Our Mission

Collect, preserve, and interpret Island County's rich and unique cultural heritage and history.

Land Acknowledgement

We acknowledge that here at the Island County historical Museum in the town of Coupeville we are on the ancestral homelands of the Salish speaking, Lower Skagit people who were removed under threat of force by the treaty of Port Elliott in 1855. Native peoples have lived on and stewarded these lands since time immemorial.

Our Story

Screen Shot 2021-04-26 at 8.38.48 AM.png — The Island County Historical Society was organized in 1949 in an attempt to save the Lovejoy Victorian Courthouse (built in 1891). Their hope was to create a museum to preserve and protect the artifacts, culture, and history of Island County. Despite these efforts, the Lovejoy Courthouse was declared unsafe and demolished. In 1958, the Historical Society explored the possibility of a museum in the abandoned Admiralty Head Lighthouse.

At the time, the lighthouse was in great need of repair. Fortunately, the State took over its repair and has restored and preserved this historic building and it now houses a museum of its own. In 1963 the Historical Society opened its first museum in a small building donated by the General Telephone Company on the corner of Coveland and Main Street, Coupeville.

Screen Shot 2021-04-26 at 8.39.07 AM.png — The museum was run and maintained by volunteers for five years before moving to a larger facility provided by by the Town of Coupeville. The former Fire Hall on Alexander Street served well as our museum from 1971-1991.

The ICHS museum outgrew its cramped quarters, and as part of our State's Centennial, a capital campaign was launched in 1989 to construct our current museum building. The new ICHS museum was built on the site of the former 1868 Blockhouse Inn, adjacent to the historic Alexander's Blockhouse, and a long shed housing several Indigenous canoes.