Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. After the construction of the magnificent Thurston County Courthouse, now the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, the town commons was beautified into a public park with winding pathways, bandstand, and fountain. In the year of the 1899…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. Columbia Hall, pictured in the 1874 cityscape, was built in 1869 on 4th Avenue, near the center of downtown Olympia. It served a myriad of functions: fire station on the ground floor, city offices above, entertainment hall (it…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. In 1856, Olympia’s cofounder Edmund Sylvester was overseeing construction of his Italianate mansion, located just south of the town common now named after him. A German immigrant, Konrad Schneider, was responsible for much of the home’s construction. Schneider…
Throughout 2021 we will be featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. In 1838, an American naval officer, Charles Wilkes, was given command of an expedition to explore the Pacific Ocean and document its shores and islands. Wilkes reached the southern end of Puget Sound in July 1841. He…
Jean Wilkinson is a Puget Sound native. She was born and grew up in Bellingham, and moved to Tacoma to attend the University of Puget Sound where she earned a B.A. in History. After spending a year in Saarbrucken, Germany on a Fulbright Scholarship, Jean attended the University of Washington School of Law, attaining a…
Cheryl is a long time resident of Olympia, having moved here with her family as an elementary school student. She graduated from Olympia High School and attended the University of Washington graduating with a BA in Art. She undertook graduate work in urban planning and design also at UW. After an exploratory museum studies seminar…
