What happens when you mix local history, summer sunshine, and a splash of interactive tech? You get one unforgettable neighborhood experience, just ask the team at the Rainier Valley Historical Society (RVHS).

This summer, RVHS set up shop at the Mount Baker Summer Festival with a mission: help festivalgoers connect with the history of the neighborhood in a way that was engaging, informative, and fun!

Their solution? A custom-built Mount Baker Neighborhood History Map created with Proxi.

Explore the Map

Take a stroll through the stories of Mount Baker. From family homes to community centers, each location on the map reveals a layer of neighborhood history just waiting to be discovered.

Bridging the Past and Present: One Map Point at a Time

The heart of this project was simple: showcase the hidden and not-so-hidden stories that shaped Mount Baker. From historic homes to long-gone businesses and local landmarks, each map point featured:

📍 A specific location
📖 Historical context about why that spot matters
📸 Photos from the archives
🔗 Links to dive deeper—including articles, websites, and even YouTube videos

Visitors could scan a QR code on the printed brochure to access the full digital map, giving them a much richer, more immersive experience than a print-only handout ever could.

The Best of Both Worlds: Print Meets Digital

To bring the map to life at the Mount Baker Summer Festival, RVHS handed out tri-fold brochures with a printed map and a QR code front and center.

✋ A perfect takeaway for those who love a physical handout
📱 A gateway to bonus content for tech-savvy explorers

The print version sparked great conversations and made it easy for festivalgoers to engage on the spot. But the real magic lives in the interactive digital map—now embedded on the RVHS blog as a long-term, public resource.

Each point is packed with context, images, and links to dive deeper, making the map a self-guided tour and a tool for deeper discovery. And because it’s so easy to update, RVHS can keep adding new stories and content over time—no reprint needed.

What started as a festival feature is now a living, evolving archive that continues to educate, engage, and grow.

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Why It Worked: Easy to Build, Fun to Use

RVHS loved how easy it was to create their history map using Proxi. They could upload and edit points in a spreadsheet-style view, which made organizing and managing content fast and intuitive—especially with so many locations to highlight. Each point was easy to customize with photos, links, and detailed context, making the historical content clear and compelling for the public.

They also used the numbered points feature, which helped guide viewers through the neighborhood in a logical, story-driven sequence—perfect for a walking tour feel.

Plus, the clean, modern styling gave the map a fresh look that resonated with both longtime residents and new visitors.

And let’s not forget the superpower behind the scenes:

“We love the analytics portal. It’s amazing to see how many people are viewing and engaging with the map—it’s been incredibly helpful for our grant writing.”
—RVHS Team

Through Proxi’s Insights Portal, RVHS can track how many people visit the map, what points get the most clicks, and how users interact with the content overall. These metrics offer valuable data for reporting impact to shareholders and grant reviewers, shaping future programming, and understanding what stories resonate most with the community.

Thinking About Building Your Own History Map?

Whether you're a local nonprofit, museum, or just someone with stories to tell, an interactive map like this can bring your community’s past to life in a whole new way. With Proxi, you can: