Ann Elizabeth White Bigelow – 4/9/23

Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. The Bigelow neighborhood, Bigelow Park, and Bigelow Street are named for an early settler family. Pictured here is Ann Elizabeth White, who married Olympia attorney Daniel Bigelow in 1854. The Bigelows erected their home on the east side of Olympia around 1860. It is one of the oldest known residences in Olympia, currently operated as the Bigelow House Museum. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum, olympiahistory.org.

Bigelow Photograph Collection, courtesy Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum

Ed Westman – 9/29/24
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich history. Scandinavians began arriving in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1800s, with many working in logging, lumber, and construction industries. In 1921, Swedish-born Ed Westman, pictured here, founded the Olympia Veneer Company, which was a revolutionary experiment in cooperative ownership as well as…
September 29, 2024
Olympia Junk – 9/22/24
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich history. The Olympia Junk Company, located at the corner of Legion Way and Columbia, was founded in about 1906 by Jewish entrepreneur Morris Berkowitz, who is likely in this 1914 photograph. It was later purchased by Morris’s in-laws, the Bean family, and became Olympia…
September 22, 2024
Slocum and Yowaluch – 9/15/24
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. In about 1881, Squaxin tribal member John Slocum and Louis Yowaluch, pictured here, and their families, co-founded the Indian Shaker church near Mud Bay. The denomination eventually spread to include dozens of churches throughout the Pacific Northwest. The Indian Shaker church…
September 15, 2024