Timeline of Regional Events
1805-06 Lewis and Clark Expedition passes through what will become Walla Walla County
1818 Fort Nez Perce fur trading post is established near the mouth of the Walla Walla River, renamed Fort Walla Walla in 1821 at merger of Northwest Fur Company and Hudson's Bay Company
1836 Whitman Mission established
1843 Oregon Trail Great Migration
1847 Tragedy at Whitman Mission
1848 Territory of Oregon established
1853 Territory of Washington created
1854 Walla Walla County organized; at one time encompassing all of eastern Washington, northern Idaho, western Montan, and southwestern Wyoming, it is larger than California
1855 Governor Stevens signed treaties with Walla Walla, Cayuse and Umatilla Indians; Battle of Frenchtown (Walla Walla); last Hudson's Bay Company Fort Walla Walla post closes
1856 First two military Forts Walla Walla built
1858 Permanent site of Fort Walla Walla completed; Spokane, Palouse, Coeur d'Alene, Yakama and other tribes repel Lt. Col. Steptoe's soldiers; Col. Wright's troops defeat the northern tribes; region opened to settlers
1859 Oregon State admitted to the Union by an act signed by President James Buchanon; Washington gains territorial status
1860s Idaho gold rush
1861 Civil War begins
1862 Walla Walla becomes an incorporated city; President Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law (see sesquicentennial celebrations planned for 2012 below)
1865 President Lincoln assassinated; Civil War ends
1869 Transcontinental railroad completed
1870 Telegraph line between Walla Walla and Portland completed
1878 First Washington Constitutional Convention convenes in Walla Walla on June 11
1875 Dorsey Baker's Walla Walla & Columbia River Railroad allows increased export of agricultural products from Walla Walla area
1876-78 Battle of the Little Big Horn, Nez Perce War, Bannock-Paiute War
1889 Washington State admitted to the Union through an act signed by President Benjamin Harrison
1890 Sioux War, last of the Indian wars
1908 Formal opening of Pioneer Park on East Alder Street in Walla Walla
1910 Fort Walla Walla closed
1917 Fort Walla Walla re-opened during World War I as an artillery training base
1922 Veteran's hospital opened on former Fort Walla Walla grounds
1930s End of horse/mule powered agricultural era
1939-45 World War II
WALLA WALLA SESQUICENTENNIAL
CELEBRATIONS PLANNED
This is a big year in Walla Walla’s history, culminating a three-year period of sesquicentennial celebrations.
2012 is the 150th anniversary of the granting of a municipal charter to the City of Walla Walla on January 11, 1862 by the Washington Territorial Legislature, and the first election of its mayor and city council in April of that year.
2012 is also the sesquicentennial of the establishment of the first public school in Walla Walla, the purchase of the first fire engine and organization of the first fire fighting company, and the completion of the Mullan Road linking the steamship dock on the Columbia River at Wallula to the steamship dock on the Missouri River at Fort Benton.
A variety of activities are planned to commemorate the final step in the organization of local governments that began in 1859 with the appointment of Walla Walla County officials by the Washington Territorial Legislature, and the ratification of the 1855 treaty with the Walla Walla, Cayuse, and Umatilla Indian Tribes ceding title to area lands to the United States, creating the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and opening all remaining lands to white settlement.
Also in 1859, Walla Walla county commissioners held their first meeting, the first election of county officials took place, and a petition to name and plat the town of Walla Walla, name it, give it an appointed government, and designate it the Walla Walla county seat was approved.
Other events of 1859 included the erection of a Catholic church building, the organization of the Methodist Church, the establishment of the first Masonic Lodge, and the granting of a charter to Whitman Seminary, which in 1882 became Whitman College.
On July 1, 1859, Lt. John Mullan and a crew of 100 workers and 100 soldiers departed from Walla Walla to begin construction of their new highway from Fort Walla Walla to Fort Benton. Since Mullan completed final work on the road in 1862, to celebrate his achievement a sesquicentennial committee appointed by the city has proposed naming 13th Street as Mullan Road, and also the creation of a Mullan Road History Site along 13th Street at Abadie, which is roughly the route of the initial stretch of the road from the military Fort Walla Walla where the VA Hospital now stands.
Planned activities during 2012 include guided tours of downtown Walla Walla by members of the Fort Walla Walla Living History Company who were here in 1862, a special sesquicentennial theme for Fourth of July in the Park, a vintage ball, and sesquicentennial events during Fort Walla Walla Days in June.
Fort Walla Walla Museum Living History Company characters from 1862, including Mayor E.B. Whitman, councilmen John Abbott and William Phillips, madam Josephine Wolfe, and road builder John Mullan will appear at the January 11, 7 pm meeting of the Walla Walla City Council to celebrate the granting of the city’s charter on that date and to kick off the sesquicentennial year.
Co-chairs of the Walla Walla Sesquicentennial Committee are Elio Agostini of the Downtown Walla Walla Foundation and Jim Dumont, City Parks & Recreation Department Director. For more information, contact either Agostini or Dumont. |
