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Explore stories in Northwest history through highlights from MOHAI’s collections. Search by keyword below or browse the entire online collection by entering the asterisk symbol (*). Filter your search by type of materials.

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257 results for: Washington Territory

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Image of Susan Maddocks posing in a studio, Seattle, circa 1875
Photograph

Susan Maddocks posing in a studio, Seattle, circa 1875

Early Seattle settler Susan Williamson (1835-1917) was born in New York and had moved west with her brother, a sawmiller. In 1956 she married Moses Rideout Maddocks (1833-1919), a fellow settler from the east coast who was involved in business and politics. For many years the Maddocks' lived above their drug store but after the Great Seattle Fire of 1889…
ID Number:1957.1279.7
Date:Circa 1875
Image of Birds Eye View of Seattle, 1889
Cartographic material

Birds Eye View of Seattle, 1889

Seattle in the 1880s was a rapidly growing city, aided in no small part by the 1883 connection with the Northern Pacific Railway Company. Lumber and coal were the primary industries, but the growth of fishing, wholesale trade, shipbuilding, and shipping also contributed to the town's economic expansion and population growth. The Seattle City Census of 1888 records population at…
ID Number:1957.1280.7
Date:1889
Image of Account of Mails Received at the Post Office at Seattle, County of King, Territory of Washington, August-October, 1853
Ephemera

Account of Mails Received at the Post Office at Seattle, County of King, Territory of Washington, August-October, 1853

The Territory of Washington was incorporated on March 2, 1853, a period of time in which the village of Seattle consisted of a church, a brothel, two blockhouses, a post office, and a small assortment of homes. Mail at that time had to be sent on a steamship that sailed bimonthly from San Francisco to Astoria, Oregon, and then made…
ID Number:1957.1281.3
Date:1853
Image of Bird's-eye view of Seattle, 1879
Cartographic material

Bird's-eye view of Seattle, 1879

Eli Sheldon Glover (1845-1909) was an inventor and artist who was active in San Francisco, Chicago and Tacoma. Many of his works are perspective maps, and he traveled throughout the west drawing "birds-eye" views of newly developed cities. This image of Seattle was drawn by Mr. Glover in 1879, and is the second-earliest overview map of the city known to…
ID Number:1957.1281.10
Date:1879
Image of Governor Elisha Ferry, circa 1891
Photograph

Governor Elisha Ferry, circa 1891

Elisha Peyre Ferry (1825-1895) was the first governor of Washington State. Ferry was a Republican lawyer who had twice been Governor of Washington Territory, the only one to serve two terms. On Washington's admission as a state on November 11, 1889, he became its inaugural governor. In his first summer, he had to supervise the rebuilding of three major cities…
ID Number:1957.1284.5
Date:Circa 1891
Document

King County Census, 1877

"An Act to Establish the Territorial Government of Washington," passed in 1853 by the Thirty-Second Congress of the United States, required that a census be performed prior to elections for non-appointed members of the territorial legislature. "An Act to Authorize the Assessors of Each County to Take the Census in the Statutes of the Territory of Washington," enacted in 1854,…
ID Number:1959.1671.4
Date:1877
Document

King County Census, 1878

"An Act to Establish the Territorial Government of Washington," passed in 1853 by the Thirty-Second Congress of the United States, required that a census be performed prior to elections for non-appointed members of the territorial legislature. "An Act to Authorize the Assessors of Each County to Take the Census in the Statutes of the Territory of Washington," enacted in 1854,…
ID Number:1959.1671.5
Date:1878
Image of Dexter Horton & Co. 10-year perpetual calendar, Seattle, 1903
Ephemera

Dexter Horton & Co. 10-year perpetual calendar, Seattle, 1903

Seattle settler Dexter Horton (1825-1904) arrived in Washington Territory in 1853, and after working at his uncle Henry Yesler's mill, opened a general store in Seattle. He also served as an informal banker, making loans and accepting deposits from loggers, trappers, and others. In 1870, Horton opened the city's first official bank, and in 1876, he built the city's first…
ID Number:1959.1788.6a
Date:1903
Image of Warranty Deed from Arthur A. Denny to Martin Cavanaugh, February 26, 1869
Document

Warranty Deed from Arthur A. Denny to Martin Cavanaugh, February 26, 1869

Ohioan Martin Luther Cavanaugh arrived in Seattle in 1852, where he rented 10 acres in Georgetown, in the Duwamish Valley, approximately where Boeing Field stands today. Eventually Martin (1836-1926) bought the property, then expanded his holdings to 300 acres. On February 26, 1869, he and his wife Mary Ann (Maple) Cavanaugh (1835-1912) bought a parcel of land from Arthur Denny…
ID Number:1964.3312.5
Date:1869
Image of Warranty Deed from John W. Maple and wife to Martin Cavanaugh, August 26, 1872
Document

Warranty Deed from John W. Maple and wife to Martin Cavanaugh, August 26, 1872

Ohioan Martin Luther Cavanaugh arrived in Seattle in 1852, where he rented 10 acres in Georgetown, in the Duwamish Valley. Eventually Martin (1836-1926) bought the property, then expanded his holdings to 300 acres. On August 26, 1872, Mr. Cavanaugh bought a parcel of land from John W. Maple and his wife E. J. Maple, relatives of his wife Mary Ann…
ID Number:1964.3312.8
Date:1872
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Land Acknowledgement

MOHAI stands on the historic and contemporary lands and shores of the Duwamish, Suquamish, Muckleshoot, and other Coast Salish Nations. We acknowledge the forced displacement of Native Communities from this land while honoring the endurance of the Duwamish people who still live here.
Address: 860 Terry Ave N, Seattle WA, 98109
Phone: 206 324 1126
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