Port Townsend History

Port Townsend is a pretty town in a magnificent setting, which is not unusual in this part of the world. However, the size and quality of many of its buildings sets it apart from its sister towns on this side of Puget Sound. The dates on the buildings in the accompanying photos indicate that Port Townsend's heyday was in the late 1800's. Brenda and I thought that this was all the result of a timber and fishing boom, but when visiting the court house building a local explained that the history was more complex yet simple at the same time. Below is my understanding of what happened.

In the 1880's Port Townsend was the city of Washington State - the principal port and destined to be the state capitol. Regional development was focused on the town and the population reached 8000. Seattle was a small town. The rail head was at Tacoma. I could envision the bay in front of Port Townsend filled with square riggers from all over the world, given that Port Townsend would have been the principal port for the entire Northwest.

Then it was decided to push the railroad not up the peninsula to Port Townsend, but to Seattle. The local said that "overnight" the population of Port Townsend plunged from 8000 to 800 as the action shifted to Seattle. Only recently has the population reached 8000 again.

This story reminded me of the competition between Esperance, Albany, and Perth in the early days of Western Australia, settled when the railroad between Kalgoorlie and Perth was built.

Many of the buildings and houses of Port Townsend have a Victorian flavor. The two photos at the bottom represent the confidence of the era. The building with the grey stone is the post office. The one in the bottom photo with the red brick is the court house. The clock tower is 100 ft high and the clock keeps correct time.