Vancouver City

Vancouver City Hall is located at 210 East 13th Street, Vancouver WA 98660; phone: 360-696-8121.

First settled at the turn of the 19th century, Vancouver was incorporated in 1857. The area is the oldest, permanent non-native settlement in the Pacific Northwest.

Vancouver National Historic Reserver [1]

The Vancouver National Historic Reserve encompasses 366 acres in the City of Vancouver, Washington, which is 100 miles from the Pacific Ocean on the banks of the Columbia River. The City of Vancouver and parts of Clark County are within the greater Portland/Vancouver metropolitan area. The Reserve, which lies in a geographic basin known as the Willamette-Puget trough, formed by the Cascade and Pacific Coast Mountain Ranges, is just 15 minutes away from the Portland International Airport.

The Reserve includes popular venues such as Officers Row, Fort Vancouver National Historic Site (NHS), Vancouver Barracks, Pearson Field, the Water Resources Education Center (Water Center), and portions of the Columbia River waterfront.

The Reserve is a treasure trove of cultural resources: Fort Vancouver National Historic Site is recognized as the premier historical archaeological site in the Pacific Northwest. Fort Vancouver NHS has an archaeological collection of over 1.5 million artifacts. These objects include a highly diagnostic study collection of 19th century Euro-American material culture, including the world's largest archaeological collection of HudsonÕs Bay Company artifacts, Spode ceramics, and a world-class 19th centurymilitary collection. The unexcavated archeological resources preserve the remains of this nationally significant site.

1. National Park Service, Vancouver National Historic Reserve with Special Emphais on Fort Vancouver National Historic Site and Vancouver Barracks, April 2004, www.nps.gov, accessed July 2008