Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Robert Blankenship was a member of an early settler family. Along with his business partner Ed…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers. James Wickersham is best remembered for his connection with Alaska, but had an earlier career in the Puget Sound area.…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. James Wickersham is remembered for his Alaskan career as an ethnographer, judge, and politician. In his…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Frank L. Camp (sometimes spelled Camps) established his Olympia studio in about 1891. He specialized in…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Little is known about photographer Oscar Sternberg, who established a photographic studio in Olympia in 1902.…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Although photographer Joseph Buchtel is better known as a Portland, Oregon photographer, he had ties in…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Photographer Edward Sammis began his career in California but operated a studio in Olympia between 1860…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Samuel Holmes is the earliest known photographer in Olympia. He created daguerrotypes, an early kind of…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. William J. Yeager, an early settler, opened his photographic studio in about 1865, and worked with…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Ron Allen’s photographic career began with State Patrol, then led to his own studio; he photographed…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Ron Allen’s photographic career began with State Patrol, then led to his own studio; he…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. John Boyd Ellis was brought up in Olympia but moved to Arlington after graduating from Western…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Viretta Chambers was the daughter of early Thurston County settlers Andrew and Margaret White Chambers. She…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. John Vivian Yantis was the son of early settler Benjamin F. Yantis. He operated a photograph…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Joseph McKnight arrived in Olympia in 1913 and operated the McKnight Studio until his retirement in…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. This image by local photographer Michael O’Connor, likely from the early 1900s, shows the Northern Pacific…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Michael O’Connor arrived in Olympia in 1884 and established a book and stationery store that he…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. William Duckering was an Olympia-based photographer, active in the latter part of the 19th century. Here…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Huntington Brothers operated a photographic business in downtown Olympia in the mid-19th century. Their specialty was…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. The Best Camera Shop sold cameras and film in the early to mid-20th century. In 1950,…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. L. Wilson Clark was a very early photographer in Olympia. His studio was on Main Street…
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…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Between 1891 and 1894, photographer Agnes Mitchel operated a studio at 507 4th Avenue. The State…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Photographer Agnes L. Mitchel operated a studio on 4th Avenue, near Jefferson Street, starting in 1891.…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. William B. Conser was a photographer for the Olympian who captured many events and people, including…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. The 1935 Olympia High School yearbook notes that William P. Conser, pictured here, was involved with…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Merle Junk, a product of the Olympia school system, turned to photography early in his life.…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Merle Junk, a product of the Olympia school system, turned to photography early in his life.…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Charles M. Moore arrived in Washington Territory with his family in 1877 and was a merchant…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Charles M. Moore arrived in Washington Territory with his family in 1877 and was a merchant…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Pictured here is the studio of photographer Ida B. Smith, who was active in the late…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Vibert Jeffers was a prolific Olympia-based photographer, having inherited the business from his father and mother,…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Ida B. Smith, pictured here in a self-portrait, came to Olympia with her husband in about…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Vibert Jeffers, pictured here in a cropped family photo, was the son of photographer Joseph Jeffers…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Joseph Jeffers grew up in Olympia and took an interest in photography from an early age.…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Joseph Jeffers grew up in Olympia and took an interest in photography from an early age.…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Clark Kinsey was one of three brothers who documented the logging and lumber industry in the…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Adelbert D. (A.D.) Rogers was a prolific Olympia-based photographer. His primary subjects were portraits, including this…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Adelbert D. (A.D.) Rogers was a prolific Olympia-based photographer. His primary subjects were portraits, including this…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. In 2005, historian Lynn Erickson and artist Robert Chamberlain collaborated to produce a series of watercolors…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. In 2005, historian Lynn Erickson and artist Robert Chamberlain collaborated to produce a series of watercolors…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. In about 1914, Tumwater-based photographer Robert Esterly undertook a project to capture images of businesses and…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Robert Esterly was an early owner of a shingle mill at Tumwater Falls. He was…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 is Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Artist James Tilton Pickett was the son of Confederate General George Pickett and Sâkis Tiigang, a…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. This photograph by Olympia photographer Alonzo Bixby Woodard is of James Tilton Pickett, the son of…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Alonzo Bixby Woodard was a member of an early settler family. He practiced dentistry and photography;…
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Alonzo Bixby Woodard was a member of an early settler family. He practiced dentistry and photography;…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. The Bigelow neighborhood, Bigelow Park, and Bigelow Street are named for an early settler family. Pictured…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Like BBC period dramas, Olympia had its “upstairs and downstairs” residents. Pictured here is the home…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. In 1964, Ernest Cheeka, Jr., assumed his position of Makah hereditary chief. Cheeka, then a resident…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. William Owen Bush, son of settlers Isabella James Bush and mixed-race George Bush, made his mark…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. In 1988 Olympia voters helped make history when they elected local community organizer Cora Pinson, pictured…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history Barbara O’Neill was a commanding presence in our area for many years. While operating a soul…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Jacob Bean immigrated to Olympia from Russia in 1902, bringing with him his family’s Torah (first…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. In March 1964, Marlon Brando arrived in our area to support Native American tribes as they…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Chinese Americans have a long history in our community. Many Chinese immigrants lived and worked in…
By special arrangement with the Chinese Historical Society of America, we are making available a document entitled Walter James: Reminiscences of my Younger Days. This is an oral history captured…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich history. Thomas Park, shown here, was born in Bermuda and a bricklayer by trade. He was a long-time family associate…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Nisqually Tribal elder William Frank, Sr., father of activist Billy Frank Jr., poles a canoe on…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Margaret Whyte was responsible for bringing the concept of a Continuing Care Retirement Community to the …
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…
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…
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,…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Beginning in the late 1800s and up to the present, Chinese-American families have contributed to Olympia’s…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. The Pacific House, located at what is now State Avenue and Capitol Way, was managed by…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich history. In 1975, large numbers of Vietnamese refugees arrived in the US at temporary resettlement centers. When California Governor…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Edward Salomon, pictured here, became Washington Territorial governor in 1870. He was the highest ranked Jewish…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Pictured here is Joyce Simmons Cheeka, Squaxin Island Tribe activist. Mrs. Cheeka was trained as a…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Pictured here is the James family, including Chinese-born father Toone James and his wife Nettie Chiang,…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Catherine McLeod Mounts, pictured here, was the daughter of Clayquodote Scanewah, a member of the Nisqually,…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Festus Campbell, shown in this photograph from the mid-1800s, was born in Louisiana and escaped slavery…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Delbert “Del” McBride, shown here, was a long-time curator of the State Capital Museum as well…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. A young Henry Harris looks distinctly unimpressed at being photographed in his smart kilted suit. The…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Gallewski Kaufman was a German Jewish immigrant, arriving in Olympia in the mid-1880s. He and his…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Sam Fun Locke, dubbed the Mayor of Chinatown, arrived in Olympia in the late 1800s from…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Jocelyn Dohm, at left, founded the Sherwood Press, specializing in high-end small-scale printed materials using traditional…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Three Bettman brothers, Louis, Moses, and Sig, were members of the first Jewish family to settle…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Pictured here is Quiemuth, an older half-brother to Leschi, the famed Nisqually leader. Image selected and…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Pictured here is Nettie Chiang, Chinese-born wife of restaurateur James Toone, in a colorized studio photograph…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Jish Jish, also known by early Territorial settlers as Old Betsey, was likely a member of…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Trena Selvidge Belsito Worthington was the daughter of an Olympia-based lumberman and a store owner. She…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Oysters have been a staple of Pacific Northwest diets for thousands of years. While oysters were…
The Looking Back theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Shown here is the Pekin Cafe, located on Capitol Way between 4th and State. The…
This document was captured via the Wayback Machine from a former version of the City of Olympia website. Optical character recognition (OCR) tool was applied to render it word-searchable. Click…
Our theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Pictured here is Olympia Fire Co. No 2. The young man third from the right is Jesse…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. “Kanaka Jack” and his wife Katie lived on Johnson’s Point, where they maintained a woodyard and…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Leschi, pictured here in this drawing from the 1850s, was a leader of the Nisqually Indian…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Voices, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Emma Page’s blindness from age 7 did not deter her from speaking forcefully on behalf of…
Capitol Park Apartments Sat, 06/27/2009 – 5:06pm — Anonymous Although I called them Capital Apartments in a recent post, apparently they were also known as the Capitol Park Apartments. Shortly before they…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Voices, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Abbie Howard Hunt Stuart, pictured here, co-founded the Woman’s Club of Olympia, the first on the…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Voices, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Earl Bean, born in Russia, came here in 1892 and joined his father Jacob in the…
Our theme for 2024 is Many Voices, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Josephine Corliss Preston was the first woman to hold statewide public office, Superintendant of Public Instruction, in…
Our theme for 2024 is Many Voices, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Japanese immigrants began arriving in our area in the late 1800s, and by the 1930s were the…
Our theme for 2024 is Many Voices, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Pictured here is Sun Wo, a businessman born in China who operated a “general merchandise” store on…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Ward Lake, in southeast Olympia, is named for Ira Ward, Jr., pictured here, and Jane (Stimson or Simpson) Ward.…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Watershed Park is named for the abundant water resources at the location in southeast Olympia. The natural springs here…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Henderson Boulevard, which flanks Watershed Park in southeast Olympia, is named for developer and city booster Ed Henderson. Henderson…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Millersylvania State Park is named for the Miller family, who donated the land for the park in 1921. Pictured…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Shelton, Washington, was named for Mason County settler David Shelton, pictured here, who served in the Washington Territorial legislature.…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Huntamer Park in Lacey is named in honor of Thomas Huntamer, who served for over a decade as a…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Mason County is named for Charles H. Mason. Mason was Washington’s first Territorial Secretary, serving from the territory’s formation…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Cain Road in Southeast Olympia is named for the Cain family. The family settled in the area of Cain…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Trosper Road in Tumwater was named for the Trosper family. The John Samuel and Mary (Conger) Trosper family, pictured…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Pictured here in a charcoal portrait is early settler William McLane. He and his wife Martha McLeod McLane lent…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Golf Club Road in Lacey is named for the Olympia Country and Golf Club, later the Mountain View Golf…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. The Chambers family, early settlers, lent their name to a prairie, lake, school, and grange in Thurston County, not…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Tilley Road in south Thurston County is named for the Tilley family, early settlers. Abram Tilley operated a hotel…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. The family of George and Isabella Bush arrived in Thurston County in 1844, among the first non-Indigenous American settlers.…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Simmons Street, in Olympia, is named for the Simmons family, early settlers in Thurston County. Michael and Elizabeth Kindred…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Martin Way was named for Washington State Governor Clarence Martin, pictured here. He served from 1933 to 1941. Governor…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Hawks Prairie is named for early Lacey settlers John and Sarah Hawk and their children. Lydia Hawk Elementary School…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. In the early 20th century, Reverend and Mrs. Francis Yauger purchased 410 acres of investment land in the Cooper…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Kennedy Creek, on the border between Thurston and Mason Counties, is named for settlers Benjamin Franklin Kennedy and his…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Ruddell Road in Lacey was named for the Ruddell family, early settlers in Thurston County. Stephen Ruddell, pictured here,…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Dofflemyer Point and the Dofflemyer lighthouse take their name from the Dofflemyer family, early settlers in the Boston Harbor…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Albert Rutledge, son of pioneer Thomas Rutledge, stands behind the rock on his family homestead that gives Littlerock, Washington…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Woodard Bay and Woodard Avenue are named for Harvey and Salome Woodard, and their three sons, who first settled…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Howard Point, off of East Bay Drive, is named for the Howard family. Rebecca Howard was a Black entrepreneur…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Governor Stevens Avenue and Stevens field, both in southeast Olympia, are named for Washington Territorial Governor Isaac Ingalls Stevens.…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Woodruff Park is named for Samuel Woodruff. Woodruff was an early real estate developer. He platted much of West…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Milroy Street, in northwest Olympia, is named for General Robert Milroy, a prominent Civil War general and later Superintendent…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Percival Creek, Street, and Landing are named for the Percival family, early settlers in Olympia. Captain Samuel Wing Percival…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Hazard Lake in Olympia was named for Margaret Stevens, née Hazard, and her son Hazard Stevens. Margaret was a…
Click here to view and download a searchable scan of the publication Stories of the Oregon Trail: Accounts & Reminiscences by Daniel R. Bigelow, Ann Elizabeth White Bigelow, Margaret Stewart…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Offut Lake was named for three brothers, James, Levi, and Milford Offutt (spelled with two ts), who settled near…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Hicks Lake in Lacey is named for the Hicks family. Urban E. Hicks arrived in Thurston County in the…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Old Oregon Trail Road descends from near the south end of Water Street to the waterfront below I-5. Before…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Sapp Road in Tumwater was named for the Sapp family, who settled in Thurston County in the late 1800s.…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Budd Inlet was named for Thomas A. Budd, a member of the Wilkes Expedition that surveyed parts of the…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Renowned and beloved mycologist (mushroom expert) Margaret McKenny meets with young Freddy Dobler, Gary Bichsel and Greg Bichsel at Pat’s Bookery…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. The source of Lacey, Washington’s, name has never been definitively established. However, it is thought to originate from Oliver…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Talcott Avenue, in downtown Olympia, is named for the Talcott family, early Olympia settlers. Charles Talcott came west with…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. French Road in northwest Olympia is named for Charlotte Emily Olney French and her husband George French. Charlotte, pictured…
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…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Giles Street, in northwest Olympia, takes its name from Charles Giles, whose home is at the corner of West…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Henry Street in southeast Olympia is named for the Henry family. Anson Henry was a close friend of and…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Langridge Avenue and Langridge Loop, in northwest Olympia, are likely named for the Langridge family. Father George, originally from…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Van Epps Street, in southeast Olympia, is likely named for the Van Epps family. The father, Theodore Van Epps,…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Crosby Boulevard in Tumwater is named for the Crosby family. The Crosbys were early American settlers, arriving in Tumwater…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Mottman Road, Mottman Industrial Park, and the Mottman Mercantile Building at Fourth Avenue and Capitol Way are named…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Carlyon Avenue and Carlyon Beach are both named for the Carlyon family of southeast Olympia. Philip H. Carlyon was…
This page from the DoCoMoMo website was captured from a March 2017 post by the Wayback Machine. Washington State Library Designed by prominent Northwest architect Paul Thiry during the height…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. The town of Bucoda was once called Seatco, a Native American word meaning “ghost” or “devil.” In 1890, the…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Ellis Cove in Squaxin Park is named for Isaac “Ike” Ellis, pictured here. Ellis was a logger, racetrack developer,…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. In 1970, a park was created on Capitol Lake’s western shore by placing fill material next to an existing…
This anonymous post about the Yardbirds store was originally posted on the Olyblog.net site in 2006 and was captured by the Wayback Machine. “It was like Wal-Mart on acid,” is…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Pictured here is the Kinney family of South Bay, one of the two families for which Sleater-Kinney Road was…
This page was captured by the Wayback Machine on October 3, 2009, from the olyblog.net website Little Hollywood Era In Olympia Recalled / by Dean Shacklett Sat, 10/03/2009 – 8:47pm…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. The American Legion was chartered by Congress in 1919 as a patriotic veterans organization, in support of World War…
This page was captured from the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine on May 17, 2017 and describes the endangered status of the Georgia Pacific Building in the Port of Olympia. Original…
This blog entry from Steven L was captured by the Wayback Machine from the now-defunct OlyBlog.net website. The capture URL is https://web.archive.org/web/20160412032816/http://olyblog.net/capitol-park-apartments Capitol Park Apartments Sat, 06/27/2009 – 5:06pm —…
This page was captured from the Wayback Machine of a page from the Docomomo.org website featuring endangered properties. Original URL: https://www.docomomo-wewa.org/endangered_detail.php?id=9, captured on May 19, 2011. General Administration…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Three creeks, a hill, a prairie, a heritage oak tree, and a street in Thurston County are all named…
Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Sylvester Park is named for Olympia’s founder Edmund Sylvester. Born in Maine, he arrived here in 1846, along with…
Hazard Stevens, son of Washington Territory’s first governor, Isaac Stevens, was an investor in the Olympia Light and Power company that operated a hydroelectric facility at the Middle Tumwater Falls…
Washington State and Olympia were in the forefront of the push for female suffrage in our state and nationally. Pictured here is prominent Olympian Bernice Sapp, while she was attending…
For many years the northwest corner of Third Avenue and Main Street (now State and Capitol) was occupied by a livery–a combination public stable, stagecoach, and carriage rental business. The…
In 1914, photographer Robert Esterly took photographs of Olympia businesses and their owners. Pictured here is the Haskin and Peele shoe shop, located at 406 Fourth Avenue East (current site…
The Columbia Hotel was built in the mid 1800s by early Olympia settler John Clark, at what is now 114 Columbia St. NW. At the time, it was on waterfront…
Fred Koepke was appointed Olympia’s motorcycle police officer in 1912. He was chosen in part for his familiarity with motorcycles and their repair. He’s pictured here in front of the…
The Olympia Motorcycle Club was formed in the early twentieth century as motorcycling took off as a popular activity for men and women alike. The group hosted races, outings, and…
Pictured here are Nancy Scott Hunt Smith and her daughter, Mandana Smith Kimsey Bush. Mandana was a widow in Oregon when she married Tumwater resident William Owen Bush, son of…
The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization of Union veterans of the American Civil War. Later, their offspring formed the Sons of Union Veterans of the…
This painting of Kamilche, Washington settlers Benjamin Franklin Kennedy and his wife Elizabeth Ann Kennedy is based on a photograph that was taken of members of the extended Kennedy and…
In 1901, Washington State purchased the Thurston County Courthouse, adjacent to Sylvester Park, to serve as the state’s Legislative Building. An annex to the original building was built to accommodate…
Washington State produces the majority of hops grown in the United States. The crop, used in making beer, was first introduced in Western Washington by pioneer Ezra Meeker. Thurston County…
This article, written for the City of Olympia, was captured from the Wayback Machine and posted here for information purposes. Introduction For millennia, the native people of Puget Sound relied…
This photograph of the Union Block, taken in 1894, dramatically illustrates how Olympia’s shoreline has changed over the years. The Union Block was located on Fourth Avenue between Chestnut and…
Francis Henry was an early Olympia settler. His cousin Anson Henry, a close friend and physician to Abraham Lincoln, also settled in Olympia. Francis Henry has lived on in posterity…
Philemon B. Van Trump was in the first party of European-Americans, in 1870, to summit Mount Rainier. He summited at least five other times, once guiding noted naturalist John Muir.…
The extended family of Benjamin and Agnes Mitchel Price poses proudly with their two automobiles, an REO or Red Wing, and a Winton Six, in this photo from about 1907.…
Olympia Knitting Mills was an important contributor to Olympia’s economy in the early 20th century. The factory was located on 6th (Legion) Avenue between Jefferson and Cherry, and created woolen…
In August 1902, the Woodmen of the World, a fraternal organization, held a carnival in Olympia. They sponsored a contest to name the Queen of the Carnival. Ruth Allison edged…
This photo was taken in the late 1800s from the west side of Olympia. In the foreground is the elegant Percival Mansion. Below it is the Fourth Avenue Bridge that…
Pictured here, in a photo from the late 1800s, are the students and a faculty member at the Central School in Olympia, located at the corner of Union Avenue and…
The Van Epps family operated several businesses in downtown Olympia in the late 19th century. Pictured here is the T.C. Van Epps Real Estate office on Main Street (now Capitol…
Oysters have been an important food source for our area’s residents since well before the arrival of non-Indigenous Americans. In this photograph from the early 20th century, harvesters are working…
This photograph shows the logging industry in transition. At right we see a team of oxen pulling timber out of the forest, probably on a “skid road” of cut logs.…
William Bilger and Clint Going were partners in a hardware business that was established in 1891. They are pictured here in a publicity photo demonstrating their wares. They occupied the…
Jacob Bean immigrated to Olympia from Russia in 1902, bringing with him his family’s Torah (first five books of the Hebrew Bible). He and his wife Mollie owned the business…
In 1905, the most anticipated event of Olympia’s three-day Independence Day celebration was what was called the Indian canoe race, held in the Deschutes Estuary (now Capitol Lake). According to…
Thurston County has had several courthouses over its history. Pictured here is the second purpose-built courthouse, which was at the northeast corner of Fourth Avenue and Washington Street (current site…
Henry Sanford Bush was five years old in 1845 when his parents, George and Isabella Bush, made their way to Washington Territory from Missouri. The mixed-race Bush family were among…
As bicycles and automobiles grew in popularity in the late 19th and early 20th century, the muddy streets of Olympia presented a significant navigation challenge. In 1908, the city agreed…
The therapeutic benefits of cold water treatments have been in the news and social media lately. One 19th century practitioner was Dr. Mary Olney Brown, pictured here. Dr. Brown was…
Olympia native Clark Savidge is shown here as a young postal carrier, in about 1891. He later was a long-time Washington State Commissioner of Public Lands, and was a prominent…
The Carlyon Fill in 1910-1911 added 29 blocks to the central peninsula of Olympia, adding most of what we now know as the port area. Just after the fill was…
In 1891, the Bettman family, early merchants, built the masonry structure shown here, at 312-324 Fourth Avenue. It featured stores on the ground floor, with a hotel above. The building…
The Morning Olympian newspaper operated at the southeast corner of State and Capitol for decades. Shown here in a 1910 photo is the press room, with foreman Bob Yantis and…
Brothers Joseph and H.R. Jeffers founded a photography business in 1904, at the southeast corner of Washington Street and 5th Avenue. Their original studio is shown in this 1908 photo…
“Kanaka Jack” and his wife Kiki lived on Johnson’s Point, where they maintained a woodyard and water tank for the benefit of visiting steamships. Kanaka Jack was a native of…
James Tilton Pickett was the son of General George Pickett, of Gettysburg infamy, and Sâkis Tiigang, a Haida woman. George Pickett was a close friend of Olympia surveyor James Tilton,…
Pictured here is the first Tumwater School and its students, along with principal Frank Clem and the school’s teachers. The school was located at 2nd Avenue between “D” and “C”…
Charles Burmeister was a well-known Olympia saloon keeper for decades. He first operated an establishment on Fourth Avenue (pictured in our July 26, 2020, Looking Back feature). He later moved…
Peterfield Turpin was an early American settler in Olympia, Washington Territory, arriving in 1858. President Buchanan appointed him to be a Land Office surveyor, and he held several other public…
[Captured from Wayback Machine from deleted City of Olympia website pages] Native Roots Located on the southernmost point of Puget Sound, the peninsula known as Olympia was Steh-Chass to…
[Captured from Wayback machine that archived deleted City of Olympia pages] By Ed Echtle Introduction For nearly 90 years, the theater on South Washington Street in Olympia has served as…
[Captured from Wayback machine that archived deleted City of Olympia pages] The Beginning Olympia’s first fire fighting unit, Barnes’ Hook and Ladder Brigade, was organized in the early 1850’s. Columbia…
[Captured from Wayback machine that archived deleted City of Olympia pages. Links in green typeface were in original document; links with blue typeface are provided by OHS/BH to other pages…
[Captured from Wayback machine that archived deleted City of Olympia pages] What is the Mosquito Fleet? The Mosquito Fleet was the myriad of steamboats that served the Puget Sound’s shipping and…