Historic Clark County
Vancouver is referred to, nationally, as the "cradle of [European] civilization in the Northwest" and the oldest incorporated city in the state—thanks to the British. They explored the Columbia River and, in 1792, named this spot after British ship Captain George Vancouver. The British Hudson's Bay Co. sired present day Vancouver, establishing a fur trading post here in 1825. But by 1857 the British had moved on, and the growing town of Vancouver became the first to incorporate in what would become Washington state, in 1889.
Over the decades, Vancouver carved important marks in other arenas, including railroads, aluminum (first smelter in the Northwest), hydroelectric power and wartime shipbuilding. Clark County continues to honor its place in Northwest Indian, military, aviation and industrial history, as evidenced by its museums, place names, annual celebrations, school field trips, and the reconstructed Fort Vancouver and Officer's Row with its grand late-19th Century houses. We even have the Northwest's oldest living apple tree, planted in 1826.