Visit HistoricPoulsbo.com

Historic Downtown Poulsbo has launched a new website with a history and overview of Poulsbo's waterfront historic district along with listings of their lodging, dining, activities and services. Check it out at www.HistoricPoulsbo.com

Come visit historic downtown Poulsbo soon!

A little Poulsbo history: Jorgen Eliason is credited as the founder of Poulsbo. Jorgen came to Poulsbo from Fordejord, Norway with his sister and 6-year-old son in 1883. A month later Iver B. Moe arrived with his wife and three sons from Paulsbo, Norway. Because of the magnificent snow peaked mountains and fjords, many more Scandinavian settlers soon settled in the area.

Citizens of Poulsbo spoke only Norwegian for many years. In 1886, Iver B. Moe decided there were enough people on DogfishBay (later renamed LibertyBay) to have a post office. He filled out the application with the name Paulsbo. The postmaster General misread Moe’s handwriting and listed the new post office as Poulsbo.

In the early years people traveled by horseback, boat and on foot. Major buying and selling was done by boat trips to Pike Place Market in Seattle. Poulsbo was home to one of the largest codfish processing plants in the Northwest: fishermen from the Bering Sea would bring their catch here for salting and preserving. Lutefisk was also processed here.

For over 60 years, a “mosquito fleet” of steamers sailed from Seattle to Poulsbo carrying passengers and freight. Poulsbo’s ties to the water are still strong today, with three marinas on LibertyBay, a Marine Science Center and Harbor Tours.

The downtown area was once part of Liberty Bay. In the 1950’s the community worked to fill part of the bay to form a waterfront park. Some of the buildings there today once stood on pilings.