On the Road
May 1 marks the beginning of National Historic Preservation Month, and this week HistoryLink.org highlights some of our favorite historic destinations throughout Washington — where the past still shines through. We start with our cybertour of Ellensburg, which wasincorporated in 1884. A gem of Kittitas County, downtown Ellensburg was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
Traveling over the mountains to Western Washington, we arrive next at Port Gamble. This company town got its start in 1853, and was once home to the oldest continuously operating sawmill in the United States. It was named a Rural Historic Town in 1999, and you can tour its historic structures here.
But don’t rest yet: We still have to make our way to Tacoma. This city can trace its beginnings to 1852, with notable boosts in 1864 and 1868, followed by the announcement in 1873 that the city would become theterminus for the Northern Pacific Railroad. Much of the city’s late nineteenth-century boom is carefully preserved today in two downtown historic districts that you can explore via this cybertour.
Finally, we arrive in Snohomish County. Take a stroll along Everett’s bayside waterfront and learn about the city’s industrial past. Afterwards, head over to downtown Snohomish, home to historic buildings that date back more than a century ago, following the city’s incorporation under state law in 1890.
Honors Bestowed
This week, HistoryLink and some of our historians received some noteworthy awards, and we are very proud to share our successes with you. Our first honor came from the Puget Sound Association of Phi Beta Kappa, which bestowed us with its annual Pathfinder Award, given to those who “encourage others to seek new worlds to discover, pathways to explore, and untouched destinations to reach. ” Our thanks go out to PSA-PBK for this fine recognition.
We were honored three times by the Association of King County Historical Organizations. HistoryLink co-founder Paul Dorpat received AKCHO’s very first Living Legacy award. Our Seattle World’s Fair curriculum was chosen for its Heritage Education Award. And Paula Becker and Alan Stein — authors of The Future Remembered: The 1962 Seattle World’s Fair and Its Legacy — were given the Virginia Marie Folkins Award for outstanding historical publications. Thank you, AKCHO. This truly means a lot to us.
Give Big
Of course, HistoryLink would not be as successful were it not for our legion of readers who have enjoyed our site and have given us their support for more than 14 years. If you’d like to help make HistoryLink grow stronger and better, we urge you to mark May 2 on your calendar, when the Seattle Foundation holds its one-day GiveBIG campaign in support of local nonprofits.
Please donate to HistoryLink on that day, via a dedicated page on its website, and the foundation will “stretch” those funds, based on the total amount given. More support from you means more matching funds from them. Last year we received more than $5,000 in its GiveBIG campaign, and we hope to top that this year. Any help you can give, no matter how small, helps us immensely. And best of all, you get lots of new content in return. It’s win-win all around.
Past Events, Present Tense
Moving In: Exactly 40 years after the Louisiana Purchase, a few hundred American settlers in Oregon declared a provisional government on May 2, 1843, spurring settlement in the Northwest. On May 1, 1850, Schuyler and Eliza Saunders made their home at the future site of Chehalis. Fifteen years later, Mary Low Sinclair arrived in Cadyville, which later became the town of Snohomish.
Moving Out: On April 29, 1861, the steamer Cortez arrived in Portland with news from back east of the attack on Fort Sumter and the start of the Civil War. Three days later, Colonel George Wright, the officer in charge of all troops within Washington Territory and the state of Oregon, received orders to send three companies of soldiers from Fort Vancouver to San Francisco. Their duty was to guard the Pacific coast against the threats of Western secessionists.
Parks and Trails: On April 30, 1903, John Charles Olmsted stepped off the train in Seattle and was greeted by dignitaries and the press. Stepson of famed landscape visionary Frederick Law Olmsted — creator of New York’s Central Park — John came west to design a new park system for Seattle along with the grounds for the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition.
On the Rails: On the morning of April 30, 1910, electric interurban trains began to shuttle between Everett and Seattle. Twelve hours later, two passengers died in a fatal accident farther south on the chronically mismanaged Rainier Valley line between Seattle and Renton.
Flier Downed: On April 29, 1928, Spokane pioneer aviator Major John T. Fancher was fatally injured when an aerial bomb used in a demonstration exploded in his hand. A few months earlier, Fancher had been instrumental in bringing the 1927 National Air Derby and Air Races to Felts Field.
Inspired Sound: On April 28, 1940, experimental music pioneer John Cage debuted his “prepared piano” at Seattle’s Repertory Playhouse. The instrument was augmented with screws, bolts, nuts, and leather strips that dampened the strings and produced a cacophony of sounds. Exactly 28 years later, thousands gathered in Duvall to witness an even stranger musical performance: to hear what a piano sounded like whendropped from a helicopter.
Built and Manned: On May 1, 1941, Seattle opened the Service Men’s Club for military personnel visiting the city. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor a few months later, more support was needed for wartime personnel. In Tacoma, the Salishan Housing Project opened for war workers on May 1, 1943.
Moving Land: Exactly 20 years to the day after a smaller temblor onApril 29, 1945, a major earthquake jarred the region in 1965, causing seven deaths and extensive damage. A goldfish in Kirkland also had a near brush with catastrophe.
Snow and Sand: On May 1, 1963, Jim Whittaker — an REI sales manager — became the first American to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Exactly 38 years later, in much drier climes, Snohomish County residents Bill and Helen Thayer began a 1,600-mile walkacross the Gobi Desert on May 1, 2001.
Quote of the Week
When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for our use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will look upon with praise and thanksgiving in their hearts.
–John Ruskin
Image of the Week
Beginning in May 1915, Moncton slowly disappeared from view.