In June, the city of Battle Ground will officially turn 75 years old, as it was incorporated as a town on June 18, 1951, marking that date as its official birthday.
Battle Ground Communications Manager Alisha Smith, a lifelong resident of the city, has begun early planning for a “birthday party” for the city. But the occasion, much like “America 250,” will be celebrated throughout the entire year.
“We do hope within the 75th anniversary to tell all of the story all the way back to the naming of our city and Chief Umtuch, and Captain Strong, and the whole great, rich history here in Battle ground,” Smith said, adding that the incorporation as a town, later chartered to a city, is the where the clock really starts for this year’s celebration. “We definitely expect it to be a holistic celebration of Battle Ground’s history.”
One of the key aspects of understanding the community's history will be fostered through dialogue and conversation. A little throwback to neighborly story-time, one might say.
“I grew up here, and my grandpa owned Battle Ground Pharmacy, and I worked there in high school,” Smith said. “My mom worked there in high school, and I love when I see people in the community forums talk about, ‘Hey, you remember Battle Ground Pharmacy?’ It was an awesome store, and it just makes me feel connected a little bit deeper because my grandpa has passed. So it’s those little stories, those things that people share that common memory or something that ties to something deeper. Those are the stories that we want to hopefully highlight and share.”
One of the key pieces of knowledge to the Battle Ground community, and beyond, are longtime residents and those with rooted family lineage. Battle Ground historian Louise Tucker has played a vital role in portraying the area’s rich history, as her 1976 book, “Battle Ground …In and Around,” turns 50 this year, with a series of anniversaries.
“We are very fortunate with people like Louise Tucker who’ve written books that give us a good resource guide to be able to figure out how we’re going to tap into that history and just how we’re going to have that play into our current, modern Battle Ground,” Smith said.”
With the details of an event still being a work in progress in early 2026, the key aspects will be centered around celebrating history, community involvement and looking to the future as a city, Smith added.
“We want to make sure that we recognize what happened in Battle Ground in the past,” she said. “Who we are today is greatly attributed to everything that came before 2026. Involving the community, we recognize just how valuable our citizens are in building that community, so we would be mistaken if not to include them in one way or another. So we really hope that the celebration has a multitude of options for people to get involved, whether it be in marquee events or some activities that just connect them to the city throughout the year.”
To guide community involvement and keep citizens in the know about anniversary celebrations, the city launched a new “BG75” webpage at cityofbg.org/BG75.
On the newly launched webpage, citizens can find out how to get involved, whether by submitting stories and photos, signing up to volunteer for events, or partnering as a sponsor.
People can also sign up for city updates, or just updates about the 75th anniversary, on the site using the “Notify Me” app, Smith said. said.
“You can sign up for email notifications anytime the city adds a new event or meeting to our calendar,” she said. “You can specify, ‘I’m only interested in the events,’ or you can specify, ‘I’m only interested in the meetings,’ as well. But what that does is, as we’re working here and we’re finalizing those details, once those details are ready for public engagement, we will put that on our web calendar. That will automatically generate an email to that person the moment we hit publish.”
Smith also recommended following along with the city’s social media, as she anticipates Facebook and Instagram will be the most active form of reaching out to community members on the collaborative effort to celebrate 75 years as an incorporated community.
