On December 22, 1852, the Oregon Territorial Legislature approves creation of King County and names Seattle as the seat of its government. The legislation is sponsored by Col. Isaac Ebey (1818-1857) t...
On December 22, 1852, the Oregon Territorial legislature in Salem creates Pierce County. It does so by partitioning off a portion of Thurston County. Pierce County, along with Island, Jefferson, Kin...
Manuel Lopes (1812-?), Seattle's first Black citizen, arrives in 1852. Lopes is a barber and his barbershop is the village's first Black-owned business. He plays the snare drum, and is known for his g...
On December 29, 1852, the U.S. Congress allocates $20,000 for construction of a military road between Fort Walla Walla on the Columbia River and Steilacoom on Puget Sound. Settlers around Puget Sound ...
On January 15, 1853, Maine natives Isaiah L. and Lorinda (Hopkins) Scammon settle on a 619-acre Donation Land Claim on the south bank of the Chehalis River opposite the mouth of the Wynoochee. Lorinda...
On January 23, 1853, King County's first Justice of the Peace, Dr. David S. Maynard (1808-1873) issues the new county's first (in a manner of speaking) marriage license and presides at the wedding of ...
On March 2, 1853, U.S. President Millard Fillmore signs a bill creating the Territory of Washington out of the Territory of Oregon. The new territory's boundaries are: north, 49 degree North Latitude;...
In late March 1853, a steam-powered sawmill built by pioneer Henry L. Yesler (1810?-1892) is fired up for the first time, fed by logs taken from the heavily wooded areas surrounding the then-tiny sett...
On April 4, 1853, the first Island County Commissioners' meeting takes place in Coveland, the newly designated county seat, located on Penn's Cove northwest of Coupeville on Whidbey Island's east coas...
On May 23, 1853, Arthur Denny (1822-1899), Carson Boren (1824-1912), and Dr. David S. Maynard (1808-1873) file the first plats for the Town of Seattle and establish the present-day street grid in Pion...
On July 15, 1853, Luther B. Collins (1813-1860), David Maurer, and William Heebner lynch Masachie Jim, a Native American whom they accused of murdering his wife. This occurs in King County, probably b...
In July 1853, Captain William C. Talbot (1816-1881) establishes a steam sawmill as the Puget Mill Co. at Port Gamble. Ten men, mostly from Talbot's hometown of East Machias, Maine, construct a bunkhou...