Since I am a fan of @steembasicincome, I thought I'd give this a try:

Our small city of about 10,000 people is located in western Washington state in the USA. Founded in the middle of the 1800's, Port Townsend would be considered "old" by most western US standards; it is one of just three "Victorian Seaports" on the USA National Register of Historic Places.

(view of Port Townsend Bay)
So what makes it worthy of being "historic?" The town sits at the opening of the Strait of Juan De Fuca where is becomes Puget Sound, and so has a direct connection to the Pacific Ocean. The founders of the city originally settled here because there is a natural protected bay and harbor, and they truly believed this would become "the San Francisco of the North."

Unfortunately, the dreams fell apart in the early 1900s when it was discovered that there really wasn't enough natural fresh water to (a) support the railroad and (b) support a large population center. When the railroads decided NOT to lay tracks to town, the economy pretty much collapsed.

(Main street on a busy summer day)
How badly did this affect town? It was not till the 1970's that the population again passed where it was in the 1890s!

For close to 80 years, our town was economically depressed and "falling apart," but then artists, writers and other free spirits moved in because they could get the old Victorian era mansions (in terrible condition!) for almost no money, and they started repairing things and bringing the city back to life.

(Farmer's Market)
Today, we have a thriving artists' community and the city has become a popular tourist destination. All the derelict buildings downtown have been repaired and most of the city core is a historic district. We have one of the best farmer's markets in the west of the state, as well as lots of conference and meeting facilities. From May till the end of September is "festival season," and there's some large event almost every weekend: Jazz festival, film festival, Celtic music festival, Writer's week, Steampunk festival-- the list is long.

According to our local Tourist center, we have between two and three million visitors per year... a LOT for a small place!

Thanks for putting on this challenge!

=^..^=