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1792
Vancouver named the bay in 1792 for a friend
Captain George Vancouver named the bay Port Townshend in 1792, for his friend the Marquis of Townshend. It was immediately recognized as a good safe harbor. Strong south winds and poor holding ground often make small-craft anchorage problematic off the waterfront.
1851
The city was founded on April 24, 1851
The official founding of the American city took place on April 24, 1851. The Indian tribes in what is now Jefferson County in the mid-19th century included the Chimakum, the Hoh, a group of the Quileute, the Klallam, the Quinault and the Twana.
City of Dreams
Early speculation made it the City of Dreams
Early speculation held that Port Townsend would become the largest harbor on the west coast of the United States, so it was called the City of Dreams. Guarding the gate of Puget Sound, it became known as the Key City. Many homes and buildings went up, most of them in ornate Victorian style.
The railroad
The railroad never came, and the boom ended by the late 1890s
Port Townsend was to be the northwest extension of the rail lines. The Northern Pacific Railroad failed to connect it to Tacoma, and the lines ended on the east side of Puget Sound. The population fell rapidly. Without the railroad to spur growth, the town shrank and investors looked elsewhere. By the late 1890s, the boom was over.
Left standing
Few Victorian buildings were torn down, so the town was kept
The economy declined so fast in the 1890s, with no industry to replace it, that very few of the Victorian buildings were torn down or built over. They were essentially preserved for nearly 100 years. The Port Townsend Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and made a National Historic Landmark in 1977.
Day 4, afternoon
It comes after Dungeness Spit.
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The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Port Townsend, Washington, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.