at Point Hudson (Father Louis Rossi)
1859
Chimacum creek mouth: sawmill and
gristmill established
1859
Smallpox epidemic on Olympic Peninsula
from ship What Cheer
1859
Port Ludlow Shipbuilding built the John T. Wright, 174 ft.
side-wheeler
1859
Port Townsend shipbuilding: Hammond, naval architect at Point
Hudson
1860-1869 Decade
1860
James Swan census of Indian camp at
Point Hudson, 14 Klallam lodges and 18 Chemakum
lodges (Gorsline 1992)
1860
Quilcene homestead established by
Hampden Cottle from Maine
1860s
Brinnon founded by Elwell P. Brinnon with
wife, Kate (Klallam, sister to Chetzemoka)
1860c.
Port Townsend Built: Capt. H.L. Tibbals
House
1861-65
Civil War
1861
Port Townsend: Victor Smith arrives as customs
collector
1862
Victor Smith moved Customs House to Port Angeles
with Shubrick and cannon
1862
Port Townsend: A. Horace Tucker arrived
1862
Census (area?): 1,300 Klallam (Gorsline
1992)
1863
Port Ludlow Shipbuilding built the George Wright
1865
Port Townsend Built: St. Paul's Episcopal Church
1866
Port Townsend: Joe Kuhn arrived, Clambake begun
1866
Port Townsend: Customs office returned to Port Townsend from Port Angeles
1866c.
Port Townsend: tidal wave
1867
Port Townsend Built: Union Dock
1867
Southern Chief's crew hired lawyer L.W.
Tripp over wage trouble; Tripp killed 3,
never went to trial
1868
Port Townsend Built: Rothschild House, McCurdy
House, Pink House (c. 1867-1874)
1868
Port Townsend: shipyard established at Point Hudson
1869
Dungeness massacre, last intertribal
warfare involving Klallams
1869
First Transcontinental railroad
established (south)
1869
Port Ludlow, Port Hadlock?: Hiram Doncaster building
boats: tugs Hoyoke, Tyee, barkentine Skagit
1869
First tug built locally: 130 foot Mastic at Port
Discovery (named for San Francisco owner of Port Discovery Mill Company)
1870-1879 Decade
1870s
Railroad talk, Port Townsend as possible terminus -
James Swan
1870
Port Townsend population: 583-593
1870
Port Townsend
newspaper: Puget Sound Argus established by Al Pettygrove (burned 1890)
1870c.
Port Townsend Built: Good Templars' Hall at corner of Quincy and Washington.
1870
Port Hadlock founded - Samuel Hadlock, started a lumber company
1871
Port Townsend: Laurel Grove Cemetery established
(Masonic)
1871c.
Port Townsend Built: Landes (but see 1888) and McIntyre Houses (both enlarged
and embellished
repeatedly)
1871
Superintendent of Indian Affairs in Washington Territory
banned "Indian doctoring"
1871
U.S.
Congress abolished treaty making with Indian tribes; hereafter, Congress would legislate,
with or without tribal approval
1872
Port Townsend Built: R.C. Hill House
1873
Port Ludlow: Three Hall Brothers begin ship
building: built 24 ships
1873
Northern Pacific RR terminus established
in Tacoma
1873
Road Built: Port Townsend to Point Wilson
1873
Port Townsend Built: O.C. Hastings House
1874
Port Townsend Built: E.S. Fowler Stone Building
1874c.
Port Townsend established: Port
Townsend Brewery (Eisenbeis)
1875
Jamestown established (Klallam)
1875
Protection Island homesteaded by John
Powers family (until 1887)
1878
Census (area?): 597 Klallam
1878
Last Klallam potlatch held at Jamestown
1878
Port Ludlow: Sawmill sold to Puget Mill Company (Pope
& Talbot)
1878
Irondale/ Puget Sound Iron Co. begins
operation
1878
Port Townsend adopted corporation form of
government, Charles Eisenbeis 1st mayor
1878
Port Townsend Built: John E. Fuge House
1878
Port Townsend established: Washington Brewery
1879
Port Townsend Built: Point Wilson 1st Lighthouse, 3
John E. Fuge cottages
1879
Jefferson County Historical Society
first established
1880-1889 Decade
1880-1900
Coastal
traffic required tugs; much of marine construction in PT associated with towboat
industry
1880s
Hall Brothers move to Port Blakely
1880
Census of Klallams (by Eells): 485
total, including 96 (Port Gamble), 6 (Port Ludlow), 22 (Port Discovery), 12
(Port Townsend) (most at Jamestown, Elwha, Dungeness)
1880
Port Townsend: U.S. President Rutherford Hayes
visited
1880
Port Townsend population 917
1880
Port Townsend Built:
Harry Barthrop House (remodeled 1904), Chevy Chase House,
1880
Heavy snow winter
1881
Port Townsend Built: Saw Mill at Point Hudson (by
public stock company), St. Mary's Star of the Sea Catholic
Church, Bartlett's Stone Block
1881
Port Ludlow: Hall Brothers built barkentine Kitsap
1882
Chinese Exclusion Act (first) passed
1882
Shaker Church established in south Puget
Sound
1882
Port Townsend Built: J.A. Kuhn House
1883
Port Townsend Built: Alexander's Castle, Frank A.
Bartlett House, DeLeo House, DeLion House
1883
Port Townsend moved: St. Paul's Episcopal Church
1883
Port Townsend: 1st National Bank of Port Townsend organized
(Col. Henry Landes)
1883
Port Ludlow: Puget Mill operations: 125,000 board
ft/day, 120 employed
1884
Port Townsend Built: Klocker House
1885
Joseph O’Neil (U.S.) Military Expedition - Port Townsend to Port Angeles
1885
Port Ludlow: population 350, built Phoenix Hotel
1885
Port Townsend newspaper: Port Townsend Call
(until 1910)
1885
Port Townsend Built:
Clapp Building, First National Bank Building, Waterman & Katz Building;
Eisenbeis built 5 business buildings & Kuhn built 3 (Argus 1/86); $2,500
spent on wharves (Argus 1/86); $5,000 spent on waterworks system for town
with steam pump, reservoir and pipes through town telephone exchange
installed, school built, Henry Bash House
1885
Shaker Church established at Jamestown
1886
Port Hadlock: Washington Mill Company established
1886
Port Hadlock: Samuel Hadlock purchased 400 acres
and laid out the town
1886
Port Townsend Census: population 1,500
1886
Port Townsend
businesses (Argus 1/1/86): 6 grocery, 5 dry goods/clothing, 2 stoves/tinware, 3 butcher, 4
tobacco/cigar, 2 confectionery/fruit, 3 drugs, 2 jewelry, 2 restaurants,7
hotels/lodgings, 1 wholesale liquor, 1 commission house, 1 iron foundry, 1
sawmill, 1 sash/door factory, 1 soda factory, 1 agricultural
implements, 3 Chinese stores, 3 Chinese wash houses, 1 white laundry, 1
livery stables, 2 dray stables, 2 bakeries, 1 bank, 1 brewery, 2 express
cos., 1 telephone co., 1 telegraph co., 4 insurance agencies, 1 cigar
factory, 1 millinery store, 1 boots/shoes store, 1 waterworks, 2
brick yards, 1 shooting gallery, 2 skating rinks, 1 opera house, 1 public
hall, 30 saloons/bars; 2 newspapers, 1 photographer, 5 ship brokers, 7
lawyers, 1 money broker, 3 barbers, 5 doctors, 2 blacksmiths, 1
dentist, 3 civil engineers, 5 painters, 1 tailor, 5 dressmakers, 3
shoemakers, 2 harness makers, 30 carpenters, 10 brick/stone
masons, 6 plasterers
1886
Port Townsend Built: (William) Bishop Sr. House,
(George W.) Downs House, Franklin House, Edgar
Sims House
1886c.
Port Townsend Built: Zee Tai Co.
Building
1887
Dawes Act (General Allotment Law)
divided communally held tribal lands into separate parcels;
authorized sale of "surplus" parcels to whites
1887
Protection Island owned by Portland Gun
Club; raised exotic pheasants
Port Townsend: Port Townsend Southern RR incorporated
1887
Port Ludlow Built: Admiralty Hall (Cyrus Walker,
manager, home)
1887
Port Townsend Built: Customs House & Post Office
(finished 1893) Learned Opera
House, McCurdy Building, James Stockand House, Capt. Thomas Grant
House, Capt. Charles Sawyer House
1887c.
Port Townsend Built: Trinity United
Methodist Church, Nolton & Adams Hardware Building, Learned House
1888
Census: Quinault Indian population 95 (after
smallpox epidemic)
1888 (6/?)
Chetzemoka died
1888
Port Townsend Built: Capt. John Quincy Adams
House, Elias DeVoe House, Jane Jones House,
Henry Landes House (but see 1871), Daniel Logan House, cottage
at 823 Taylor
1888c.
Port Townsend Built: James F. Hill
House
1889-92
Port Townsend speculation boom, population 7,000; most
building 1891-1892, including six banks and 3 street railroads; Port Townsend
Electric Company
1889
Port Townsend newspaper: PT Morning Leader
established (William J. Jones?)
1889
Port Townsend Built:
Fowler-Caines Building, N.D. Hill Building, Pioneer Block, Bishop Block, Mary
Webster Building, Terry Building, Hastings Building, Tucker Block,
Tibbals Building, James & Hastings Building, Rutz Building,
Miller-Burkett/Elks Building Francis
Pettygrove House, George Starrett House, F.C. Harper House, Milo Ward
House, John F. Iffland House, Lucinda Hastings House, F. Wilcox
James House (finished 1891), Capt. W.F. Mann House, L. W.
Peyser House 1st United
Presbyterian Church (reused stone from earlier church)
1889
Port Townsend began building Port Townsend Southern Railroad (1 mile
completed)
1889c.
Port Townsend Built: Siebenbaum
Building, Good Templars' Building (Aldrich's), Nelson
Oliver/Harry Barthrop House, John Power House, John Payne House, Wm.
C. Merrick House
1889c.
Established: Brick
factory (Eisenbeis)
1889
(11/11)
Washington State established; economic speculation boom
1889-90
James
Christie "Press" Expedition (sponsored
by Seattle Press)
across Olympics
1890-1899 Decade
1890-97
Port Ludlow Mill closed (depression)
1890 (5/19)
James Swan died
1890
Port Townsend Built:
Bell Tower, Jefferson County Courthouse (finished 1892), Mt. Baker Block
(unfinished), Albert Bash House, Coleman-Furlong House,
Thomas Fitzgerald House, William
Furlong House, Max Gerson House, J.W. Griffiths House, Thomas
Hammond House, J.B. Hogg House, William Malloy House, Dr.
Clarence Mercereau House, J.R. Ralston House, Morris Sachs House, J.C.
Saunders House, Andrew Stegerwald House, house at 1827 Van Ness
1890c.
Port Townsend Built: Coyne House, Ferdinand Schlagler House
1890
Joseph O'Neil Expedition across Olympics
1890
Oregon Improvement Company built part of Port Townsend Southern Railroad (as far
as Quilcene) then collapsed in 1895
1890
Port Townsend: Edgar Sims arrived (along with Max
Levy, Chilean Pete, "Gunny" Gunderson = famous
crimps). Sailors' Boarding House, 17 saloons (on water side of
Water Street, 100 prostitutes operated in area, especially in "White Chapel
district" of Madison/Monroe and Water Streets)
1891
Port Townsend Built: City Hall (finished 1892),
bridge across Kah Tai Lagoon at Lawrence Street
(rotted by 1907), Gagen-Sherlock
House, Frank W. Hastings House (unfinished), Peter Mutty House,
Trumbull House, Henry Wylie House, house at 1827 Van Ness
1891c.
Port Hadlock Built: Galster House
1891-99
Port Townsend headquarters for Puget Sound Tug Boat Company, coop
venture among large mills to ensure efficient movement of sailing vessels
1891
Puget Sound Dry Dock Company built
floating dry dock in Port Hadlock (325 x 100 x 42 feet)
1892
Nordland established by Peter Norby
1892
Port Townsend Built: Eisenbeis House/Manresa
Castle, DeLeo Brothers Building
1892
Port Townsend: Perrot's Boat Factory launched
first racing yacht built on Puget Sound (Francel, a 36 feet sloop named
after Hastings' daughter)
1893
Last Klallam secret society initiation held at Port Angeles
1893
Diamond Point established as quarantine
station for Puget Sound (moved to Point Hudson
in 1934)
1893
Port Townsend: Sims Fish Cannery established
1893
Depression strikes; Port Townsend National
Bank closed
1895
Port Townsend: Fort Townsend closed
1896
Port Townsend Built: Marine Hospital (razed 1971)
1897
Alaska gold rush; Jack London passed through Port Townsend
1897
Olympic
Forest Reserve created
1897
Port Townsend: Sawmill reopened
1897
Port Townsend Built: Otto Sorge House
1898
Spanish-American War started with destruction of the Maine
in Havana
1898
Port Townsend: Library Association started by women (no man on board
until 1945); opened room in Central School at Lawrence & Taylor Streets
1898
Port Townsend Built: Baker House
1898-1900
Arthur Dodwell and Theodore Rixon U.S. Geological
Survey created
first relatively accurate map of the Olympic Mountains
1900-1909 Decade
1900-02
Fort Worden (Flagler, Casey) built (construction completed 1911)
1900
U.S. Indian population reduced to less
than 300,000 due to disease and war (approximately 1 million Indians originally on
continental U.S. before whites)
1900
Port Townsend Built:
Gleeson House (?)
1901
Port Townsend Built:
Starrett Building (Printery)
1901
Quilcene
Built: Foresters Hall
1902c.
Chimacum built: Irondale Steel Mill Company Houses
1902
Port Townsend: Redmen's Cemetery established (I.O.
of Redmen)
1902
Port Townsend Built: Guardhouse, Officers' Row
Houses (Ft. Worden)
1902
Irondale Built: Irondale Steel Mill Company
Houses
1903
Discovery sank
1904
Port Townsend: Chetzemoka Park established by the
Civic Club (splinter of Native Daughters of WA)
1904
Clallam sank with 54 drowned
1905
Olympic
National Forest designated from Forest Reserve
1905
Port Townsend Built: Commanding Officer's Quarters
(Ft. Worden)
1906
Port Townsend Built: Haller Fountain, Rose Theatre,
Old Laundry Building Complex
1906
"Hellships" Reaper burned at Port Ludlow, Gatherer converted to a barge
1907
Port Hadlock: Washington Mill Company closed
1909
Port Hadlock Built: Methodist Church
1909
Mount
Olympus National Monument established
1910-1919 Decade
1910
Fishing laws excluded Klallam and close
Dungeness River to their fishing
1911
Port Hadlock: Classen Chemical Company Alcohol Plant
established
1911
Port Townsend: Customs and Port of Entry moved to
Seattle
1911
Port Townsend Built: Carnegie Library (1911-1913)
1913
Port Hadlock: Washington Mill burned down
1913
Port Hadlock: Classen Chemical Company Alcohol Plant
closed
1914
Port Ludlow: Admiralty Hall remodeled to
Admiralty Hotel
1914
Port Townsend Built: Point Wilson 2nd Lighthouse
(first lit with contemporary lamp)
1914-18
World War I
1915
Indian Island isolated by dredging of
Chimacum Portage to make canal
1916
Heavy snow winter
1917 (1/14)
Port Townsend: Israel Katz disappeared
1919
Brinnon Built: Camp Parsons
1920-1929 Decade
1920c.
Roads (for cars), one of
first built: Port Ludlow to Chimacum to Port Townsend
1920
Women granted the vote
1920
Oil City established (population 0)
1921
Snyder Act authorized Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to administer
programs "for the benefit, care and assistance of federally recognized Native
peoples"
1921
Governor sank off Point Wilson with 8 drowned
1921
Port Townsend Built: Balloon Hangar (at Ft. Worden)
1924
Indian Citizenship Act declared Indians
to be U.S. citizens
1925
Port Ludlow: Puget Mill owned 92,000 acres
(largest private landowner in state) sold to McCormick
Lumber Company for $15 million
1927
Clark Aldrich Sr. moved Aldrich's Grocery into the Lawrence Street store
across the street from the Central School.
1927
Betty McDonald on Beaver Valley chicken
farm (4 years, The Egg & I published in 1945, Ms. McDonald
died in 1954)
1927
Crown Zellerbach established paper mill
at Glen Cove
1927
Port Ludlow: Mill max operation 350,000 board
feet/day, 400 employed
1929
Port Townsend: 1st airplane to clear customs
(international)
1929
Port Townsend: Union Wharf sold to Puget Sound
Navigation - Black Ball ferries
1929
Port Townsend Built: First American National Bank
Building
1929
Port Townsend: J.C. Penney store opened
1930-1939 Decade
1930
Port Townsend: Sims Way built across Kah Tai lagoon,
removing tidal influence
1930
Port Townsend Built: Boy Scouts log cabin (torn down in 2004)
1931
Army established airport at "Station
Prairie" (now site of Jefferson County International Airport)
1931
Olympic Loop highway completed
1934
Construction started on
Point Hudson buildings for
quarantine station (completed in 1936)
1934
Indian Reorganization Act prohibited
further allotment of tribal land, and began trend of
transferring control of federal services to tribes recognized under the
act
1935
Port Townsend: 1st Rhody Festival and parade
1936-38
Port Ludlow: Mill closed, most buildings moved
1937
President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited
Olympic Peninsula
1937
Protection Island pheasants studied by
Arthur Einarsen (1937-1943)
1937
Port Townsend: Safeway store opened
1938
Olympic National Forest divided:
Olympic National Forest (155,466 acres),
Olympic National Park (528,218 acres)
1939
Port Gamble Klallam achieved federal
recognition
1939
Census: Quinault Indian population 1,200
1939
Port Townsend: Coast Guard took title to Point
Hudson (abandoned after 1945)
1939-45
World War II
1940-1949 Decade
1940
Port Townsend population 4,683
1940
U.S. Navy established ordnance depot at
Indian Island
1940
Port Ludlow: Admiralty Hotel sold for scrap and
demolished
1942c.
Protection Island taken by
U.S. Navy, part of Harbor Defense System
1946
Protection Island burned by accidental
fire
1946
Jefferson County International Airport
established at Station Prairie
1947
Port Townsend: Army
took over Point Hudson as auxiliary institution during Korean War
1947c.
Port Townsend: City Hall 3rd story
removed (late 1940s)
1950-1959 Decade
1950
Port Townsend population 6,888 (increase from military at Ft. Worden (after
WWII)
1951
Port Townsend: Jefferson County Historical Society established for second time
as part of Port Townsend Centennial
1952
Indian Island Portage Bridge built to
replace ferry to mainland
1952
Port Townsend Built: Wheel-In Motor Movie (outdoor
theater)
1953
Protection Island bought by developers
1953
Port Townsend: Fort Worden decommissioned
1955
Port Ludlow population 10
1958
Port Townsend Restored: Bartlett House (Johnsons)
1959
Port Townsend: Rothschild House given to State
Parks
1959
Indian Island Navy station on reduced
status
1960-1969 Decade
1961
Hood Canal Bridge built; opened Olympic
Peninsula to direct car traffic
1961
Port Townsend Demolished: Tucker Block (Adams & Water Streets)
1962
Port Townsend: Point Hudson leased to private
interests (Rowley until 1970)
1962
Heavy storm took off Cotton Building
roof
1963
Port Townsend: Sims Way
sides (part of Kah Tai Lagoon) filled with Boat Haven dredgings
1963
Port Townsend: 1st annual tour of historic homes and
buildings
1966
Port Townsend: Shopping plaza built on Water
Street with Safeway as main store
1968
Lower Elwha Klallam achieved federal
recognition
1968
Heavy snow winter
1970-1979 Decade
1970 (9/18)
US v. WA suit over degree to which state
could regulate and restrict off reservation fishing
rights of Treaty Indians
1970s
Kala Point development built
1973
Port Townsend: Fort Worden dedicated as state Park;
Centrum established (Mary Johnson)
1973
Port Townsend: Towne Tavern opened in restored N.D.
Hill building
1974
Port Townsend: 1st Heritage Quilt made for
scholarship raffle
1974 (2/12)
Boldt Decision (upheld 1979) against WA
state, gave Indians special fishing rights based on
treaties
1974
Skokomish
Tribe joined with Port Gamble and Lower Elwha Klallams to form the Point No Point
Treaty Council, a fisheries management cooperative
1975
Mount Baker activity peak
1976
Indian Island became ordnance depot;
pier finished 1979
1977
Port Townsend: 1st Wooden Boat Festival
1979
Hood Canal Bridge sank in heavy storm
1979
PT: Drug bust at Towne Tavern
1980-1989 Decade
1980
Port Townsend: Kah Tai
Lagoon named one of 10 most important wildlife habitats in state
1980
Port Townsend built:
John Pope Marine Park (building built 1930, moved to pier)
1980
Mount St.
Helens erupted
1981c.
Protection Island became wildlife sanctuary
1981
Jamestown Klallam achieved federal
recognition
1981
An Officer and a Gentleman was filmed on location in Port Townsend. Other
Hollywood films shot here include Snow Falling on Cedars (in 1999),
The Ring (in 2001) and Enough (in 2001).
1981
Port Townsend: NW School of Wooden Boatbuilding established by Robert
Prothero
1982
Hood Canal Bridge rebuilt and reopened
1983c.
Port Townsend: 1st Kinetic Sculpture
Race
1984c.
Port Townsend: Jackson Bequest Tidal
Bowl built
1984c.
Port Townsend: Safeway built on Kah Tai
Lagoon fill area (plan started 1977)
1985
Port Townsend: Kah Tai Lagoon park built
1985
Port Townsend's Main Street Program was created by The National Trust for
Historic Preservation as one of the five pilot Main Street programs in
Washington state. The Port Townsend program was recognized as a National Main
Street Program for 2004.
1990-1999 Decade
1992
The Rose Theatre (opened in 1908 in its current location, but closed in 1958)
was renovated and re-opened; now a gem of the downtown, it shows contemporary
American and foreign films.
1993
The new casting of the Haller Fountain was dedicated on September 8.
The original was made of pot metal and was not aging well. It now resides
in the JCHS Museum.
1996
The Port Townsend School of Massage was founded. Offering a professional
licensing program for Massage Therapy.
2000-2010 Decade
2000
Port Townsend was one of five communities nationwide to be awarded The Great
American Main Street Award from The National Trust for Historic Preservation,
recognizing exceptional accomplishments in revitalizing America's historic and
traditional downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts.
2003
Uptown Port Townsend's historic Aldrich's Grocery Store was destroyed by a fire
that started in the early morning hours of August 3.
2004
Washington State Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation
(OAHP) named Port Townsend's Fire Bell Tower, restored by the Jefferson
County Historical Society and the City of Port Townsend, as the recipient of the
2004 State Historic Preservation Officer's Award for Resource Stewardship.
2005
An ordinance limiting "formula stores" was passed by the Port Townsend City
Council after an unsuccessful citizen fight to keep out Hollywood Video. A
citizen group was successful in preventing Rite Aid's effort to locate in Port
Townsend in 1999.
2005
Ground breaking for new wing of Port Townsend's historic City Hall:
The new expansion serves as a home for city government and provides
seismic stability for the landmark 1892 structure.
2006
Interior restoration of landmark City Hall is completed, Jefferson County
Historical Society Museum begins to move back in to first floor spaces.
2007
Port Townsend City Council resumes public meetings in the restored City Council
Chambers in historic City Hall.
