Issue Date: August 11, 1978

City: Tacoma, WA

Printed By: Bureau of Engraving and Printing

Printing Method: Engraved
Perforation: 11 x 10 ½

Color: Brown

 

Fort Nisqually was the first European settlement on Puget Sound – the large, irregular inlet in the northwest corner of Washington state. The fort was established in 1833, by the Hudson’s Bay Company of London, which was chartered by King Charles of England in 1670. It was located above the Nisqually River delta in the present-day town of DuPont, Washington. Fort Nisqually never had a true military purpose. In 1846, a treaty between the United States and Great Britain redefined each nation’s territories, and Fort Nisqually became part of the U.S. With the decline of the fur trade, the fort was closed in 1869.

 

About 65 years after its closing, major efforts began to preserve what remained of the fort. Two buildings were moved and then restored on another site. Other buildings were recreated to present Fort Nisqually as it would have looked in 1855. Today, Fort Nisqually is located in Tacoma’s Point Defiance Park.