Woodard House

Location: 1429 West Bay Dr NW
Local register

Woodard House, about 1893, Edward Lange artist

Woodard House today (2012), photo by Deb Ross

The Woodard family, consisting of Harvey and Salome Eaton Woodard and their three boys Alonzo Bixby (AB), Theodore, and Adelbert Eugene (AE), arrived in Thurston County in the early 1850s. They first settled in the area now called Woodard Bay. The family stayed there only a few years, until the onset of the so-called Indian Wars in the mid 1850s. The family moved to Tumwater, where Harvey engaged in milling. After the hostilities ceased, Harvey moved back to Woodard Bay and established a mill there. Salome and the boys stayed behind, and the boys attended school in Tumwater. AB moved to the Portland area to study photography and dentistry while AE stayed in Olympia.

Some time in the late 1850s, Harvey purchased land on the Hurd Donation Claim in West Olympia and built a house around 1858 (thought to be the home now termed the Harvey Woodard House which is just above the Woodard House). Later on, in the 1870s, AB Woodard returned to Olympia and built this house on the family property.

AB Woodard built a home on Union Avenue in Olympia some time around 1900 and AE’s son Lester seems to have moved into the West Bay home.

The Woodard House is an attractive two story wooden house built in the Pioneer style. It is listed on the local register.

Additional resources:

Olympia Heritage inventory

For more information about the Woodard family, see the Residents section of this website.

Thanks to Mary Schaff of the Washington State Library for providing transcript of WPA interview.