Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. James Madison Alden was an artist, topographer and junior officer aboard the U.S.S. Active for the U.S. Coast Survey. This watercolor is the earliest known image of Olympia, painted in 1857, looking north down what is now Capitol Way. The large building at left may represent the recently-completed Territorial Capitol.
James M. Alden watercolor, 1857, Courtesy Washington State Historical Society, catalog 1932.93.17
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2025