Checkpoint: Port Townsend
Welcome to Port Townsend, Washington! Another small town in Washington state, Port Townsend is not as dense with
historical significance as other towns, but a beautiful place nonetheless and it does have some interesting aspects to it.
The bay received its name from Captain George Vancouver, who named it for the Marquis Townshend. The harbor was immediately recognized as overall good and safe, but the town is susceptible
to high winds, and poor holding ground, which can make anchoring a smaller boat here problematic. By the late 19th century, the town had become an established seaport. During this time,
there was a large amount of housing built, and the town established its police department.
During this time, railroads were becoming more and more common, and it was planned that they would extend to Port Townsend, as it had a large port which was frequented by foreign nations.
Many speculated that Port Townsend was going to become a major city due to the large amounts of trade expected to be happening there. However, when the depression hit, these plans fell
through due to lack of funding. Rail lines instead ended on the eastern side of the Puget Sound, in places like Tacoma and Seattle. Since there was no railway to connect Port Townsend to
Tacoma, it made no sense to ship goods in and out of Port Townsend, and the town saw a rapid decline in population, and began to shrink, leaving the economy weak until a paper mill was built
in the 1920's (information courtesy of Wikipedia.com).
As for some of the more interesting things regarding Port Townsend: it has some interesting architecture used throughout.
Many of the homes are victorian, but the town also features other styles, such as the Jefferson County Courthouse pictured above, which is a Romanesque style building, and features a 125 foot
bell tower. Some of the other historical buildings in the town include but are not limited to the Port Townsend Public Library, the Federal Building, the Rose Theatre, and the Elks Lodge.
There is even some pre-World War I architecture featured in Fort Worden (information courtesy of Wikipedia.com,
image © Steven Pavlov / https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Senapa).
However, Port Townsend is perhaps more notable for being the birthplace of Marvin Glenn Shields, who is pictured to the right (image courtesy of United States Navy - Original publication: United States NavyImmediate source: https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/USN-1119000/USN-1119884.html, Public Domain, Link).
Born on December 30, 1939, Shields became the first and only Navy Seabee to ever receive the Medal of Honor, as well as the first sailor to receive the Medal of Honor for heroism above and
beyond the call of duty during the Vietnam War.
Shields had been assigned to helping construct an Army Special Forces Camp at Dong Xoai, but on the night of June 9, 1965, it fell under mortar fire. Shields was wounded, but continued to carry up
ammunition to the firing line. Despite getting wounded again and shot in the jaw, Shields also helped to carry the Special Forces captain, who had been badly wounded, to a safer position. After four
more hours of fighting, Shields volunteered to help Second Lieutenant Charles Williams destroy an enemy machine gun, which threatened to kill everyone in the adjacent district headquarters building.
Afterwards, Shields sustained a third injury, getting shot in both of his legs. He was air-evacuated, but died during the evacuation (information courtesy of Wikipedia.com).
Though the Vietnam War is controversial amongst Americans now, Shield's actions in helping when his base was under attack were admirable, and earned him the highest award given out by the US Military.
