Poulsbo, Washington, with a population of 7,450, is located in the northern part of Kitsap County and is 4.5 square miles in area. Liberty Bay, originally called Dog Fish Bay, and the majestic, snow-peaked Olympic Mountains to the west induced the Scandinavians to settle in Poulsbo because the area was so similar to the fjords of Norway.

During the Scandinavian migration of the 1880s, Poulsbo was founded by Jorgen Eliason, who came to Poulsbo from Fordefjord, Norway with his sister and his young son. A month later Iver B. Moe arrived from Paulsbo, Norway via Minnesota with his wife and three sons. When Moe felt there were enough people in the area to warrant a post office, he submitted an application calling the new town Paulsbo. Because the Postmaster General misread Moe's handwriting, the new town was officially listed as Poulsbo.

The first twenty-five years saw Poulsbo become a well-established community with a post office and school established in 1886, a Norwegian Lutheran Church (Fordefjord Lutheran) in 1887, an orphans home in 1891, a hotel in 1892, The Kitsap County Herald in 1900, a telephone company in 1907, a bank in 1909 and a codfish company in 1911.

Poulsbo had its first town Council meeting on January 7, 1908 and became incorporated as a town on January 14, 1908. Poulsbo became an incorporated city on June 14, 1913 and took on its current structure as a non-charter code city on December 3, 1969. Poulsbo is governed by a Mayor and seven-member Council.