History of Crosby & Vicinity 
 
Crosby is not a city, not a town, just a dot on a map in western Washington State,* but it is so much more. Crosby has thrived for more than a century through the dedication of the pioneers who settled the area, their descendants and the new arrivals who fell in love with the community situated beside the Hood Canal.
 
The Hood Canal is a fjord created by receding glacial ice sheets about 13,000 years ago.  The long, narrow, deep inlet of the Puget Sound is situated between high cliffs formed by the submergence of the glaciated valley between the Kitsap and Olympic Peninsulas.
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The beauty of the area and the abundant resources invited settlement.  During the late 18th century, English explorers named most of the landmarks on current maps. Before the arrival of European visitors, however, the First People had called the area home since time immemorial.  The Twana people inhabited the area surrounding the Hood Canal, including Crosby and Seabeck.  They moved with the seasons between permanent winter villages and temporary summer camps to utilize the resources of the land and water.
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In the Point-No-Point Treaty of 1855 the United States government was ceded vast acreage bordering the Hood Canal. In return, the Twana people were guaranteed the right to hunt and fish their native lands. Eight of the nine major Twana wintering villages, however, were forced to move to Skokomish, the largest of the nine villages which was designated as the Skokomish Reservation.  The Skokomish Reservation is located in the Skokomish River delta where it meets the Hood Canal on the Olympic Peninsula near the towns of Shelton and Hoodsport.  Today, the Skokomish tribe operates as a sovereign nation that preserves the treaty rights of the Twana people and promotes traditional culture and values.


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The area of west Kitsap County did not remain vacant for long. Seabeck was quickly settled, primarily to develop the timber industry.  Crosby soon followed.  The Thomas and Agatha Lewis family were the first pioneers to move into the area in the early 1880s.  The couple’s journey to the area traveling “around the Horn” and north from San Francisco was not without incident.  Their ship, the Olympus out of Seabeck, burned to the waterline as it approached the Strait of Juan De Fuca.  The Lewis family eventually completed their trip and began homesteading in Crosby.
 
The Crosby settlers who founded the community came from Europe.  Thomas Lewis was born in England, Agatha was born in France.  About 1886 the Lewis family was joined by Ashbel Hite a Civil War veteran of the Union Army from West Virginia and Ohio native Alice Wilson Hite with their five children.  Jacob Zuber from Switzerland immigrated to the United States in 1872, married Mississippi native Sarah Bauer in New Orleans, moved to Washington and settled in Crosby to farm.  Crosby resident Elsie Ohman Christopher was born in Minnesota, moved to Washington as a child, married Wisconsin native logger John Rupert Christopher (Christoffersen) and became a prominent community leader.
The Crosby pioneer life was isolated.  Homesteaders engaged in farming, raising cattle, and logging.  They provided food provisions for the Seabeck area, which according to census records was predominantly inhabited by young men working in logging and seafaring.  For decades the Crosby community had limited access to transportation.  They relied on a maze of primitive trails, logging roads and railroad beds to travel the Kitsap Peninsula.  They also had access to travel by water on boats out of Seabeck.  Medical care was provided by a physician who traveled in a rented carriage to reach Crosby for emergencies.
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In 1891 James Graham opened the first store a mile south of the Community Center near the Lewis homestead.  His wife is credited with naming Crosby after a town where she had lived in England.  Graham served as the first postmaster with deliveries by Mr. Berry on horseback three times each week.  In 1895, the post office was closed and residents picked up their mail in Seabeck.  In 1905, the office was reopened with Mrs. Jessie Guptill followed by Marian Hoenshell serving as postmasters.  The post office closed permanently in 1918.
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Crosby Chapel
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Church services were held in the school until the mid-1930s when the Assembly of God Church built a mission outpost with a two-seater outhouse and provided a circuit-riding preacher. In the1940s, the Covenant Church took over and sent Pastor Wilcox to lead Crosby Community Church. The church was bought by Emil Johnson with Clarence Davis serving as pastor.
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In the 1960s the church closed as many of the members had moved. Elsie Christopher, however, maintained the facility until it reopened in 1976 with Village Missions sending Paul Brossey to be pastor. Eventually, Tom Weaver served as pastor for 20 years at Crosby Chapel, followed by Tracy Bedingfield. Under Weaver, the Church expanded to reflect the needs of the vibrant congregation with three sanctuaries, a gym, and classrooms. Gary Wilderbuer is the current pastor. of Crosby Chapel.