3c hapter - Index of

7
C H A P T E R
A Model to LIONize
How One Pacifi c Northwest Town
Engineered a Quiet Revival
Forty miles northwest of Seattle, perched at the tip of the
Olympic Peninsula, lies Port Townsend, Washington. Its advantageous
location, at the junction of Puget Sound and a strait leading
to the Pacifi c Ocean, was considered so strategic that three
forts were built around it in the late 1800s. The town was a major
shipping hub in those days, home to ship captains and customs
offi cials, and its port bustled with vessels carrying timber from the
area’s rich forests and other goods. Already prosperous, the town
really took off when it was poised to become the northwest terminus
for the Union Pacifi c Railroad. Grand homes were built
and investments made in anticipation of the “Key City’s” glorious
future. But when the money ran out and the railroads stopped
east of Puget Sound, the economic rewards fell to Seattle and
Tacoma. Port Townsend, isolated on the western side of the
Sound, began a steady decline.
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