1853 Indian Henry Trail ("Tacoma's First Road").
1857 Lt. A. V. Kautz and four companions make first recorded attempt to climb Mount Rainier. It takes them a week to make their way up the
Nisqually Valley.
1888 Charles Lutkens and Adams Sachs take up homesteads on land that becomes the town of Elbe.
1891 Henry Lutkens and family arrive from Germany.
Early 1890s Jesse Cronkhite, Adam Sachs start stage line.
1892 Elbe post office established.
1893 Elbe Evangelische Lutherische Kirche organized by the German pioneers of Elbe.
1894 Charles and Henry Lutkens build the second Hotel Tourist, a 48-room hostelry. (The first one burned.)
1895 Mashell Mountain Road linking Eatonville and Elbe completed by settlers' own labor.
1903 Town platted by Adam Sachs; Lutkens' additions platted in 1904 and 1905.
1904 Tacoma Eastern Railroad reaches Elbe; Henry Lutkens donates land for depot.
1906 Elbe Evangelische Lutherische Kirche is built; Rev. Karl Kilian begins his Elbe ministry.
1915 First public travel by automobile to Paradise Valley.
1924 Passenger train service from Tacoma to Ashford ends.
1926 Mountain Highway is paved from Tacoma to Mount Rainier National Park entrance. It is one of the first paved concrete highways in the state.
1930 German-language services end.
1944 Alder Dam completed; Alder Lake formed.
1973 Reawakening of interest in the Elbe church, thanks in great part to the Rev. Dr. Ervin E. Krebs. Monthly worship services reinstituted.
1976 Elbe church building placed on National Register of Historic Places.
1984 The church becomes "The Bishop's Cathedral."
1993 Elbe Lutheran Church celebrates congregation's centennial.
2001 New fellowship building, called Pfarrhaus, is completed, dedicated.
2006 Centennial of Elbe Lutheran Church building celebrated.
