Historic Fort Steilacoom celebrates 175 years of the US Army in Washington State through City of Lakewood event

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HFSA board president Walter Neary marked the 175th anniversary of Fort Steilacoom’s founding with a talk at Lakewood’s Coffee With the Mayor on Aug. 21. The event took place in a building in Fort Steilacoom Park, which had been part of the original post and is across Steilacoom Boulevard from the museum. 

The talk was the day before the actual day 175 years ago that the U.S. Army took occupancy, Aug. 22, 1849.

man holding case with some artifacts on a porch

HFSA board president Walter Neary keeps a tight hold on the Mahon artifacts as he takes them to the 175th anniversary talk across the street.

“The founders of Fort Steilacoom would be thrilled to know that a civic meeting is being held on this land. Their goal was to establish a U.S. government presence in Washington,” Neary told the group of about two dozen attendees.

Lakewood Mayor Jason Whalen added a personal touch, asking how many in the audience had connections to the military presence in Pierce County. Many hands were raised, including Whalen’s, whose grandfather had been stationed there during World War I.

In his presentation, Neary highlighted two key points: the role of the men and women of the fort and the fort’s place in U.S. military history over the past 175 years. He also touched on how Fort Steilacoom was overshadowed by Fort Nisqually as the fort to remember, which led to nationwide recognition of Fort Nisqually as a US post in 1978 (see more in his story in this issue). Fort Nisqually is today correctly presented as a fort affiliated with Great  Britain. 

Neary noted how often people mention they’ve never heard of Fort Steilacoom. “Of course not,” he said, “because some of what their parents thought they knew about pioneer Washington was wrong.” He encouraged the audience to help spread the word about the fort, saying, “It’s going to take repetition and time to change how people think about this fort.”

HFSA will continue offering talks related to the 175th anniversary, with the next one scheduled for Oct. 20 on the history of Western State Hospital.

We have talks scheduled through February! You can see the latest schedule on our Events page. The current lineup:

All meetings will be on Zoom. Do not go to the fort.

  • 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 17: Stationed at Fort Steilacoom. Historian and longtime fort volunteer Alan Archambault will talk about the soldiers and units that were stationed at Fort Steilacoom

 

  • Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025: The Discovery of the Salish Sea 10,000 BCE to 1860m Pawn in a Global Chess Match. Local historian and longtime fort volunteer Steve Dunkelberger will talk the discoveries of Puget Sound before the U.S. Army’s arrival
  • Sunday, Feb. 23: Kalapuyans of the Willamette Valley. Oregon State University Asst. Prof. David G. Lewis, PhD, is a member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, a descendant of the Takelma, Chinook, Molalla, and Santiam Kalapuya peoples of western Oregon. We at Fort Steilacoom talk and study a lot about what was going on in Washington during settlement; Prof. Lewis, who has a new book out, will  talk about what was going on in Oregon during those same years.

 

 

Board president reflects on the close of his second term, 20 years from the first

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By Walter Neary

The following is from the September 2024 issue of the Historic Fort Steilacoom journal.

Serving as president of the board at Historic Fort Steilacoom both 20 years ago and again today has given me a unique point of view. One, I’m grateful anyone wanted me back, and two, the time away has shown me something only a gap of time can bring: perspective.

When I returned in 2020, it became clear that many of the challenges we faced in 2000 were still around. Some things had changed, for sure, but a lot had stayed the same. That realization motivated me to push for some changes, with the help of a dedicated board of directors.

Just one example: We now have a wonderful volunteer who tries to help us schedule volunteers – a volunteer volunteer coordinator. Imagine that! Just like museums that have paid staff. We still have energetic volunteers who don’t want to be on schedules, but it’s going to be crucial to be organized if we ever want to be open more than one Sunday a month.

Some of the changes went deep to the heart of the organization. Our board includes diverse and younger voices, along with our volunteer pool. It is crucial to have new voices. As the saying goes, if you keep doing the same things, you will get the same results.

Who should keep the lights on?

As always, just as 20 years ago: The task of keeping the lights on sometimes overwhelmed us, and that means we couldn’t devote that time to the strong stories and programs that help drive interest in a museum. I spent a lot of time dealing with our landlord, the Department of Social and Health Services. One of their people reminded me during one negotiation that Western State would have been perfectly happy to let the buildings cave in during the 80s. Yeah. 

What does that say about the State of Washington? Volunteers preserve the oldest group of buildings in Washington that remain in their original layout.

During my term, we called BS on the way Washington preserves its history. In 2000, I was like everyone else – we had normalized the idea that of course Washington doesn’t operate a museum about pioneer life in Puget Sound. Volunteers can do it!

No. Every other state in this nation has a government entity with expertise in preservation and education that seeks to tell the very complicated story of pioneer life. Washington chickened out. Of course, as I write in this issue, Washington did think it was creating a US pioneer museum when it created Fort Nisqually. 

But today, there’s no excuse. Washington has dodged responsibility for telling the pioneer story, good and bad parts alike. 

Don’t even get me started on whether the federal government should take some responsibility for a U.S. Army fort. The story is complicated and controversial. At best, it’s neglectful; at worst, it’s cowardly to leave the job to volunteers who have to somehow manage a museum on the front lawn of a mental hospital. 

City of Lakewood offers responsibility – and hope

Our current board’s legacy will be a possible way out. When I agreed to be president in 2020, I had a secret plan. It was secret because it seemed preposterous. I wanted to convince the city of Lakewood to acquire our buildings. I was going to give myself 10 years to raise our profile and try to accomplish that. 

So you can imagine my surprise – ecstasy, actually – when then-Lakewood Mayor Don Anderson told me the City Council already wanted to do that. Fort Steilacoom should be reunited with Fort Steilacoom Park.

Of course, they are working with DSHS on that. But there does seem to be a lot of optimism that the transfer of buildings will take place. Our Civil War parade grounds will still be a parking lot for Western State, but that will likely change in time as construction takes place on campus.

That does not mean Lakewood is going into the museum business. No one wants that. But our volunteers would work with a responsible and appropriate custodian of the buildings. 

We are off to a good start as 2024 moves to 2025. Incoming president Claire Keller-Scholz is a parks professional through her work at MetroParks. She and many of our volunteers grew up with Fort Nisqually’s passion for scholarship and living history. The new volunteers infuse our fort with energy. I’m excited about the future. I hope to be elected as board secretary. The thought of following legends Orville Stout and Joe Lewis is intimidating, but what’s life without challenge?

So whoever you are who is president in 2040 – I hope our board left you something to work with! 

 

 

Why Fort Steilacoom Disappeared Between 1868 and 1978

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What Your Parents Knew About Local History Was Likely Wrong
By Walter Neary

Across the nation, many museums honor the U.S. Army while grappling with the challenging history of westward expansion. However, Fort Steilacoom Museum didn’t emerge until 1980. Even now, more than 40 years later, many people say they have never heard of Fort Steilacoom.

Why Did Fort Steilacoom Disappear from Public Memory?

The answer lies in how history gets remembered — and sometimes rewritten. For decades, efforts to honor American pioneers focused elsewhere, leading to the erasure of Fort Steilacoom. Generations were taught that another fort, seen as truly American, had already filled this role. So when we ask people to recognize Fort Steilacoom as the American fort, we are erasing what their parents may have taught them. We are asking people to un-learn.

I should add here that this article is deeply in debt to historian Steve Anderson, who wrote this year about how Fort Nisqually came to dominate the pioneer narrative.

A Shift in Focus: Fort Nisqually as the “American” Fort

By 1908, papers like the Seattle Post-Intelligencer were advocating for a replica of Fort Nisqually to be built for the Alaska-Yukon Exposition. This idea never took off, but it showed that Fort Nisqually was seen as central to Washington’s pioneer history.

It is worth noting that Fort Nisqually, located in DuPont, was actually a British fort. But two key events helped elevate its prominence:

  1. Historian William Bonney declared that Fort Nisqually’s factor’s house was the oldest building around — the first white settlement. This blurred the line between British and American history. British. American. White. All the same thing, right?
  2. With the rise of the automobile, the scenic drive from Seattle and Tacoma to DuPont made visiting the old fort a popular outing.

The Rise of Fort Nisqually in the Public Eye

By 1921, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer was calling Fort Nisqually “the site of the first American home built in the Puget Sound District.” The Tacoma Daily Ledger went even further, dubbing it “the cradle of American civilization in the Pacific Northwest.”

Visiting the site became a trend. It became quite a thing to visit the old buildings at their original rustic site in DuPont, as is shown in this front page display in the Oct. 30, 1927 issue of the Tacoma Daily Ledger:

But while Fort Nisqually thrived in the public imagination, Fort Steilacoom, now part of Western State Hospital, was left in the shadows. Few ventured out for scenic drives to an asylum, and the stigma surrounding the hospital only added to the fort’s fading presence. The wording that one newspaper writer used in 1950 is significant in how direct it is: “Fort Steilacoom became Western State Hospital.”

A group of young Tacoma businessmen donned costumes appropriate for a John Wayne movie and pretended to take hostages among American pioneers, just like what NEVER happened at Fort Nisqually. Photo Source of this and the adjacent photo, Tacoma Northwest Room

“Red men” so wrong in so many ways

In the public imagination, there was no need for Fort Steilacoom because Fort Nisqually had been re-created in Point Defiance Park in 1934. The dedication ceremony for the replica fort was quite the spectacle, with a band playing patriotic tunes, U.S. Navy planes performing stunts, and the American flag raised as onlookers stood at attention.

The Americanization of Fort Nisqually, a British fort, was misleading. It got worse. In one wildly inaccurate and offensive moment, actors dressed as “red men” reenacted an imaginary hostage-taking of settlers — an event that never happened at Fort Nisqually.

But you can’t blame people for thinking that. The Tacoma Daily Ledger had called Fort Nisqually “the old fort that once protected the settlers of Pierce County from attacks by raiding Indians.”

Forgive me this tangent: So how did these non-existent American hostages from a non-existent fort get rescued? “A company of (US) national guardsmen scheduled to appear on the scene and rescue the officials failed to show and it fell the duty of a German band supplied by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Tacoma police and state patrolmen to repulse the attack and return the officials to safety.”

An American flag is displayed during the Fort Nisqually dedication, just as it never was during actual history.

So it’s no wonder nobody in Tacoma or Lakewood ever heard of Fort Steilacoom. It didn’t exist. Newspapers, such as the Seattle Daily Tribune of June 11, 1939, refer to Fort Nisqually as part of “the history of US military defense”  in Puget Sound

A Stamp Seals the Confusion

With Fort Nisqually celebrated as a symbol of American pioneers, Fort Steilacoom was forgotten. Forty-four years later, the U.S. Postal Service embraced historical inaccuracy.

In 1978, the Postal Service issued a stamp called “New Nation Building Westward,” which featured Fort Nisqually’s tower (You can see the stamp in the upper left of this page). The stamp was interpreted as celebrating U.S. settlement, despite Fort Nisqually being a British outpost.

The ‘red men’ travesty shows up again 44 years later

Just to help emphasize the inaccuracy, guess who showed up for the First Day of Issue ceremony? One of the “red men” from 1934 who you can see in the lower left of The News Tribune front page below. He could repeat the story of hostage-taking for anyone who missed it in 1934.

British fort? American fort? No difference really, in 1978 – which, at least for some of us, seems like modern times.

It’s easy for us today to look back in disbelief. Here in 2024, we know there’s a clear distinction between Great Britain and the United States.

And yet, we should not be smug.

If you had been there in 1934 – if you had been there in 1978 – would you have stood up and said, “Excuse me, excuse me; we’re in the wrong place. We need to take this event to the grounds of the mental hospital! Who is ready to drive to Western State Hospital and have a big public party?”

Most of us probably would not have done that. It’s just easier to go along for the ride. 

Bringing Fort Steilacoom Back into Focus

Thanks to Lakewood historians Cy and Rita Happy, who nominated Fort Steilacoom for the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, the fort’s story is being preserved. Volunteers restored the remaining buildings in the 1980s, and since then, our association has worked to share the history of the fort, its people and the stories of those around it.

But we’re asking people to unlearn something they’ve been taught. And that’s often harder than teaching something new.

Why Does This Matter?

Does it matter whether Puget Sound remembers the U.S. Army’s role in Washington’s history? Does it matter that Fort Steilacoom exists as a museum?

Museums across the country, many with significant resources, are beginning to tell the fuller stories of Native Americans, colonialism, and westward expansion. Sites like Fort Vancouver, the Whitman Mission, and Little Bighorn Battlefield are working to include all sides of these narratives.

All-volunteer Fort Steilacoom, with just a fraction of the budget of publicly sponsored museums, faces challenges in doing the same. Nobody wants the bureaucracy that comes with a big museum, but there’s something to be said for expertise and budget.

Fort Nisqually: A Remarkable Legacy

Despite all this confusion, something wonderful did come out of these missteps. Thanks to the passion for preserving U.S. history, we now have an incredible British fort in our midst. Fort Nisqually is an outstanding museum that tells the story of its British roots, and we’re fortunate to have it.

Fort Nisqually is a remarkable museum in any ways, and it’s hard to imagine the history community in the South Sound without it. Their volunteers bring enormous life and energy and expertise when they visit Fort Steilacoom. 

Fort Nisqually is blessed with wonderful staff and volunteers and programs. And it’s an example of what a professional museum can do. 

It was Fort Nisqually and its parent, MetroParks Tacoma, that organized a podcast series that embraces the stories and perspectives of Native Americans in Puget Sound. During Fort Nisqually’s Candlelight Tour, they feature an American camp outside the fort. This camp includes re-enactors portraying American soldiers and settlers who share their hopes and dreams for the 1850s.

While Fort Steilacoom seeks to tell its story with limited resources, we have exciting plans for the future. Stay tuned for updates on how we’re working to expand the fort’s reach.

 

Why Fort Steilacoom was forgotten for 80 years

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Why Fort Steilacoom Disappeared Between 1868 and 1978

What Your Parents Knew About Local History Might Have Been Wrong

By Walter Neary

Across the nation, many museums honor the U.S. Army and the complex history of westward expansion. However, Fort Steilacoom Museum didn’t emerge until 1980, and even today, it’s common to meet people who have never heard of it. Why did Fort Steilacoom seemingly vanish from public memory for so long?

The answer lies in how people choose to remember history. Fort Steilacoom faded into obscurity until the late 20th century because efforts to honor American pioneers were directed elsewhere. Older generations grew up believing that another fort, a perfectly American one, had already fulfilled this role. This article is deeply indebted to historian Steve Anderson, who shed light on how Fort Nisqually came to dominate the narrative.

In the early 1900s, there was a nationwide belief that U.S. pioneers were heroic figures, and communities celebrated their achievements. But in Puget Sound, that celebration took an interesting turn. Instead of recognizing the U.S. Army’s role at Fort Steilacoom, attention shifted toward the idea of building a replica of Fort Nisqually—a British trading post—to honor pioneers.

By 1908, newspapers like the Seattle Post-Intelligencer were suggesting that a Fort Nisqually replica should be built for the Alaska-Yukon Exposition. Though this plan never came to fruition, it indicated that Fort Nisqually was viewed as central to Washington’s pioneer history.

 

It’s important to note that Fort Nisqually, located in DuPont, was a British, not American, fort. But two events helped elevate its prominence. First, historian William Bonney claimed that the factor’s house at Fort Nisqually was the oldest building in Washington. Second, with the invention of the automobile, the scenic drive from Seattle and Tacoma to DuPont became a popular outing.

Fort Nisqually was on the map!

By 1921, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer was calling Fort Nisqually “the site of the first American home built in the Puget Sound District.” The Tacoma Daily Ledger even went so far as to refer to it as “the cradle of American civilization in the Pacific Northwest.”

It became quite a thing to visit the old buildings, as is shown in this front page display in the Oct. 30, 1927 issue of the Tacoma Daily Ledger:

 

Meanwhile, Fort Steilacoom, which had become the grounds of Western State Hospital, was fading into obscurity. Few people took scenic drives to an asylum, and there was a stigma attached to the hospital. Many patients were buried in unmarked graves, and even the history of the fort became intertwined with the hospital, to the point that a 1950 newspaper article claimed, “Fort Steilacoom became Western State Hospital.”

In the public imagination, there was no need for Fort Steilacoom because Fort Nisqually had been re-created in Point Defiance Park in 1934. The dedication ceremony for the replica fort was quite the spectacle, with a band playing patriotic tunes, U.S. Navy planes performing stunts, and the American flag raised as onlookers stood at attention. But this Americanization of Fort Nisqually, a British fort, was misleading. Even worse, the ceremony included a wildly offensive performance in which actors dressed as “red men” and pretended to take settlers hostage—an event that never actually happened.

But you can’t blame people for thinking that. The Tacoma Daily Ledger called it “the old fort that once protected the settlers of Pierce County from attacks by raiding Indians.”

 

So there was no need for Fort Steilacoom. Washington had the American fort, Fort Nisqually to remember the pioneers.

 

How did these non-existent American hostages from a non-existent fort get rescued? “A company of (US) national guardsmen scheduled to appear on the scene and rescue the officials failed to show and it fell the duty of a German band supplied by the Veterans oif Foreign Wars. Tacoma police and state patrolmen to repulse the attack and return the officials to safety.”

So it’s no wonder nobody in Tacoma or Lakewood ever heard of Fort Steilacoom. It didn’t exist. Newspapers, such as the Seattle Daily Tribune of June 11, 1939, refer to Fort Nisqually as part of “the history of US military defense”  in Puget Sound

With Fort Nisqually celebrated as a symbol of American pioneers, Fort Steilacoom was forgotten. Even the U.S. Postal Service contributed to the confusion. In 1978, it issued a stamp called “New Nation Building Westward,” which featured Fort Nisqually’s tower. The stamp was interpreted as celebrating U.S. settlement, despite Fort Nisqually being a British outpost.

Just to help emphasize the inaccuracy, guess who showed up for the event? One of the “red men” who you can see in the lower left of the newspaper clip. He could tell the story of how for the original Fort Nisqually dedication they had emphasized how that American fort protected American settlers.

news clip showing first day of issue ceremony in tacoma with photo of a man in lower left

British fort? American fort? No difference really, in 1978 – which at least for some of us seems like modern times.

It is easy for us to read this wide-eyed and in disbelief because there is a difference between Great Britain and the United States. But we must ask ourselves. If you had been there in 1934 – if you had been there in 1978 – would you have stood up and said, “Excuse me, we’re in the wrong place, we need to take this event to the grounds of the mental hospital?”

No. Most of us probably would not have done that.

It’s no surprise, then, that many people today are unaware of Fort Steilacoom’s history. Their parents likely believed that Fort Nisqually was the American fort. However, thanks to the efforts of historians like Cy and Rita Happy, who successfully nominated Fort Steilacoom for the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, the fort’s true history is being preserved.

Volunteers restored the remaining buildings at Fort Steilacoom in the 1980s, and since then, our association volunteers have worked to tell the fort’s story.  It’s understandable that people are confused when they first learn about Fort Steilacoom. After all, for decades, Fort Nisqually was presented as the American fort in Puget Sound. But today, we’re fortunate to have a vibrant living history museum that tells the true story of Fort Nisqually’s British roots. We would all be poorer without it.

The small, all-volunteer army at Fort Steilacoom will continue sharing the fort’s history. And while Washington never created a U.S. military museum for Puget Sound, Fort Steilacoom’s story is finally being told.