Linnea Patrick

BACK WHEN: Grant Street School, built for Port Townsend, no longer exists

BACK WHEN: Grant Street School, built for Port Townsend, no longer exists

GRANT STREET GRADE School has disappeared. The 61-year-old building was demolished soon after its last students were dismissed for summer vacation last June. Its former… Continue reading

 

BACK WHEN: A naturalist explores Puget Sound

BACK WHEN: A naturalist explores Puget Sound

ALTHOUGH IT IS likely that scientists accompanied the earlier Spanish explorers on their voyages to our area, the first documented studies of the flora, fauna,… Continue reading

 

BACK WHEN: Quarantine Stations, Part II: The Diamond Point station moves to Point Hudson

BACK WHEN: Quarantine Stations, Part II: The Diamond Point station moves to Point Hudson

Editor’s note: This month’s Jefferson County Back When column is a continuation of last month’s column published June 17. AS THE YEARS went by, the… Continue reading

 

BACK WHEN: Quarantine Stations, Part I: The Federal Marine Quarantine Station for Puget Sound at Diamond Point

BACK WHEN: Quarantine Stations, Part I: The Federal Marine Quarantine Station for Puget Sound at Diamond Point

AS EARLY AS 1799, the newly formed United States government began to enact laws to reduce the possibility for the introduction of infectious diseases such… Continue reading

BACK WHEN: Quarantine Stations, Part I: The Federal Marine Quarantine Station for Puget Sound at Diamond Point
BACK WHEN: Port Townsend celebrates exploration, naming of town by Capt. George Vancouver

BACK WHEN: Port Townsend celebrates exploration, naming of town by Capt. George Vancouver

CAPT. GEORGE VANCOUVER wrote this about the work he and his crew did May 8, 1792: “The survey of this inlet, which had occupied our… Continue reading

BACK WHEN: Port Townsend celebrates exploration, naming of town by Capt. George Vancouver
BACK WHEN: Opium use rages in 19th century Port Townsend

BACK WHEN: Opium use rages in 19th century Port Townsend

IT MIGHT SEEM surprising that in late 19th century Jefferson County, as well as in the rest of the United States, buying, possessing and using… Continue reading

BACK WHEN: Opium use rages in 19th century Port Townsend
BACK WHEN: The history of the historians of Jefferson County: Part III

BACK WHEN: The history of the historians of Jefferson County: Part III

EDITOR’S NOTE: This month’s Jefferson County history column is the third in a series of three about local history resources in the county. Last month’s… Continue reading

BACK WHEN: The history of the historians of Jefferson County: Part III
BACK WHEN: The history of the historians of Jefferson County: Part II

BACK WHEN: The history of the historians of Jefferson County: Part II

EDITOR’S NOTE: This month’s Jefferson County history column is the second in a series of three about local history resources in the county. Last month’s… Continue reading

BACK WHEN: The history of the historians of Jefferson County: Part II
BACK WHEN: The history of the historians of Jefferson County: Part I

BACK WHEN: The history of the historians of Jefferson County: Part I

EDITOR’S NOTE: This month’s Jefferson County history column is the first in a series of three about local history resources in the county. This month… Continue reading

BACK WHEN: The history of the historians of Jefferson County: Part I
BACK WHEN: Contagious diseases affect Jefferson County

BACK WHEN: Contagious diseases affect Jefferson County

THE JEFFERSON COUNTY Historical Society Research Center recently added a donation of scrapbooks containing clippings on the variety of community health and safety issues that… Continue reading

BACK WHEN: Contagious diseases affect Jefferson County
BACK WHEN: The life and death of Dr. Minor

BACK WHEN: The life and death of Dr. Minor

AN 1889, THANKSGIVING weekend duck hunting trip on Camano and Whidbey islands proved fatal for three men, two of whom had played major roles as… Continue reading

BACK WHEN: The life and death of Dr. Minor
BACK WHEN: The Beecher saga concludes

BACK WHEN: The Beecher saga concludes

CAPT. HERBERT AND Hattie Beecher’s older daughter, Mary Eunice, first married when she was 18 years old, in 1902, to Roscoe Herman Susmann, a young… Continue reading

BACK WHEN: The Beecher saga concludes
BACK WHEN: The Beechers continue life in Port Townsend

BACK WHEN: The Beechers continue life in Port Townsend

THE BEECHER FAMILY continued to live in their Walker Street home in Port Townsend for at least part of each year through about 1917. The… Continue reading

BACK WHEN: The Beechers continue life in Port Townsend
BACK WHEN: Beecher brings art to the frontier

BACK WHEN: Beecher brings art to the frontier

“ONCE UPON A time in Washington, one woman’s brilliance with a brush brought art to the frontier.” This was the introductory line in a December… Continue reading

BACK WHEN: Beecher brings art to the frontier
BACK WHEN: How the Beechers arrived in Port Townsend

BACK WHEN: How the Beechers arrived in Port Townsend

A MARCH 15, 1900, Morning Leader article, filed in the Jefferson County Historical Society Research Center Obituary notebook, is titled “Two Beechers Pass Away.” The… Continue reading

BACK WHEN: How the Beechers arrived in Port Townsend
BACK WHEN: How Capt. Morgan helped shape Port Townsend

BACK WHEN: How Capt. Morgan helped shape Port Townsend

MORGAN HILL IN Port Townsend is named for the man who was one of the city’s earliest property developers, Capt. Henry E. Morgan. Between 1858,… Continue reading

BACK WHEN: How Capt. Morgan helped shape Port Townsend
BACK WHEN: The lives, deaths of Dosewallips settlers

BACK WHEN: The lives, deaths of Dosewallips settlers

ACROSS THE DOSEWALLIPS River from one another, just beyond the bridge, were the homes of Capt. Samuel Clements and his brother, John. Lillie Christiansen told… Continue reading

BACK WHEN: The lives, deaths of Dosewallips settlers
BACK WHEN: Memories of the Dosewallips found in memoirs

BACK WHEN: Memories of the Dosewallips found in memoirs

IN HER LATER years, Lillie Christiansen wrote a letter to Ida Bailey in Brinnon describing some of the homesteaders living along the Dosewallips River whom… Continue reading

BACK WHEN: Memories of the Dosewallips found in memoirs
BACK WHEN: Brinnon becomes a community

BACK WHEN: Brinnon becomes a community

THE COMMUNITY OF Brinnon in Jefferson County was slower to develop than settlements farther north. Although Elwell P. Brinnon had staked his claim at the… Continue reading

BACK WHEN: Brinnon becomes a community
BACK WHEN: St. John’s Hospital is worth noting

BACK WHEN: St. John’s Hospital is worth noting

LISTS OF SIGNIFICANT buildings erected during Port Townsend’s 1888-91 building boom often omit St. John’s ­Hospital. Unlike the downtown brick and stone structures of that… Continue reading

BACK WHEN: St. John’s Hospital is worth noting