Looking Back’s theme for 2026 is Downtown by the Decades. By the 1920s, the automotive era had fully arrived. In this photograph we are looking north down Capitol Way. The Mitchell Hotel, at left, is now the site of the Governor House Hotel, 621 Capitol Way S. In the distance is the Odd Fellows building, which burned down in 1937.
Unidentified photographer, around 1922, Courtesy State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society catalog C1982.18.29.6
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2026