OLYMPIA — The Legislature has passed a measure to rename a state highway in honor of a black Civil War veteran.
The House unanimously concurred with changes made in the Senate on House Joint memorial 4010, and the bill now heads to Gov. Jay Inslee. The measure has the Washington State Transportation Commission — which is responsible for naming highways and bridges — to start the process of naming Highway 99 after black Civil War veteran William P. Stewart of Snohomish.
Markers along what used to be Highway 99 near Blaine and Vancouver, Clark County, once honored Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederate States of America. The highway currently has no official name and the markers, blessed by state officials in 1940, have since been taken down.
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