Named for a British sea explorer, Vancouver was conceived in the early 1800s when Lewis and Clark camped at the waterfront and deemed the area ripe for settlement. The Hudson s Bay Company soon established its fur-trading empire here, and Fort Vancouver became the commercial center of the area. In 1849 American troops set up Columbia Barracks nearby, establishing the area as a military stronghold. In 1857 the city of Vancouver was incorporated, and gradually became an important industrial and residential city. Vancouver is now a big city, and along with nearby Portland, Oregon, is home to high-tech, maritime, lumber, and manufacturing industries.

Author Pat Jollota, who spent 22 years as curator of the Clark County Historical Museum, has compiled this amazing collection of images of Vancouver s beginning and early downtown. Jollota, who serves on Vancouver s city council, is also the author of the historic book Naming Clark County, as well as a collection of Clark County ghost stories, Darkness Next Door.