Talcott’s – 3/1/26
Looking Back’s theme for 2026 is Downtown by the Decades. Each week features a view of downtown Olympia over the years. In 1882, after a fire destroyed most of downtown…
Land Office – 2/22/26
Looking Back’s theme for 2026 is Downtown by the Decades. The Homestead Act encouraged American settlers to come to the west and claim land for a small fee. This photograph…
Olympia Hotel – 2/15/26
Looking Back’s theme for 2026 is Downtown by the Decades. As Territorial Government grew in the 1880s, the need for lodging for legislators and assorted hangers-on became apparent. Several local…
Sam Williams home – 2/8/26
Looking Back’s theme for 2026 is Downtown by the Decades. In the 1870s, Sam Williams established a hardware store near the corner of Fourth Avenue and Capitol Way. Sam and…
Main Street 1876 – 2/1/26
Looking Back’s theme for 2026 is Downtown by the Decades. Each week will feature a view of downtown Olympia over the years. In the 1870s, the commercial center of Olympia…
Fourth Avenue in the 1860s – 1/18/26
Looking Back’s theme for 2026 is Downtown by the Decades. This etching is likely based on an 1869 photograph. It was published in 1891, in a special edition of the…
Sylvester Mansion – 1/11/26
Attribution: unidentified photographer, 1860s, courtesy Washington State Historical Society Looking Back’s theme for 2026 is Downtown by the Decades. Edmund Sylvester, founder of Olympia, and his wife Clara Pottle Sylvester,…
James Alden early image of Olympia – 1/4/26
Looking Back’s theme for 2026 is Downtown by the Decades. Each week will feature a view of downtown Olympia over the years. This earliest image of Olympia is by James…
Territorial Legislative Building by Blankenship and Winstanley – 12/28/25
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Robert Blankenship and Ed Winstanley operated a stationery and tobacco store in Olympia. The partnership also…
Robert Blankenship and friend with bicycles – 12/21/25
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…
Squaxin Home – James Wickersham photo – 12/14/25
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.…
James Wickersham – 12/7/25
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…
Clark Savidge by Frank Camp – 11/30/25
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…
Columbia Hall by Oscar Sternberg – 11/23/25
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.…
Lurana Ware Percival by Joseph Buchtel – 11/16/26
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…
Si’ahl (Chief Seattle) by Edward Sammis – 11/9/25
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…
Samuel Holmes Daguerrotypist – 11/2/15
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…
William Yeager charcoal portrait
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…
Hal Wolfe and Rags Thornton – photo by Ron Allen
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…
Ron Allen – 10/5/25
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…
Capitol Way – J. Boyd Ellis
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…
Garden Party hosted by Viretta Chambers Denny
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…
John V. Yantis and Margaret Hume Yantis – 8/24/25
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…
Legislative Building construction – Joseph McKnight
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…
Northern Pacific depot – Michael O’Connor photo – 8/10/25
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…
Michael O’Connor – 8/2/25
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…
Dress rehearsal – by William Duckering – 7/27/25
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…
4th Avenue by Huntington Brothers – 7/20/25
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…
Grand Parade of Progress – Best Photography Studio – 7/13/25
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,…
James Offut by L. Wilson Clark – 7/6/25
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…
James Alden painting of early Olympia
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…
Belle Bush Gaston by Agnes Mitchel – 6/22/25
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…
Price family – 6/15/25
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.…
Legislative Building repair – William Conser – 6/8/25
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…
William Conser – 6/1/25
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…
State Patrol by Merle Junk – 5/25/25
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.…
Merle Junk – 5/18/25
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.…
Eliza Olney – 5/11/25
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…
Charles M. Moore – 5/4/25
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…
Ida B. Smith Studio – 4/27/25
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…
Bus Station by Vibert Jeffers – 4/20/25
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,…
Ida B. Smith self portrait – 4/14/25
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…
Vibert Jeffers – 4/6/25
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…
Jeffers Building – 3/30/25
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.…
Joe Jeffers studio – 3/23/25
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.…
Little Rock logging by Clark Kinsey – 3/16/2025
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…
Edna Rogers – 3-9-25
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…
A.D. Rogers – 3/2/25
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…
Grand Parade of Progress – 2/23/25
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…
Robert Chamberlain – 2/16/25
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…
Percival Wharf by Robert Esterly
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…
Robert Esterly on a bear hunt – 2/2/25
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…
Painting by James Tilton Pickett – 1/26/25
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…
James Tilton Pickett – 1/19/25
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…
Josie Clark Woodard – 1/12/25
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;…
A.B. Woodard – 1/5/25
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;…
Ann Elizabeth White Bigelow – 12/29/24
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…
Augusta Sherwood – 12/22/24
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…
Ernest Cheeka – 12/15/24
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…
William Owen Bush – 12/8/24
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…
Cora Pinson – 12/1/24
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…
Barb O’Neill: 11/24/24
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…
The Bean family – 11/17/24
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…
Marlon Brando and Fish Wars – 11/10/24
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…
Chinatown – 11/3/24
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…
Walter James oral history
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…
Thomas Park – 10/27/24
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…
William Frank, Sr – 10/20/24
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…
Margaret Whyte – 10/13/24
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 …
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…
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…
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,…
Kay’s Chop Suey – 9/8/24
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…
Pacific House – 9/1/24
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…
Ralph Munro at Camp Pendleton – 8/25/24
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…
Edward Salomon – 8/18/24
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…
Joyce Simmons Cheeka – 8/11/24
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…
James family – 8/4/24
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,…
Catherine McLeod Mounts
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,…
Festus Campbell – 7/21/24
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…
Del McBride – 7/14/24
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…
Henry Harris – 7/7/24
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…
Gallewski Kaufman – 6/30/24
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…
Locke family – 6/16/24
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…
Jocelyn Dohm – 6/1/24
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…
William Bettman – 5/26/24
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…
Quiemuth – 5/19/24
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…
Nettie Chiang – 5/12/24
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…
Jish Jish – 4/28/24
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…
Trena Selvidge Belsito Worthington – 3/31/24
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…
Oyster Harvesters – 3/24/24
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…
Pekin Cafe – 3/17/2024
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…
City of Olympia, Historic Preservation in Olympia, Assessment and Action Plan, April 19, 2005
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…
Jesse Mars and Olympia Fire Company
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…
Kanaka Jack and Katie – 3/3/24
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…
Leschi – 2/25/24
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…
Emma Page – 2/18/24
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…
Capital Apartments – first on Olyblog, captured on Wayback Machine
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…
Abbie Howard Hunt Stuart – 2/11/24
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…
Earl Bean – 2/4/24
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…
Josephine Corliss Preston – 1/28/24
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…
Japanese workers at JJ Brenner – 1/21/24
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…
Sun Wo – 1/14/24
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…
Ira Ward – 12/30/23
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.…
Pumping Station – 12/24/23
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…
Ed Henderson – 12/17/23
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…
Frederick Xenophon Jacob Miller – 12/10/23
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…
David Shelton – 12/3/23
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.…
Thomas Huntamer – 11/26/23
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…
Charles Mason – 11/19/23
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…
Cain family – 11/12/23
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…
The Trosper Family – 11/5/23
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…
William McLane – 10/29/23
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…
Olympia Country and Golf Club – 10/22/23
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…
A.H. Chambers – 10/15/23
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…
Maybelle Tilley (Countess Stavra) – 10/8/23
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…
William Owen Bush – 10/1/23
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.…
Michael T. Simmons – 9/24/23
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…
Clarence Martin – 9/17/23
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…
Lydia Hawk – 9/10/23
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…
Ruth Yauger – 9/3/23
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…
Benjamin Franklin and Elizabeth Ann Kennedy – 8/27/23
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…
Stephen Ruddell – 8/20/23
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,…
Isaac Dofflemyer – 8/13/23
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…
Littlerock with Albert Rutledge – 8/6/23
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…
A.B. Woodard – 7/30/23
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…
Frank Howard – 7/23/23
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…
Governor Isaac Stevens – 7/16/23
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.…
Samuel Woodruff – 7/9/23
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…
Milroy family – 7/2/23
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…
Lurana Ware Percival – 6/25/23
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…
Margaret Hazard Stevens – 6/18/23
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…
Stories of the Oregon Trail
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…
James Offutt – 6/11/23
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…
Urban Hicks – 6/4/23
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…
End of Oregon Trail – 5/28/23
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…
Colonel Speed Sapp – 5/21/23
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.…
Thomas Budd – 5/14/23
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…
Margaret McKenny – 5/7/23
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…
O.C. Lacey – 4/30/23
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…
Talcott Brothers – 4/23/23
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…
Charlotte Emily Olney French – 4/16/23
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…
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…
Charles Giles – 3/26/23
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…
Anson Henry – 4/2/23
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…
Langridge sisters – 3/19/23
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…
Iva Van Epps and Ruth Allison – 3/12/23
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,…
Nathaniel Crosby – 3/5/23
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…
George Mottman – 2/26/23
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…
P.H. Carlyon – 2/19/23
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…
Washington State Library Endangered Building page from DoCoMoMo
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…
Samuel Coulter – 2/12/23
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…
Ike Ellis – 2/5/23
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,…
Women’s Marathon Trials – 1/29/23
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…
Yardbirds – Olyblog post retrieved from Wayback Machine
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…
Kinney family – 1/22/23
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…
Little Hollywood recalled by Dean Shacklett
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…
Legion Way Trees – 1/15/23
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…
Georgia Pacific Building Docomo page – captured from Wayback Machine
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…
Capitol Park Apartments – Blog entry by Steven L
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 —…
General Administration Building endangered – captured page from Docomomo
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…
Albertina Schneider – 1/8/23
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…
Edmund Sylvester – 1/1/23
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 Elk – 12/25/22
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…
Bernice Sapp – 12/18/22
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…
Livery Stable – 12/11/22
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…
Haskin and Peele – 12/4/22
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…
Columbia Hotel – 11/27/22
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…
Motorcycle Officer Koepke – 11/20/22
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…
Olympia Motorcycle Club – 11/13/22
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…
Nancy Smith and Mandana Smith Bush – 11/6/22
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…
Sons of Veterans – 10/30/22
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…
Benjamin Franklin and Elizabeth Kennedy – 10/23/22
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…
Old State Capitol Annex – 10/16/22
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…
Hop pickers – 10/9/2022
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…
Cultural History of the Olympia Oyster, by Ed Echtle
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…
Union Block – 10/2/22
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 – 9/25/22
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 Van Trump – 9/18/22
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 Prices with their automobiles 9-11-22
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 – 9/4/22
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…
Queen Ruth with her court – 8/28/22
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…
Olympia from the West Side – 8/21/22
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…
Central School – 8/14/22
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…
T.C. Van Epps Land Office – 8/7/22
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…
Oyster Harvesting – 7/31/22
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…
Logging in transition – 7/24/22
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.…
Bilger and Going – 7/17/22
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, Earl, and Mollie Bean – 7/10/22
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…
Independence Day Canoe Race – 7/3/22
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 Courthouse – 6/26/22
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 – 6/19/22
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…
Paving Downtown – 6/12/22
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…
Mary Olney Brown – 6/5/22
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…
Clark Savidge – 5/29/22
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…
First Airfield – 5/22/22
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…
Bettman Block – 5/15/22
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…
Morning Olympian – 5/8/22
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…
Jeffers returning from hunt – 5/1/22
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 Kiki – 4/24/22
“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…