Port Orchard

History

Port Orchard Bay was Named By Captain Vancouver in 1792. The first European-Americans to settle in what is now Port Orchard were William Renton and Daniel Howard, who set up a sawmill there in 1854. The town that was to become Port Orchard was originally platted in 1886 by Frederick Stevens, who named the new location after his father, Sidney. The town of Sidney was incorporated September 15, 1890, and was the first in Kitsap County to be both platted and incorporated. Shortly thereafter, the U.S. Navy sought a suitable location for another installation on the West Coast, and found it with the assistance of Sidney's residents in Orchard Bay (this installation would later become the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton). The county seat was originally in Port Madison, but moved to Sidney after a popular vote in 1892. In December of that same year, the residents of Sidney petitioned both the state legislature and the Post Office Department to rename the city "Port Orchard". The legislature refused, as Charleston (now West Bremerton) had also requested that name. The Post Office Department, however, went through with the name change, and as a result the Port Orchard post office ended up in Sidney, and the Charleston post office ended up in Port Orchard. It wasn't until 1903 that local politician Will Thompson convinced the state legislature to correct this confusing situation, and relocated the Charleston post office to Charleston, at the same time renaming Sidney "Port Orchard", as it is known today. A new city hall was opened in May 1999, replacing a seismically vulnerable building constructed in 1947. It was to be a catalyst for new development in the city's downtown. On December 18, 2018, a cul-de-sac in Port Orchard was struck by an EF2 tornado with winds…

Geography

Port Orchard is located in south-central Kitsap County on the south side of Sinclair Inlet, an arm of the Port Orchard strait connecting to Puget Sound. The city is bordered to the north across Sinclair Inlet by the city of Bremerton. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which are land and , or 15.65%, are water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  42,932
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  40,328
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  37,659
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  36,184
• Spotted Towhee

  Pipilo maculatus Swainson, 1827 · Aves
  35,274
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  31,700
• Anna's Hummingbird

  Calypte anna (R.Lesson, 1829) · Aves
  28,893
• Northern Flicker

  Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  26,553

Most recent

• M 2.51 — 2026-08-09
  11 km SSW of River Road, Washington
• M 3.8 — 2026-07-02
  2 km E of Oak Harbor, Washington
• M 2.5 — 2026-06-26
  11 km E of Carnation, Washington
• M 2.87 — 2026-06-08
  2 km ESE of Oak Harbor, Washington
• M 2.84 — 2026-05-27
  4 km W of Wauna, Washington
• M 2.86 — 2026-03-11
  2 km W of Home, Washington