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Port Townsend History

The City of Dreams, Port Townsend is one of the finest examples of a Victorian Seaport in the United States.

Originally named 'Port Townshend' by Captain George Vancouver (for his friend the Marquis of Townshend) in 1792, Port Townsend was immediately recognized as a good, safe harbor, which it remains to this day. The official settlement of the city took place on the 24th of April, 1851. Called the "City of Dreams" because of the early speculation that the city would be the largest harbor on the west coast, wealthy and prosperous, somehow though, those early dreams failed to materialize...

For several thousand years the only occupants were native Indians. In the late 1700s and early 1800s the Indian population was decimated by disease transmitted by contact with white explorers. In some places disease - notably smallpox and measles - killed 90% of the Indians; by the time white settlers arrived local tribes had populations of no more that a few hundred and were so weakened they could not effectively resist the intruders.

American Indian tribes located in what is now Jefferson County in the mid-19th century included the Chemakum (or Chimacum), Hoh (a group of the Quileute), Klallam (or Clallam), Quinault and Twana (the Kilcid band - Anglicized: Quilcene).

There is only one reservation (created in 1893) in Jefferson County: the Hoh occupy 640 acres on the Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Hoh River on the west end. Other tribes have disappeared from Jefferson County by combination of disease, warfare, migration, intermarriage and assimilation. (Source: Rootsweb)

When the first non-Indians settled at Port Townsend in 1851, the Klallam Indians whose lands encompassed the future city were led by Chetzemoka's older brother S'Hai-ak, who granted permission for the settlement. S'Hai-ak drowned soon after, and Chetzemoka succeeded to leadership of the 1,000 or so Klallams.

Like his brother, Chetzemoka was friendly with the new settlers, whom he assisted in many ways, including in their relations with other Indian groups. Chetzemoka lived with about 200 of his people, including his two wives See-hem-itza and Chill'lil and their children, in a village of large cedar plank lodges not far from the new settlement. In a not-so-subtle form of ridicule, likely inspired by their difficulty in pronouncing the Klallam names, the white settlers, as they did with other Indians, bestowed names of British aristocrats on Chetzemoka and his family, calling him the Duke of York, his wives Queen Victoria and Jenny Lind, and his son the Prince of Wales.

The supposed difficulty of pronouncing Chetzemoka was raised when the name was proposed for the park, but a local newspaper assured citizens that "after the word has fallen from your lips the music of its syllables will appeal to you..." (City of Dreams, 46).
Today, Chetzemoka Park, which has a commanding view of the Cascade Mountains from its hillside location, boasts flower gardens, a tropical water garden, picnic areas, play equipment, and a bandstand modeled after the Victorian original, as well as access to the beach and tidelands. (Sources: Kit Oldham, Washington HistoryLink, 02/25/2003; City of Dreams ed by Peter Simpson (Port Townsend: Bay Press, 1986), 44-46, 65, 76, 97; James G. Swan, Almost Out of the World (Tacoma: Washington State Historical Society, 1971), 13, 15; "Port Townsend City Parks - PTguide").

By the late 1800's Port Townsend was a well-known seaport, very active and banking on the future. Many homes and buildings were built during that time, with most of the architecture ornate Victorian. With the other Puget Sound ports growing in size, Port Townsend saw a rapid decline in population when the Northern Pacific Railroad failed to connect the city to the eastern Puget Sound city of Tacoma. By the late 1890's the boom was over. See this great 1878 Map of Port Townsend from the Library of Congress collection.

Railroads were built to reach more areas in the 1870-1890's and Port Townsend was the northwest extension of the rail lines. Its port was large and frequented by overseas vessels, so shipping of goods and timber from the area was a major part of the economy. Much of the buildings were built on the speculation that Port Townsend would become a booming shipping port and major city. When the depression hit, those plans lost the capital to continue and rail lines ended on the east side of Puget Sound, mainly in Tumwater, Tacoma and Seattle. Without the railroad to spur economic growth, the town shrank and investors looked elsewhere to make a good return. From 1893-1897 or so over a quarter of national railroads went bankrupt.

Many people left the area and pretty much abandoned the structures. There was no real economy here until the early 1920's when the paper mill was built, but even with that, most of the buildings and homes were uninhabited until the 1970's when people began coming here to find cheap homes and to drop out or retire. Because of the speed at which the economy fell initially and the non-existence of any industry or economy to replace it, none of the buildings were torn down or built over. They basically were preserved as time capsules for the next 100 years when the value of keeping them intact was appreciated and fostered.

Noted for a vast collection of Victorian homes, the city also has more than a dozen larger buildings that are well preserved, the Carnegie Library, the US Post Office, and the Jefferson County Courthouse to name just a few. We've provided a bibliography for teachers, "Teaching with Historic Places" from the National Historical Register. This area truly lends itself to the living history experience and should be explored. View our local museums or take a Walking Tour of Uptown or Downtown.

Also see:
Port Townsend Then and Now (historic and current photographs of Port Townsend)
Cemeteries in Jefferson County
Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe history
Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe history
Port Townsend Homes Tour
Jefferson County Genealogical Society (JCGS)
Jefferson County WAGenWeb (The USGenWeb Project)
A Guide to Maritime History Info
Virtual Maritime Museum of British Columbia
WA State Historical Society
National Trust for Historic Preservation