PORT ANGELES — Musket fire will kick off the celebration of Port Angeles’ sesquicentennial on Tuesday, which is the anniversary of a order signed by President Abraham Lincoln that established the area as a town site.
On June 19, 1862, Lincoln ordered a reservation for military uses and a lighthouse on Ediz Hook.
His action shortened a Spanish name given the area — which had been settled for centuries by the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe — in 1791 by Spanish explorer Francisco de Eliza.
Lincoln’s order changed Puerto de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles — Port of Our Lady of the Angels — to Port Angeles, and gave a post office that had been established in 1860 a new name, said Mayor Cherie Kidd, organizer of sesquicentennial celebrations.
On Tuesday, four members of the Peninsula Long Rifle Association dressed as frontiersmen will provide a musket salute at noon in the historic district.
A U.S. flag with 50 stars will be lowered, and one with 35 stars will be raised by Commander Norm Goodin of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1024 and Girl Scouts, Kidd said.
The American Legion Riders plan to form a flag line at the Carnegie.
Music will be provided by Ruby and Friends and Kidd will read a proclamation.
A re-enactor, Raymond Egan of Tacoma, will give an invocation as Father Luigi Rossi, who was the first clergyman on the North Olympic Peninsula, Kidd said.
After the invocation, Egan will mingle with visitors and tell stories, Kidd said.
The hallmark event of Tuesday’s commemoration will be the establishment — for two hours only — of an official post office at the Museum of the Carnegie.
Port Angeles Postmaster Lisa Jones will open the office at the Carnegie at noon.
Until 2 p.m., a postal employee will hand-cancel pre-printed envelopes with either a special sesquicentennial stamp or a graphic noting Lincoln’s action, Kidd said.
The hand-stamped envelopes will cost $1.
Inside the Carnegie, Chester Masters with the Strait Stamp Society will display Port Angeles philatelic covers and historic stamps, Kidd said.
After Tuesday, the special envelopes will be available at the Port Angeles post office at 424 E. First St. for the next 30 days and will cost $2 each, Kidd said.
Also on Tuesday, trees will be given away in memory of the late Jace Schmitz.
Sesquicentennial T-shirts and raffle tickets for the Port Angeles Sesquicentennial Quilt will be offered for sale, with all proceeds going to signs for the historic district and restoration of the old fire station.
The quilt, created by members of the Sunbonnet Sue Quilt Club, is on view at Elliott’s Antique Emporium at 135 E. First St.
The drawing for the quilt will be Oct. 10 at the Port Angeles Senior Center.
Tickets are on sale at the senior center, Captain T’s Shirt Shop, Necessities and Temptations gift shop, Odyssey Bookshop, Pen Print, the Port Angeles-Victoria Tourist Bureau and Port Book and News.