Browns Point is a conspicuous landmark in Puget Sound located at the southern end of East Passage and at the entrance to Commencement Bay, about 21 miles (34 km) south-southwest of Seattle and 4 miles (6.5 km) north of Tacoma, Washington. In May 1841, the U.S. Exploring Expedition, commanded by Lieutenant Charles T. Wilkes, entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca and sailed into Puget Sound, making charts and naming many of the prominent features. The 224-ton brigantine Porpoise selected an anchorage in Commencement Bay and sent boats out to make surveys. Lieutenant Wilkes named a point marking the north entrance to Commencement Bay, Point Harris, in honor of Alvin Harris, a sailmaker’s mate on the Porpoise. In 1877, Lieutenant Ambrose B. Wyckoff, commanding the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey schooner Yukon, was making a hydrographic survey of upper Puget Sound and Commencement Bay and noted the same point of land on his charts as Point Brown, a name used by local residents to honor a pioneer settler.
Browns Point and all of Commencement Bay is the traditional territory of the Lushootseed language-speaking Puyallup people who historically inhabited a permanent village at the mouth of the Puyallup River at the head of the bay. In 1854, representatives of the Puyallups signed the Treaty of Medicine Creek with the United States under which they ceded their claims to land in Washington Territory in exchange for a small reservation, hunting and fishing rights, and promises of cash payments. In 1857, President Franklin Pierce expanded the Puyallup Reservation that lay along the Puyallup River and Commencement Bay to 18,060 acres in response to tribal grievances that precipitated the 1855-1956 Puget Sound War. The boundaries of the reservation remained unquestioned until 1873 when Tacoma was selected as the site of the deep-water terminus for the Northern Pacific Railway and the reservation lands became prime real estate. In 1974, U.S. District Court Judge George Boldt upheld the original treaty language regarding fishing rights, and subsequent lawsuits over illegal land seizures were settled in 1990 for $162 million.
Browns Point was an important turning point for ships entering Commencement Bay and in 1887, a lantern was displayed from the top of a post 12 feet (3.7 m) high on the tide flats about 150 feet (46 m) from shore as an aid to navigation. East Passage was renowned for its persistent fog, and mariners complained that the point was in urgent need of a better light and a fog signal. In 1903, a lighthouse consisting of a two-story wood-frame tower 30 feet (9 m) high was built perched on pilings over the shoals. The keeper’s dwelling was a one-and-a-half-story Georgian-style house built on a knoll approximately 100 feet (30 m) from the shoreline. In 1906, the tide flats were surrounded by riprap and filled in allowing the lighthouse keeper direct access to the tower. Additional outbuildings included a pump house for freshwater, an oil house, and a boathouse. On October 21, 1903, the new station keeper, Oscar V. Brown, and his wife Annie L. Brown arrived at Point Brown on the lighthouse tender Heather and tended the light and fog bell for the next 30 years. In 1933, the wooden lighthouse on Browns Point was replaced with a square Art Deco-style concrete tower standing 38 feet (12 m) high and 10 feet (3 m) on each side. In 1963, the Coast Guard automated the lighthouse and closed the light station and the property was leased to the City of Tacoma for a park. Read more here and here. Explore more of Browns Point and East Passage here:
