Joshua Green (October 16, 1869 – January 24, 1975
, Joshua Green Corporation. Accessed 2009-10-16. Much of article is verbatim identical to James R. Warren's article on HistoryLink, which it credits.) was an American

sternwheeler A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were w ...

captain, businessman, and banker. He rose from being a seaman to being the dominant figure of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet, then sold out his interests and became a banker., pp. 34–39, 55, 60, 62.James R. Warren
Green, Joshua (1869-1975)
HistoryLink, September 27, 1999. Accessed 2009-10-16. Living to the age of 105 and active in business almost to the end of his life, he became an invaluable source of information about the history of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

and the

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

region. According to

Nard Jones Nard Jones (1904–1972) was an American writer, best known for his novels set in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. Life According to Jones' self-description in "Puget Sound Profiles", he was born in Seattle and graduated with honors from Whitman ...

, Green was one of the city of Seattle's last fluent speakers of Chinook Jargon, the

pidgin A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from s ...

trade language of the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

Early life

Born in

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, Joshua Green relocated with his family to the Puget Sound region of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

in 1886 when he was 17 years old. The family formed a connection with Seattle mayor

Bailey Gatzert Bailey Gatzert (December 29, 1829 – April 19, 1893) was an American politician and the eighth mayor of Seattle, Washington, serving from 1875 to 1876. He was the first Jewish mayor of Seattle, narrowly missing being the first Jewish mayor of ...

, who helped Green begin his career.

Career

Green worked as a chainman,

surveying Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

for the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway, then on the sternwheeler '' Henry Bailey'', a Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet vessel that also went up the

Skagit River The Skagit River ( ) is a river in southwestern British Columbia in Canada and northwestern Washington in the United States, approximately 150 mi (240 km) long. The river and its tributaries drain an area of 1.7 million acres (690,000& ...

. In late 1889, using a $5,000 loan from Seattle banker

Jacob Furth Jacob Furth (November 15, 1840 – June 2, 1914) was an Austrian Empire-born United States, American entrepreneur and prominent Seattle banker. He played a key role in consolidating Seattle's electric power and public transportation infrastructure ...

, an associate of Gatzert's, Green and three fellow officers of the ''Henry Bailey'' purchased their own sternwheeler, the ''Fanny Lake'' (or ''Fannie Lake'').

Bill Speidel William C Speidel (1912–1988) was a columnist for ''The Seattle Times'' and a self-made historian who wrote the books ''Sons of the Profits'' and ''Doc Maynard, The Man Who Invented Seattle'' about the people who settled and built Seattle, Wa ...

describes it as "…a funny little thing… She looked like a

scow A scow is a smaller type of barge. Some scows are rigged as sailing scows. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, scows carried cargo in coastal waters and inland waterways, having an advantage for navigating shallow water or small harbours. S ...

with a big box, topped by a smaller box, topped by a deluxe model outhouse." George E Starr (sidewheeler)

Green's innovative business practices soon allowed him to become a fleet owner, president of what was named the

La Conner Trading and Transportation Company The La Conner Trading and Transportation Company was founded in the early 1900s by Joshua Green and others, to engage in the shipping business on Puget Sound. Formation The La Conner Trading and Transportation Company was formed in the early 189 ...

, owning some rather more elegant vessels, such as the

sidewheeler A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses wer ...

George E. Starr The steamboat ''George E. Starr'' operated in late 19th century as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet and also operated out of Victoria, B.C. ''Geo. E. Starr'' also served for a time in California and on the Columbia River. Construction ''G ...

''. He established Seattle's dominance of the Mosquito Fleet, relative to

Olympia The name Olympia may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games * ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlet ...

or Tacoma, which Speidel considers to be a key factor in Seattle's emerging and continued dominance of the Puget Sound region. He continued to be a master and captain, serving on several of his own company's sternwheelers. The company survived several ship fires, as well as the Depression that followed the

Panic of 1893 The Panic of 1893 was an economic depression in the United States that began in 1893 and ended in 1897. It deeply affected every sector of the economy, and produced political upheaval that led to the political realignment of 1896 and the pres ...

, then prospered greatly in the Klondike Gold Rush, transporting miners and their gear to

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

. Green continued to invest his profits. In 1903 he merged his firm with Charles E. Peabody's Alaska Steamship/Puget Sound Navigation Company, which soon brought the Mosquito Fleet to a new level. Ships were retrofitted to be able to carry automobiles, notably for the Seattle-Bremerton route. From 1913, the company was known as the

Puget Sound Navigation Company The Puget Sound Navigation Company (PSNC) was founded by Charles E. Peabody in 1898. Today the company operates an international passenger and vehicle ferry service between Port Angeles, WA and Victoria, BC on the Coho. History In the past, th ...

. In 1925, Green purchased the distressed Peoples Savings Bank for

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

200,000, and in 1927, believing that the rise of the automobile limited the future of Puget Sound area water transport, he resigned from the Puget Sound Navigation Company to dedicate himself fully to banking. Puget Sound Navigation would continue to dominate Puget Sound transportation until it was bought out in 1951 by the state of Washington, as the centerpiece of

Washington State Ferries Washington State Ferries (WSF) is a government agency that operates automobile and passenger ferry service in the U.S. state of Washington as part of the Washington State Department of Transportation. It runs ten routes serving 20 terminals loca ...

. He changed the name of the bank to Peoples Bank and Trust Co, later People's National Bank of Washington. With

branch banking A branch, banking center or financial center is a retail location where a bank, credit union, or other financial institution (including a brokerage firm) offers a wide array of face-to-face and automated services to its customers. History and ...

not allowed at the time, he began or acquired several other banks as wholly owned subsidiaries. In 1949, when he passed the presidency of the bank to his son Joshua Jr., deposits stood at $128 million. By 1969, when Joshua Green turned 100, deposits had reached $400 million. In 1988, the bank was purchased by

U.S. Bancorp U.S. Bancorp (stylized as us bancorp) is an American bank holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and incorporated in Delaware. It is the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association, and is the fifth largest banking institution i ...

and renamed U.S. Bank of Washington. Stimson-Green 12

Personal life and death

On April 24, 1901, Joshua Green married Laura Moore Turner, from Winona, Mississippi. DAR ID Number: 126746 They had three children, Bentonia, Francis, and Joshua, Jr. Joshua Green died at age 105 in Seattle in 1975. His wife died at age 101, predeceasing him by three weeks.

Legacy and honors

In 1968 Seattle named Green its "man of the century." Joshua Green River and Joshua Green Peak, both in

, are named after him. In 1966 the ''Joshua Green Fountain'', by renowned sculptor

George Tsutakawa George Tsutakawa (February 22, 1910 – December 18, 1997) was an American painter and sculptor best known for his avant-garde bronze fountain designs. Born in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, he was raised in both the United States ...

, was installed at the entry to Washington State Ferries' facility on the Seattle waterfront. Green's residence (beginning in 1914, has become the Stimson-Green Mansion. It is

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

and has city landmark status. Green made few alterations to the 1901 house, and lived there until his death, making it one of the few

First Hill First Hill is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is named for the hill on which it is located, which in turn is so named for being the first hill encountered while traveling east from downtown Seattle toward Lake Washington ...

mansions to survive largely intact to the present time. The house is now owned by the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation and is also used to host events. Seattle - Joshua Green Building 01

The Joshua Green Building, 1425 Fourth Avenue, Seattle, has city landmark status. Still owned and managed by the Joshua Green Corporation, the 1914 building underwent major renovations in 2008–2009. The Joshua Green Foundation is focused on major capital campaigns of

501 (c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

non-profit organizations headquartered and operating in the Seattle/

King County King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the st ...

area, primarily private secondary and higher education, social services and the arts. His family continues his business interests as the Joshua Green Corporation / Green Family Enterprises, operating numerous retail properties in the region and in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

, as well as investing in "banking and insurance," and "diversified portfolios of managed equities." Reflecting Green's interests as a sportsman, they also own several manufacturers of

fly fishing Fly fishing is an angling method that uses a light-weight lure—called an artificial fly—to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. The light weight requires casting techniques significantly diffe ...

equipment.

Early life

Career

Personal life and death

Legacy and honors

Notes

Further reading