Fort Vancouver

Hudson’s Bay Company established Fort Vancouver in 1824 within the area of present-day Vancouver, 83 nautical miles from the Pacific Ocean. Forty wooden buildings were enclosed within a 20-foot-high log palisade until the treaty of 1846 set the international boundary at the 49th parallel. The fort supplied Hudson’s Bay Company posts west of the Rocky Mountains. In 1848 it became part of the U.S. military system as Columbia Barracks, later changed to Vancouver Barracks. Vancouver is recognized as the oldest settlement in the state.

Ridgefield, Washington · United States