Topic: Pioneers
Juanita Beach Park, located along Juanita Bay in Kirkland, has been a popular summer destination for most of a century. Originally settled by Dorr and Eliza Forbes, the park blossomed as a resort in t...
Phoebe Judson was the first non-Indian woman to settle in the Lynden area (in northern Whatcom County) and became known as the "Mother of Lynden" during the half century that she lived there. Born in ...
This is a tour of Seattle's historic South Lake Union neighborhood, including the Cascade neighborhood and portions of the Denny Regrade. It was written and curated by Paula Becker with the assistance...
Charles Larrabee wasn't the founder of Fairhaven (which later became part of Bellingham), but in many ways he might as well have been. He was one of a handful of people who made the community's e...
Manuel Lopes arrived in Seattle in 1852, and operated a barbershop equipped with the first barber chair to be brought around Cape Horn. He was Seattle's first black resident, businessman, and property...
With the exception of some genealogical records, little is known of the lives of John and Lydia Low until they joined with the Denny Party on the Oregon Trail in early August 1851. When the combined g...
Catherine Simmons Broshears Maynard was an energetic Seattle pioneer. She assisted her husband David (Doc) Maynard (1808-1873) in his several enterprises, including Seattle's first hospital. Many colo...
David S. "Doc" Maynard was a colorful and influential figure in King County's early history. Historian Bill Speidel anointed him "The Man Who Invented Seattle." On the advice of Chief Seattle, Maynard...
Charles McKay was among the earliest and most colorful of the U.S. settlers on San Juan Island, located in far northwest Washington between the mainland and Vancouver Island, Canada. After years of ad...
John McLoughlin was once the most powerful man in the Pacific Northwest. As Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia District from 1824 until 1846, he ruled a domain that stretched from the...
Ezra Meeker (1830-1928) was a Washington pioneer, successful hops farmer, merchant, and an influential advocate for preserving the Oregon Trail. With his wife Eliza Jane Sumner Meeker (1834-1909) he f...
This is a brief chronology of the milestones of Washington history. Part 1 begins at prehistorical times and goes to 1850. Search the HistoryLink.org database for detailed essays on these events.
Mabel Monsey, who as a young woman homesteaded a claim near Lake Stevens in Snohomish County with her husband and children, chronicled their pioneer experiences during their 13 years in the area in a ...
Mount Pleasant Cemetery, located on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle, was started in 1879. Among the notable persons buried there are pioneers William and Sarah Bell. Other burials include the labor martyrs...
John H. Nagle was a Seattle pioneer whose 161-acre donation land claim is now part of the Broadway neighborhood on Capitol Hill. He was born in Germany. His family emigrated first to Hagerstown, Maryl...
Tracy Tallman contributed this People's History account of the family of Kamezo (1883-1975) and Miye Nakashima and their Snohomish County farm. Kamezo and Miye Nakashima were among the earliest Japane...
In this People's History, Dorothea (Pfister) Nordstrand (1916-2011) tells the story of a horse with a mind of his own. This very strong-minded horse lived with the Pfister family near Tiger in Pend Or...
O. O. Denny Park, named for Orion Denny (1853-1916), son of Seattle founder Arthur Denny, is located on Finn Hill, northwest of Juanita, on the Eastside of Lake Washington. The property was Orion's co...
In 1891 Washington pioneer George Gaches and his wife, Louisa Wiggin Gaches, built a splendid 22-room home on a rocky ridge above the town of LaConner in Skagit County. It survives today as the Gaches...
An old crib-style log building stands near the confluence of the Spokane and Little Spokane rivers, not far from the site of the original Spokane House fur-trading post. When that post was established...
The Pickett House, located at 910 Bancroft Street in Bellingham's Lettered Streets neighborhood, has a long and winding history dating back to the beginnings of Whatcom County. Built in 1856, the hous...
In 1871, King County formed a local pioneer association that became the genesis of a wider organization. In 1883, a number of settlers met in Olympia, Washington, to form a Territorial pioneer associa...
This account of the women members of the Denny Party, founders of Seattle, was contributed by Dorothea Nordstrand (1916-2011). The five women members of the party were Mary Ann Denny, her sister, Loui...
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 Pio...