Island History
SECTION HEADER
THE HISTORY OF SAN JUAN ISLAND is a long one, despite what may be described in introductory descriptions of this unique island community. For thousands of years, Native people from Coast Salish communities have lived in the San Juan Islands. Then during the mid19th century, Great Britain and the U.S., both challenged by a limited understanding of this area’s geography, each claimed all the San Juan Islands but did agree upon a compromise international boundary in “the strait.” But there are two straits. This dispute led to what is called the Pig War crisis, when each nation sent troops to the island to defend its territory. An impartial tribunal decided in favor of the U.S. in 1872, which is why San Juan Island is now an American island. This era is interpreted and commemorated by today’s San Juan Island National Historical Park.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has named Friday Harbor to its list of a “Dozen Distinctive Destinations,” while noting it’s the only historic seaport town on the west coast which has never been destroyed by fire. Today, the San Juan Historical Museum has been welcoming islanders and visitors alike to its campus since 1966, on property that had once been the core of the James and Adeline King Farm, Friday Harbor’s last remaining homestead farm. The Museum represents a distinct island culture of resilience and independence, sharing stories from the island’s four major historical industries — farming, fishing, logging, and lime quarrying and processing. In addition, the Museum collection contains nine heritage structures, thousands of photographs and artifacts which represent our collective heritage.
Island farms, fishing operations, and retail commerce developed at a faster pace once San Juan County was established in 1873. Families were often cross-cultural, established by the marriages of Coast Salish women to European-American descent men. In the 1890s, leisure boat excursions to bucolic, fresh air places became popular and Friday Harbor experienced a flourishing era of town development with new hotels, shops, and restaurants. Fishing and logging were becoming thriving industries, so commercial export out of Friday Harbor made for an active seaport. In the early 1950s, with soldiers home from World War II and families reunited, national advertising campaigns promoted “See America,” and encouraged domestic leisure travel, including the San Juans as a family vacation destination. The popularity of recreational boating and the building of summer vacation cabins followed in the 1960s.
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IMAGE COURTESY OF SAN JUAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, FRIDAY HARBOR, WA
