Kitsap County history

* Agate Pass - Named by Wilkes in 1841 for the expedition's artist, Alfred T. Agate.

1852 - First non-native inhabitants on the "Great Peninsula" build a mill at what is now Kingston.

Kingston, founded 1853: Sitting peacefully on the shore of Appletree Cove, Kingston is a 30-minute ferry ride from Edmonds for cars and walk-ons.

* Mason County - Established in March 1854 under the Indian name Sawamish County.

In November 1856, Haida raiders besieged residents at Port Gamble Bay, but were driven off with the help of guns, sailors, and marines from the United StatesS. Massachusetts.

Slaughter County, named for a United States Army officer killed the previous year, was officially formed on July 13, 1857, and Port Madison became the county seat.

3, 1864, to honor Charles H. Mason, the first secretary of the Washington Territory and acting governor during the Indian Wars.

* Port Hadlock - Named after Samuel Hadlock, who built the Washington Mill Co. sawmill on Port Townsend Bay in 1870.

Kitsap County Courthouse (1880), Port Madison, n.d.

* Manchester - Established as Brooklyn in 1883, the town was renamed for the English city because early civic leaders envisioned it to be a major seaport.

In 1888, Renton’s Port Blakely Mill Company suffered a serious fire, but reemerged to become the largest lumber producer in the world.

* Allyn - Named for Judge Frank Allyn of Tacoma, who helped in the formation of the town in 1889.

The town changed its name to Bangor in 1890 after a similarly titled city in Maine, which also is the name of a city in Wales.

* Grapeview - Originally platted in 1891 as Detroit, the town subsequently renamed itself since it faced the vineyards of the Isle of Grapes.

The community received its present name with the establishment of the post office in 1892.

County commissioners moved the county seat to Sidney (later Port Orchard) in 1893.

Changed to Gilbert after President Grover Cleveland signed a patent in 1895.

* Harper - The town on the south shore of Yukon Harbor was renamed in 1902 for state Senator F.C. Harper, who helped the town secure a post office.

* Winslow - Once called Madrone. It was renamed in 1903 for Winslow Hall by his brother, H.K. Hall.

Puget Sound Naval Station, Bremerton, 1904

After another devastating fire in 1907, the Port Blakely Mill rebuilt again, but market forces indicated a smaller operation.

It was renamed in 1910 when Seattle mayor-to-be Ole Hansen developed it as a summer residence area.

In 1914, the 700-acre townsite was purchased by the Coleman family of Seattle and established as an interdenominational church conference ground.

* Indianola - First named Indianola Beach in 1916 by a development company.

In 1923, the mill closed forever and Port Blakely slipped into obscurity.

* Belfair - In 1925, the postmaster-general requested renaming the town to avoid duplication because of the proliferating towns named Clifton.

In 1938, the Klallam received their own reserve in north Kitsap County, the Port Gamble Reservation.

State control over the ferries came less than a year after the building of the second bridge over the Tacoma Narrows (the original bridge collapsed in a wind storm a few months after opening in 1940) and completion of a bridge at Agate Pass connecting Bainbridge Island to the mainland.

After great public dissatisfaction over Peabody’s poor labor relations and his absolute control over schedules and fares, in 1951 the State of Washington purchased the Black Ball Line and took over operation of the ferry system.

The Hood Canal Floating Bridge in 1961 freed up another ferry route and tied the Olympic Peninsula closer to the Kitsap Peninsula.

USS Missouri moored at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, March 19, 1970

At the Port Madison Indian Reservation, the Suquamish Tribe has extracted their own prosperity from a casino that underwrites social programs in the community, and from fishing rights reasserted by a federal court in 1974.

Population grew by 8 percent over the prior five years, a 26 percent increase since 1990 to approximately 22,000.

In 1994, after 142 years, the saws at the old Puget Mill Company powered down and salvagers dismantled the plant.

In the Bremerton area, the construction of a call center by Nextel Communications in 2001 brought 500 private-sector jobs.

As a reflection of the close connection between Bainbridge and Seattle, the City of Bainbridge Island found it necessary in 2002 to triple parking fines because commuters to Seattle were using downtown Winslow as a parking lot.

Since 2003, the Kitsap History Museum has been putting on our very popular, Eat Your Way Through Kitsap History series.