OLD MAN HOUSE PARK
BACKGROUND INFORMATION

• Old Man House was the "mother village" of the Suquamish Tribe, and home of Chief Seattle and other Suquamish people.
• D'Suq'Wub, or "place of clear salt water" was a Suquamish winter village site long before the Old Man House was constructed at the site. Archaeological investigations show at least 2,000 years of occupation at the village site. 
• The Old Man House was an approximately 600-foot long Suquamish Indian longhouse built around 1815 and dismantled and burned in about 1870. 
• The 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott promulgated articles of agreement between the United States and the Suquamish Tribe. Under the articles of the Treaty, the Tribe ceded certain areas of its aboriginal lands to the United States, but reserved for its use and occupation certain lands, rights, and privileges. The Treaty-reserved lands are the Port Madison Indian Reservation, which is comprised of approximately 7,800 acres of the Tribe's aboriginal lands. 
• In 1885 most of the families of the Port Madison Indian Reservation (PMIR) were living in the Old Man House Village.
• In 1886, the federal government divided the Reservation into individual allotments and assigned them to individual Suquamish families. 
• In 1904 the War Department completed its activities to acquire Old Man House Village and other land within the PMIR reportedly for fortifications to protect the Navy Yard at Bremerton from any foreign ships that might attempt to approach through Agate Pass. 
• The Suquamish Indians were given no real option as to whether they would relinquish the lands. They were advised that their land and improvements had been appraised and that the appraised values were not subject for negotiation. 
• The Congress enacted legislation in 1905 authorizing the transfer of the land to the War Department
• The 1905 Transfer had at least two important consequences to the Suquamish people:
  - The principal village of the Suquamish Indians was dismantled and the people dispersed elsewhere on and off the Port Madison Indian Reservation.
  - After dispossessing the Suquamish of their ancient village site on the grounds that it was vital for national defense, the War Department never built any fortifications and eventually the land was sold to a private buyer in 1937 (General Construction Company).
• Washington State Parks purchased a small parcel containing a portion of the former Old Man House building footprint for a state park in 1950.