On April 15, 1854, the Washington Territorial Legislature forms Sawamish County out of Thurston County. The new county is named for the tribe of Native Americans who inhabit the bays and inlets of sou...
On April 22, 1854, Steilacoom becomes the first town in Washington to be incorporated by the new Washington Territorial Legislature. Originally two separate and competing towns founded in 1851 by Lafa...
On April 25, 1854, the Washington Territorial Legislature forms Walla Walla County out of Skamania County. The county seat is set "on the claim of Lloyd Brooks," at what will become the city of Walla ...
The opening of a post office is an important marker of the beginning of a community. On April 29, 1854, the Alki Post Office is established. Charles Terry (1830-1867) is appointed postmaster.
On April 12, 1854, a lynch mob hangs two members of the Snohomish tribe in Pioneer Square. The Native Americans are accused of murdering a man believed to be Pennsylvania native James B. McCormick, wh...
On the Fourth of July, 1854, most of Seattle's few hundred residents gather to celebrate near a lake called Tenas Chuck ("little waters"). Thomas Mercer (1813-1898) addresses the group and proposes na...
On December 26, 1854, at Medicine Creek in present-day Thurston County, members of the Puyallup, Nisqually, Steilacoom, and Squaxin Island tribes enter a treaty with the United States in which they ce...
On January 22, 1855, Chief Seattle joins 81 other leaders of Puget Sound tribes in signing a treaty with Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens (1818-1862) at Point Elliott (now Mukilteo). Tribes includin...
On January 31, 1855, at Neah Bay near Cape Flattery at the tip of the Olympic Peninsula, 42 Makah leaders sign a treaty with Isaac Stevens (1818-1862), governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs of...
On May 12, 1855, Seattle's first church building, called the Little White Church because of its white paint, is dedicated. The Reverend David Blaine (1824-1900) had established the church's Methodist ...
In May 1855, Gustavus Sohon (1825-1903) documents important scenes at the Walla Walla treaty council conducted by Governor Isaac Stevens (1818-1862) and General Joel Palmer, the Superintendents of Ind...
On May 29, 1855, Washington Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens (1818-1862) convenes the First Walla Walla Council with Native American tribes of the Columbia River basin. Stevens' orders are to exting...
On June 12, 1855, the Native American daughter of Seattle pioneer Henry Yesler (1810-1892) is born. Julia (Benson) Intermela (1855-1907) is the child of Susan, the daughter of Curly (Su-quardle) and H...
In June or July, 1855, the first group of tourists visits Snoqualmie Falls, a spectacular waterfall located on the Snoqualmie River in eastern King County.
On August 29, 1855, the area around the later-named Sand Point on the western shore of Lake Washington was surveyed, so that settlers could homestead the land and acquire it from the federal governmen...
On September 23, 1855, three Yakima tribesmen slay U.S. Indian Subagent Andrew Jackson Bolon in what will become Klickitat County. Bolon is investigating the killing of white miners by Yakima tribesme...
On the afternoon of October 5, 1855, gunfire erupts between Yakama Chief Kamiakin's 300 warriors and Major Granville O. Haller's 84-man troop of soldiers. The two groups have been at a standoff across...
On October 17, 1855, after hearing news of Indian uprisings in other parts of Washington Territory, residents of Skookumchuck (later Centralia) begin construction on Fort Henness. The fort on what is...
On October 27, 1855, Nisqually and Klickitat tribesmen battle Territorial Volunteers sent to seize Nisqually chiefs Leschi (1808-1858) and Quiemuth in Pierce County. Two volunteers die on the 29th (so...
On Sunday morning, October 28, 1855, Indians of the Muckleshoot and Klickitat tribes under Nelson and Kanasket raid farms between present-day Kent and Auburn and kill nine settlers. The survivors retr...
On November 9, 1855, U.S. Army Major Gabriel J. Rains (1803-1881), U.S. Army soldiers, and Oregon and Washington volunteers skirmish with warriors of the Yakama and other tribes under Chief Kamiakin (...
On December 4, 1855, Native Americans under Klickitat Chief Kanasket attack a U.S. Army encampment between the Green and White rivers and kill Lieutenant William Slaughter (1827-1855) and three other ...
On December 7, 1855, a four-day battle begins between Oregon volunteers and the Walla Wallas and other tribes. Tensions have been growing that year between many of the Native American tribes of the in...
On Christmas Day 1855, the U.S. Coast Survey Ship Active drops anchor off Seattle after steaming from San Francisco Bay with munitions for the USS Decatur, lying crippled with a broken back at the vil...