HISTORICAL TIMELINE 1592-2007
Port Townsend, Jefferson County, Olympic Peninsula

(PA= Port Angeles, PH=Port Hadlock, PL=Port Ludlow, PT=Port Townsend)  

10,000 years ago (archaeological dating of early villages)
For ten thousand years, native people lived and prospered on the lands now known as the Olympic Peninsula. Jamestown S'Klallam website
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
1810              
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 Department
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 Port Townsend)
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 negotiated. S'Klallam and Chimakum were to move to the Skokomish reservation; Gibbs’ census shows 926 S' Klallams. The treaty included provisions for payment of $60,000 to the signatory Tribes, payable over 20 years, and the right to fish at their "usual and accustomed places." The S'Klallam did not have a friendly relationship with the Skokomish, many remained near their traditional fishing areas.
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               
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 (5/18) James G. Swan died
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
l930
The present-day division of the S'Klallam Tribe into three parts, the Jamestown tribe, the Lower Elwha reservation, and the Port Gamble reservation
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: Town 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 Native Americans fishing rights based upon treaties
1974              
Skokomish Tribe joined with Port Gamble and Lower Elwha S'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              
February 10, 1981, Jamestown S'Klallam tribe 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.