County Past
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Jefferson County, Washington

Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
79historic places
—earliest paper
1852formed
32,977pop. 2020
7cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 79 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1970; 3 are also National Historic Landmarks. Most listings are in or near Port Townsend, Port Angeles, Chimacum.

Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.

Newspapers

Library of Congress

Newspaper directory data for Washington is not yet loaded on this site. Browse Jefferson titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

61 of 79 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

79 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Bartlett, Frank, HousePort TownsendBuilding1973
Bash, Henry, HousePort TownsendBuilding1985
Bishop, Senator William, House and OfficeChimacumBuilding1984
Botten CabinPort AngelesBuilding2007
Chimacum Post OfficeChimacumBuilding1983
Christian Congregation Church of Port LudlowPort LudlowBuilding2021
City HallPort TownsendBuilding1971
Coleman-Furlong HousePort TownsendBuilding1985
Duckabush River BridgeDuckabushStructure1982
Edwards, Joel, HousePort TownsendBuilding1985
Elk Lick LodgePort AngelesBuilding2007
Enchanted Valley ChaletPort AngelesBuilding2007
F/V WESTERN FLYER (purse seiner)Port TownsendStructure2017
Fitzgerald, Thomas, HousePort TownsendBuilding1985
Fort FlaglerPort TownsendDistrict1976
Fort Worden NHLPort TownsendDistrict1974
Fort Worden NHLPort TownsendDistrict
Fowler, Capt. Enoch S., HousePort TownsendBuilding1970
Gagen-Sherlock HousePort TownsendBuilding1982
Galster HouseLower HadlockBuilding1983
Graves Creek Ranger StationPort AngelesDistrict2007
Griffiths, J. W., HousePort TownsendBuilding1985
Hamilton-Worthington HouseQuilceneBuilding2014
Happy Four ShelterPort AngelesBuilding2007
Harper, F. C., HousePort TownsendBuilding1985
Hayes River Fire CachePort AngelesStructure2007
House at 1723 Holcomb StreetPort TownsendBuilding1985
House at 30 Tremont StreetPort TownsendBuilding1985
House at 503 Fir StreetPort TownsendBuilding1985
Interrorem Guard Station-Olympic National ForestDuckabushBuilding2013
Irondale Historic DistrictPort TownsendDistrict1983
Irondale JailIrondaleBuilding1983
James, Francis Wilcox, HousePort TownsendBuilding1970
Jefferson County CourthousePort TownsendBuilding1973
Johnson HouseNordlandBuilding1983
Kuhn Spit Archeological SiteChimacumSite1978
Lake-Little HousePort TownsendBuilding1985
Landes, Colonel Henry, HousePort TownsendBuilding2021
Laubach, J. N., HousePort TownsendBuilding1985
Leader BuildingPort TownsendBuilding1970
Lincoln SchoolPort TownsendBuilding2017
Manresa HallPort TownsendBuilding1970
Methodist Epscopal Church of Port HadlockHadlockBuilding1983
Morgan, O. L. and Josephine, HousePort TownsendBuilding1985
Nelson HouseNordlandBuilding1984
North Fork Quinault Ranger StationPort AngelesDistrict2007
Oatman, Earl, HouseQuilceneBuilding1983
Old German ConsulatePort TownsendBuilding1971
Olympus Guard StationPort AngelesDistrict2007
Pearson HousePort TownsendBuilding1985
Pelton Creek ShelterPort AngelesBuilding2007
Petersen, H. S., HousePort TownsendBuilding1985
Pettygrove, Benjamin S., HousePort TownsendBuilding1985
Point Wilson LighthousePort TownsendStructure1971
Port Townsend Carnegie LibraryPort TownsendBuilding1982
Port Townsend Historic District NHLPort TownsendDistrict1976
Quilcene Ranger StationQuilceneDistrict2012
Quilcene-Quinault Battleground SiteQuilceneSite1978
Ralston, Judge, HousePort TownsendBuilding1985
Rothschild HousePort TownsendBuilding1970
Rover, Hanna, HouseCenterBuilding1983
Saint's Rest, Tukey's Pioneer Cabin and Homestead HousePort TownsendBuilding1983
Saunders, James C., HousePort TownsendBuilding1977
Schlager, Ferdinand, HousePort TownsendBuilding1985
Seal Rock Shell Mounds (45JE15)BrinnonSite1985
Shibles, Capt. Peter, HouseHadlockBuilding1983
Sole, Tollef, HouseNordlandBuilding1983
St. Paul's Episcopal ChurchPort TownsendBuilding1970
Starrett HousePort TownsendBuilding1970
Stegerwald, Andrew, HousePort TownsendBuilding1985
Swanson, Hans, HousePort LudlowBuilding1983
Tamanowas RockChimacumSite2015
Trumbull, John, HousePort TownsendBuilding1985
Tucker, Horace, HousePort TownsendBuilding1973
US Post Office-Port Townsend MainPort TownsendBuilding1991
Uncas SchoolDiscoveryBuilding1987
Van Trojen HouseChimacumBuilding1984
Ward, Milo P., HousePort TownsendBuilding1985
Williams, Hattie, HouseIrondaleBuilding1983

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Jefferson was formed in 1852 (1852-12-22) from Thurston.

JEFFERSON created by Oregon Territory from THURSTON.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Jefferson County population from 1860 to 2020 (Census historical series).

33k17k5311860188019201940196020002020
1860188019001920194019501960198020002020
5311,7125,7126,5578,91811,6189,63915,96525,95332,977

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.

National Park Service sites nearby

NPS

Park units within about 40 km of the county centroid (from NPS Public POIs; no API key).

SiteTypeDist.
Olympic National ParkPark unit25.4 km

Source: NPS National Datasets / Public POIs. The NPS Developer API requires a free key and was not used.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

7 cemeteries and 1 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 7 of 7 listed
NameLatLon
Fletcher Cemetery47.74948-124.40388
Fort Worden Military Cemetery48.1333-122.77357
Jefferson County Cemetery48.11834-122.78484
Laurel Grove Cemetery48.11696-122.78633
Quilcene Cemetery47.83068-122.89398
Redmens Cemetery48.11801-122.78359
Sound View Cemetery48.04558-122.68388
Historical populated places — 1 of 1
NameLatLon
McGees48.07148-122.8635

Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.

Historical markers

HMdb link

Marker text and photos from the Historical Marker Database (HMdb) are not embedded here. HMdb allows non-commercial reuse with attribution, but commercial/compensated use needs written permission; this is a commercial site, so we only link out.

Search HMdb for Jefferson County, Washington

Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.