Happy Birthday to WA.
Happy Birthday to WA.
Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday to WA.
You can sing that today to mark the 160th anniversary of this part of the Northwest becoming Washington. The Secretary of State's office informs us that on this day in 1853, a chunk of the Oregon Territory was carved off and named the Washington Territory, in response to requests from settler's north of the Columbia River. (They say it's Washington's tetracentennial, and they probably know these official kinds of things, although to be honest we couldn't find that word in any dictionary we had handy.)
Oregon became a state in 1859, and the eastern section of Washington Territory became the Idaho Territory in 1863.
Washington became a state in 1889, but it was a territory before it was a state, so technically this is WA's B-day.
To read more about it, and see some maps of the good old days, check out the Secretary of State's blog post by clicking here.
Jim Camden is a veteran political reporter for The Spokesman-Review.
Jonathan Brunt covers Spokane City Hall for The Spokesman-Review.
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