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Diablo Dam incline railway climbing Sourdough Mountain, 1930. Courtesy Seattle Municipal Archives, 2306.
Children waving to ferry, 1950. Courtesy Museum of History and Industry.
Loggers in the Northwest woods. Courtesy Washington State Digital Archives.
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5/14/2026
Biking Around
May is National Bike Month, and this week HistoryLink looks at the history of cycling in Washington. The first bicycle arrived in Washington Territory in 1879 and was purchased four days after it was displayed in a shop window. In less than a decade cycling was so popular that people turned out to enjoy Seattle's first bicycle tournament, which included a five-mile race between a bike and a horse.
By the turn of the century urban bike trails were found in larger cities, but many cyclists wanted to enjoy the wide-open spaces. "Wheelmen" (as bike enthusiasts were then known) joined with early motorists and visionaries such as Sam Hill to promote construction of "Good Roads" across the state. Bikes were also useful for business. In 1907, two Seattle teenagers began delivering packages by bicycle, and their business grew to become United Parcel Service.
Cycling continued to grow in popularity, and in 1939 cyclists in Redmond held a bike race as a fundraiser for Christmas decorations and school athletic equipment. The event proved so popular that the town's Derby Days celebration has been held annually ever since and Redmond has become the "Bicycling Capital of the Northwest." And with so many bike trails around the state – as well as support from policy-makers, planners, and the public – the League of American Bicyclists several times designated Washington the most bike-friendly state in the nation.
Seattle Bound
On May 16, 1864, a ship arrived in Seattle carrying 11 young women from New England under the escort of Asa Shinn Mercer, the newly elected president of the University of Washington. A few months earlier, Mercer gave a speech in Massachusetts extolling the virtues of Seattle and citing the fast-growing city's need for educated women of good moral standing to work as teachers.
After a long and arduous voyage that included train passage across the Panama isthmus, the first contingent of "Mercer Girls" had an instant impact on Seattle's mostly male frontier culture. Two years later, Mercer organized a second expedition, which brought 34 more unmarried women to Puget Sound. Some of the Mercer Girls stayed to teach in Seattle, while others sought out schoolrooms in Centralia and beyond.
Most of the women eventually married – one wife became the assistant lighthouse keeper at Admiralty Head – and more than a few Puget Sound families can trace their roots to these adventurous women who took a chance and moved west. In the 1960s the story of the Mercer Girls inspired the TV series Here Come the Brides. Asa Mercer is remembered these days too, appropriately enough, with a Seattle middle school named in his honor.
On May 17, 1890, Shelton incorporated in Mason County. Three days later, Blaine incorporated in Whatcom County. Other cities celebrating birthdays this week include Anacortes, which incorporated on May 19, 1891; Arlington, which incorporated on May 20, 1903; and Oak Harbor, which incorporated on May 14, 1915.
On May 17, 1907, the University Of Washington Board Of Regents approved John C. Olmsted's plan for the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. Six years after the fair ended the board expanded on Olmsted's layout and approved a campus plan that was adopted on May 18, 1915.
On May 15, 1912, near the Olympic Mountains, the first visitors to the Sol Duc Hot Springs resort enjoyed soothing warm waters in a sylvan setting. The spa became more popular after the Olympic Loop Highway opened in 1931.
On May 16, 1942, Gordon Hirabayashi, a University of Washington senior, Quaker, and conscientious objector, challenged the Army's exclusion orders that forced the evacuation of Japanese Americans on the U.S. West Coast into incarceration camps. His bid was unsuccessful, and it wasn't until the 1980s that he received judicial vindication.
On May 18, 1952, Paul Robeson performed at an outdoor concert for more than 25,000 people at Peace Arch Park in Blaine. His passport had been confiscated due to his political views, which prevented his entry into Canada. Two days later, he was almost barred from speaking and performing in Seattle, but he overcame Cold-War hysteria to make his voice heard.
On May 18, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted, spewing out rivers of mud and a plume of boiling gas. Ash dumped all over Eastern Washington, forcing travelers off the highways. This caused tremendous problems in Ritzville, some 200 miles from the volcano.
The first Seattle International Film Festival opened 50 years ago this week, on May 14, 1976.
"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race."
– H. G. Wells
