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