Understand
Downtown Bremerton is experiencing a renaissance, starting with the new Transportation Center, Kitsap Conference Center and a new hotel on the city's waterfront. A new government center, which provides combined governmental services in a single building, anchors the town's revitalized core.
Already contributing to the downtown revitalization are art galleries, the Admiral Theatre, museums and many quaint shops and restaurants.
Bremerton is a safe, environmentally clean community within an hour's ferry ride from downtown Seattle where you can visit the Navy destroyer Turner Joy, stroll along a delightful block-long waterfront promenade and check out the new Kitsap Conference Center Plaza with it's fascinating fountains, and enjoy a bounty of seasonal community events and concerts.
Downtown has three museums, in one block, within walking distance of the ferries.
History
Prior to the founding to Bremerton, Native Americans lived comfortably in the Puget Sound area for centuries. Once settlers arrived in the mid-1800s, the economy centered on logging and the timber industry. Most timber was sent to California. In 1888, William Bremer, a German immigrant from a wealthy banking family, traveled by boat from Seattle and purchased land that is now Bremerton from a local logger.
In 1891, Bremer negotiated with Lt. A.B. Wyckoff to sell 190 acres to the U.S. Navy for Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, still a major employer. Bremer platted the town around the Navy's property and gave it his name. He opened businesses to support the Navy's activities.
The City of Bremerton was incorporated in 1901. The Bremerton Chamber of Commerce was incorporated in 1928 with William Gates, Sr., grandfather of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, as treasurer.
The town exploded in size during World War I and II, when more than 40,000 workers arrived to work at the shipyard. Since then fortunes have been through boom and bust and the town is now revitalizing the downtown area.