Poulsbo

History

The Suquamish people have inhabited Liberty Bay for millennia, hunting in local forests and floodplains, fishing in bays and streams, and harvesting shellfish along the shoreline. The site upon which the modern city is built is called , meaning "maple trees". The Suquamish had a winter village nearby, at the head of Liberty Bay, anglicized variously as "Ho-Cheeb" and "Xoyacid," which consisted of two large houses and four smaller houses. It existed until the late 1800s when settlers began populating the area. After the signing of the Treaty of Point Elliott in 1855, most of the Suquamish people living in the area were relocated to the Port Madison Indian Reservation. Founded by Norwegian immigrant Jørgen Eliason in the 1880s, Poulsbo was settled in its early years by a large number of Norwegian and other Scandinavian immigrants because of its similarities to their native countries. In 1886, Iver Brynildsen Moe, one of the early Norwegian settlers, suggested that the community should have a post office. Moe suggested the town be named "Paulsbo", his hometown in Halden, Norway. The community's petition for a post office was granted and Moe became the first postmaster, but authorities in Washington, D.C. misspelled the town's name, likely misreading Moe's handwriting, and the community became known as "Poulsbo" thereafter. Poulsbo was incorporated on December 18, 1907. On September 15, 1914, after a dry summer with multiple previous brush fires, a large portion of the downtown business district was destroyed in a fire. Eight business buildings, an estimated third of the business section, were destroyed, with another damaged. The cause of the fire was never determined. Businessowners who lost their buildings continued business in undamaged buildings while downtown was…

Geography

Poulsbo is located in northern Kitsap County at the north end of Liberty Bay, a sheltered arm of Puget Sound. Washington State Route 305 has its northwestern terminus in the northern part of the town at State Route 3 and leads southeast to the ferry docks at Bainbridge Island. SR 3 leads north to Port Gamble and south to the western part of Bremerton. According to the United States Census Bureau, Poulsbo has a total area of , of which are land and , or 11.43%, are water.

Race & ethnicity

Most recent

• M 2.51 — 2026-08-09
  11 km SSW of River Road, Washington
• M 3.8 — 2026-07-02
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• M 2.5 — 2026-06-26
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• M 2.84 — 2026-05-27
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• M 2.7 — 2026-04-27
  5 km N of Anacortes, Washington