Looking Back’s theme for 2026 is Downtown by the Decades. In this photograph from 1942, we are looking west down 5th Avenue near the Franklin Street intersection. Several buildings in this photograph are still with us, including the Capitol Theater at right and the Donald Building at left. Others, such as the modern-looking Washington State Federation of Labor building to the left of the Donald Building, no longer exist. Image selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum, https://olympiahistory.org.
Washington State Archives