How our State was Accidentally Named Washington

Washington State, our beautiful commonwealth, is of course named for our nation’s first president.  The decision to honor George Washington was, however, an 11th-hour decision,  strewn with disagreement.

In 1851, just seven years after Great Britain relinquished control of the Oregon Territory, American settlers began to agitate for a new territory north of the Columbia River.  Oregon’s lush Willamette Valley was too far away to serve their needs, and good land had been snapped up.  A letter to the editor of an Oregon City newspaper proposed (perhaps for the first time publicly) that Oregon should be split in two, north and south of the Columbia.

On August 29, 1851, 19 settlers met at Cowlitz Landing and drew up a 1,500-word memorial to Congress asking for a new territory.  No reply was received.

During May and July of 1852 orations, community discussions, and newspaper stories again raised the matter of a new territory.  In Olympia a publication appeared called The Columbian, a name that many readers assumed would be attached to the hoped-for territory.  The Columbian did not disappoint its separatist, north-of-the-Columbia subscribers (who numbered about 350). It repeatedly and somewhat emotionally touted the name “Columbia.”

A November 25, 1852 convention of 44 landholders at Monticello again petitioned Congress for creation of a new territory. In January of 1853, apparently ignorant of the Monticello convention, Oregon’s lone U.S. Representative, Joseph Lane, introduced a resolution in Congress calling for the creation of Columbia Territory.  Within 10 days of the Monticello meeting the Oregon Legislature at Salem also petitioned Congress for creation of “The Territory of Columbia.”

On February 8, 1853, Representative Lane’s bill emerged from the Committee on Territories with a favorable recommendation.  Congressional debate followed, which tended to criticize “Columbia’s” tiny population.  Suddenly, Kentucky Representative Richard Stanton moved that the bill be amended by striking the word “Columbia” and substituting “Washington.”  Lane apparently decided not to quibble, hoping that the name change, in honor of George Washington, would assure passage of the bill, which both the House and Senate approved.

Several congress members had second thoughts about substituting “Washington” for “Columbia,” and at least one District of Columbia newspaper wrote that it was a mistake.  The deed was done, however, and in early April, 1853, residents north of the great Columbia River found themselves part of a new Territory of Washington.

We may have missed an opportunity to name our future state for one of the world’s great rivers, which in turn was named after American Captain Robert Gray’s ship Columbia Rediviva, which honored America’s discoverer, Christopher Columbus. The confusion with Washington, District of Columbia, remains.