Click on the Timeline and see Aberdeen the way it was!
Click on a date and read about a slice of Aberdeen history!


1950 - February 1 - Freezing weather snaps main Aberdeen water line.

1950 - February 2 - Wishkah River freezes over.

1950 - February 4 - Water emergency closes mills.

1950 - June 24 - New Heron Street Bridge dedicated.

1950 - August 17 - Robert Keys, 19, first Harborite killed in Korean War.

1950 - August 23 - New Robert Gray Elementary School ready to open.

1951 - January 27 - Diesel engine now pulls Seattle-Grays Harbor passenger train.

1951 - January 29 - Fire sweeps Aberdeen’s Washington Fish plant.

1951 - January 30 - Fire kills 21 in Hoquiam resthome fire.

1952 - October 6 - Safeway opens new store at L and Heron Streets in Aberdeen.

1952 - December 8 - Freighter Yorkmarruns aground at Point Brown. (Pulled free December 18)

1953 - May 1 - Moon Island Airport renamed Bowerman Field.

1953 - August 19 - First concrete poured for Chehalis River Bridge.

1954 - May 20 - Dead 48-foot whale washes ashore at North Cove.

1954 - May 28 - Dead 40-foot whale washes into Westport.

1954 - May 31 - Dying 40-foot whale beaches at Kalaloch.

1955 - June 9 - Weyerhaeuser to build $20,000,000 pulp mill in Cosmopolis.

1955 - June 21 - 40 acres purchased in South Aberdeen as site for new Grays Harbor Community College.

1956 - January 19 - G and H Streets become one-way at midnight.

1956 - January 21 - Six-foot prehistoric “tusk” found near Wig-Wam Inn in Hoquiam.

1956 - January 27 - Five million dollar Chehalis River Bridge dedicated by Governor Langley.

1956 - January 30 - First malfunction as Chehalis River Bridge is stuck in up position.

1956 - February 23 - Final passenger train (four cars) leaves Aberdeen.

1957 - August 21 - Gov. Rosellini opens oil valve at Ocean City.

1958 - April 24 - New Grays Harbor College dedicated.

1958 - July 3 - Aberdeen Daily World features history of Harbor trolley era.

1959 - February 7 - 22 new Mercury vapor lamps lit on east Market street.

1959 - April 18 - Aberdeen & Hoquiam switch over to telephone dial service at 11:01 p.m.

1959 - August - Large razor clam die-off.

1959 - October 24 - Freighter Lipari runs aground at Grayland.

1959 - November 9/10 - Cranberry embargo by state & FDA for weed killer. (Ok’d Nov.24)

1959 - November 13 - 24-lane bowling alley opens in Aberdeen.

1959 - December 3 - New Grays Harbor Community Hospital dedicated.