The Julia Butler Hansen House, the oldest in Wahkiakum County, has a new national designation.

CATHLAMET — The Julia Butler Hansen House, the oldest house in Cathlamet and Wahkiakum County, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The register is the official list of buildings, structures, objects, archaeology, engineering and culture.

The house, on the west edge of Main Street, was built in 1867 for John Fitzpatrick, an early fish seiner on the lower Columbia River. In 1871, George Roberts, formerly of The Hudson’s Bay Co., and his wife Rose, the county’s first school teacher, moved into the house.

After Roberts’ death in 1883, the house was bought by James F. Kimball, grandfather of Julia Butler Hansen, in 1885. In January 1886, James and his wife Julia Ann and their daughter Maude, Julia Butler Hansen’s mother, moved into the house.

The house was the home of Congresswoman Julia Butler Hansen, Wahkiakum County’s most prominent citizen. Hansen, daughter of the county sheriff, was born in 1907. She served first on the Cathlamet City Council and then the Washington State Legislature for 20 years before being elected to the U.S. House on the death of Russell V. Mack. She was re-elected to serve the Third Congressional District six times, retiring in 1974. She died in 1988. A school in Olympia, a bridge and a wildlife refuge are named for her.

The house has been in the Kimball, Butler and Hansen families for 125 years, save for a period of 13 years when it was owned by the Wahkiakum Community Foundation. When the foundation dissolved in 2017, ownership of the house reverted to David Kimball Hansen.