Timeline of Regional Events
1805-06 Lewis and Clark Expedition passes through what will become Walla Walla County
1818 Fort Nez Perces 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
1836-47 Whitman Mission
1843 Oregon Trail Great Migration
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 post closes; U.S. Army closes the region to settlers
1856 Second Walla Walla Treaty Council ends in skirmish between Governor Stevens party and regional Indian people; first two military Forts Walla Walla built
1858 Permanent site of Fort Walla Walla completed; Spokane, Palouse, Coeur d'Alene, Yakama and other Indian groups repel Lt. Col. Steptoe's soldiers near today's Rosalia, Washington; Col. Wright's troops defeat the 'Northern Alliance' of tribes near modern-day Spokane, Washington; region re-opened to settlement
1859 Oregon State admitted to the Union in an act signed by President James Buchanon; Washington gains territorial status; Walla Walla's name changes from first 'Steptoeville,' then Wailatpa to finally walla Walla
1860s Idaho gold rush
1861 Civil War begins
1862 Walla Walla becomes an incorporated city; President Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law
1865 President Lincoln assassinated; Civil War ends
1866 First county-wide fair in Walla Walla, making it the oldest county fair in the state
1869 Transcontinental railroad completed; Baker Boyer Bank established
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 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
1880 President Rutherford B. Hayes visits Walla Walla, accompanied by Civil War General William T. Sherman
1889 Washington State admitted to the Union through an act signed by President Benjamin Harrison
1890 Sioux War, last of the Indian wars
1903 Presdient Theodore Roosevelt visits Walla Walla
1908 Formal opening of Pioneer Park on East Alder Street in Walla Walla
1910 Fort Walla Walla officially abandoned
1911 Presdient Willliam Howard Taft visits Walla Walla
1917 Fort Walla Walla reopened 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
1954 Presdient Dwight Eisenhower visits Walla Walla
1971 President Richard Nixon visits Walla Walla
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