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 Simmons arrived in Thurston County in 1845, as part of the Simmons-Bush Party. Simmons and others had interests in mills on the Deschutes River in…
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 Martin was on hand when the road was dedicated in 1937; it became an important component of the Washington State segment of the Pacific Coast…
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 in Lacey is named for John and Sarah’s daughter, pictured here. Image selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society…
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 Point Road area. Part of the property was sold and eventually became the Capital Mall; another part became the Capital High School campus. The Yaugers’…
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 wife Elizabeth Ann Kennedy, pictured here in a painting based on a photograph. The Kennedys were early settlers in Mason County. Image selected and captioned…
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, was involved in the so-called Indian war of 1855-1856. He later married Margaret White; the couple moved to Olympia where they built the Ruddell House…
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 area. Pictured here is Isaac Dofflemyer, in a charcoal portrait. Image selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and…
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 its name, in this photo from 1963. The Rutledge family settled here in 1855. The homestead was one of the earliest in Washington Territory, and…
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 in what is now Woodard Bay on Henderson Inlet. They lived there for only a short time, moving to Olympia before 1860. Son Alonzo Bixby…
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 who operated the Pacific House downtown. She and her husband Alexander adopted a mixed-race son, Frank Howard, pictured here. Frank Howard carried on his mother’s…
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. Governor Stevens was appointed to be the first governor of the newly-created Washington Territory in 1853. He later was killed at the Civil War’s Battle…
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 Olympia. He set aside land for the park that bears his name. He was also a talented amateur actor and musician and is pictured here…
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 of Indian Affairs in Washington Territory, in which capacity he successfully advocated on behalf of Yakama Chief Kamiakin’s ancestral rights. General Milroy is pictured here…
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 was an Olympia merchant and lumberman. Pictured here is his wife, Lurana Ware Percival, who met and married Samuel after each had arrived separately in…
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 prominent member of New England society, who married future Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens. She was less than enthusiastic upon her arrival in muddy, thinly populated…
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 White Ruddell, and Margaret White Chambers, edited by Annamary Fitzgerald and published in 2000 by the Bigelow House Preservation Association. Note: Some of the historical…
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 present-day Tenino in the 1850s. James is shown here with a bundle of hops. Hop cultivation existed from the earliest days of Washington Territorial settlement.…
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 1850s. He served as Territorial Auditor, librarian, schoolteacher, and publisher. His son, Gallatin Gwin Hicks, established a resort, Gwinwood, on Hicks Lake, that still exists.…
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 I-5 was built, this road was called View Place. The name was changed in 1983 to recognize that this road was part of the northern…
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. Looking Back recently ran a photograph of Bernice Sapp, a prominent suffragist. Shown here is her brother, Colonel Speed Sapp. Confusingly, Colonel was his first…
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 Salish Sea from 1838 to 1842, including South Puget Sound. Thomas Budd was the acting master of the Peacock, a sloop of war. He was…
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 in downtown Olympia, to autograph her book The Savory Wild Mushroom. A local park, campground, and elementary school are all named after Miss McKenny, a lifelong…
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 C. Lacey, an Olympia real estate developer and attorney. He was appointed Justice of the Peace in 1893 but was not popular and did not…
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 his family in 1872 and opened his jewelry store on Main Street (now Capitol Way). He was later joined by his two brothers, Grant and…
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 here, came to this area in the 1850s. An ardent supporter of female voting rights, Charlotte was one of the first women to vote in…
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…
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 physician to President Abraham Lincoln, who appointed him surveyor general for Washington Territory. Anson was visiting Richmond, Virginia, when Lincoln was assassinated, and helped Mary…
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 Bay Drive and Giles Avenue. Charles Giles was a mill operator, whose business was nearby. The home is on the state register of historic places.…
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 England, arrived in this area in the mid 1800s. Pictured here are his three daughters, Alice, Frances, and Kate. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah…
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, ran a stationery store, and later a real estate office. Pictured here is his daughter, Iva, with her good friend Ruth Allison, at Percival Creek.…
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 in 1851. Pictured here, third from left, is Nathaniel Crosby III, Tumwater merchant. The Crosby House in Tumwater, now a museum, was originally built by…
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 for George Mottman, pictured here. He immigrated from Germany and came to Olympia in 1885. He began as a clerk at the Toklas and Kaufman…
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 a dentist and his brother Fred a jeweler and real estate developer. Both men were city boosters and active in local politics. Pictured here is…
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 of his career, the Washington State Library Building (Joel M. Pritchard Building), located on the State Capitol Campus south of the Legislative Building, was the…
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 name was changed to Bucoda for the first syllables of the businessmen who owned the coal mines in the area: James BUckley, Samuel COulter (pictured…
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, and mayor of Olympia in territorial days. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum,…
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 railroad berm in the north basin of the lake. The park earned its current name, Marathon Park, when the City of Olympia won the right…
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 the way I’ve heard the old Yard Birds/Sea Mart explained to those who never had the pleasure of shopping at the Olympia landmark that held…
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 named (contrary to what some may believe, the street name came before the band!) The family consisted of Henry and his wife Martha, and children…
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 — Anonymous [The following article was originally published in the Sunday Olympian, Mar. 23, 1958. Mr. Shacklett’s tenure as a reporter and editor for the paper…
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 I veterans. In honor of Olympia veterans’ service, Sixth Avenue was renamed Legion Way in 1927, and the Legion Way trees were planted in honor…
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 URL http://www.docomomo-wewa.org/endangered_detail.php?id=10 Georgia – Pacific Plywood Co. Office The number of formally recognized and designated Modern resources in Washington State is low. Less than…
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 — Anonymous Although I called them Capital Apartments in a recent post, apparently they were also known as the Capitol Park Apartments. Shortly before they were demolished to…
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 Building The Department of General Administration (GA) continues with plans to create an ambitious new Executive Office Plaza/Heritage Center despite its effect on this significant…
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 for the Schneider family, early area settlers. Pictured here is Swedish-born Albertina Schneider, wife of Konrad Schneider. She was a long-time resident of West Bay…
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 his business partner Levi Smith. When Smith drowned in an accident, Sylvester inherited Smith’s claim to what is now the core of Olympia. He platted…
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 on the Deschutes River in Tumwater. Hazard fenced in the area below the falls and installed a menagerie of elk, swans, and bears, to attract…
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 the National American Woman Suffrage Convention in 1909. Held in Seattle simultaneously with the Alaska-Yukon Pacific Exposition, it was a major event in the campaign for…
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 first proprietor was Moses Rice Tilley, whose father Abram operated an early inn and stagecoach stop on the route between Olympia and Longview. The business…
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 of the Clipper Café). The owners James Haskin and Robert Peele are likely two of the three men posing in front of the shop. Photograph…
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 and popular with politicians, lobbyists, and travelers. The hotel was acquired by George Carlton and renamed the Carlton Hotel; later rebuilt and enlarged. The hotel…
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 Masonic Hall on Main Street (Capitol Way). His motorcycle was a Yale 7 HP (horsepower). Image selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of…
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 social occasions such as dances. In this photograph, women are seated sidesaddle at the rear of the cycle while the cycles’ male drivers stand beside…
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 settlers George and Isabella James Bush. W.O. Bush was a noted agriculturist and was Washington’s first Black legislator. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross…
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 Civil War. The GAR and Sons of Veterans headquarters in Olympia was the former Central School building, then located at 200 Union Avenue (the building…
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 Simmons families. The Kennedys were early settlers in Mason County: Kennedy Creek is named for the family. Image selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on…
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 state government functions. This photograph from around 1902 shows the groundbreaking for the annex. Governor John R. Rogers is in front, wielding a ceremonial shovel.…
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 hop pickers pose in front of the crop in this photo from about 1889. Most hop pickers of that time were Native American and Chinese.…
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 on the Olympia Oyster as a key part of their food supply. Its abundance in South Sound gave the Squaxin people a valuable asset to…
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 Cherry, approximately where City Hall is now. The building was perched on pilings over the Moxlie Creek estuary at that location.. Moxlie Creek now runs…
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 as the author of the song “The Old Settler,” sometimes called the unofficial folk song of Washington State, with its iconic line “surrounded by acres…
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. When not at the mountain, he lived in Olympia and Yelm. In this photo from around 1911, he is shown here at Paradise Valley, holding…
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. The Prices were among the first automobile owners in Olympia. The photograph was taken by Agnes Mitchel Price’s sister, Ida B. Smith. Agnes and Ida…
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 sportswear and outwear to be shipped throughout the United States and beyond. Pictured here are co-owner Sol Meyers and his crew in the winding room.…
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 out Iva Van Epps for the honor. Here is Queen Ruth with her court, taken during the four-day event. This photo by Ida B. Smith…
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 crossed the wide Deschutes Estuary, leading to downtown Olympia. The railroad track, with its depot at far left, linked Olympia to Tenino and access to…
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 Washington Street. The building still exists and is one of the oldest in the city: it was cut in two and moved to the corner…
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 Way). The building still exists and is currently the home of Browsers Bookshop. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia…
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 at low tide to shovel oysters into a nearby scow. At the time this photograph was taken, harvesting was done nearly exclusively by Japanese immigrants.…
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. At left is a narrow gauge railroad, with a steam locomotive visible at the far end of the image, taking the logs to nearby mills.…
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 Olympia Hardware building at 109 Capitol Way North, still in existence in the National Olympia Downtown Historic District. Image selected and captioned by Deborah Ross…
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 now known as Olympia Supply, still in existence in downtown Olympia. Jacob, Mollie, and their son Earl are pictured here around 1907. The Bean family’s…
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 newspaper accounts, the eleven-man canoes, two of which are shown here, were named the Loon, Reliance Number 2, and Sea Otter. The Sea Otter, captained…
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 of the State Theater). It was built in 1902 and later razed. To the right of the building in this image is Columbia Hall, which…
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 the earliest non-Indigenous American settlers north of the Columbia River. Henry never married and lived on the Bush farm in Tumwater until his death in…
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 to pave its downtown streets. The project consumed the following spring and summer. Here we see workers paving Fourth Avenue. The buildings in the background…
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 affectionately called “Coldwater Brown,” to distinguish her from another Olympia woman with the same last name, known as “Presbyterian Brown.” Dr. Brown is better remembered…
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 member of Olympia society. Image selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum, olympiahistory.org. Frank Camp…
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 completed, in May 1911, aviator Fred Wiseman piloted his tiny aircraft to make several landings in the newly filled area. The little airplane is now…
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 was damaged in the 1949 Earthquake and the second story and parapet removed. The building still exists, much altered. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah…
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 press operators. This building was succeeded in 1930 by the current Mission-style Olympia Press Building at the same site, now home to several downtown businesses.…
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 (it was replaced by the current Jeffers Building at the same location). Joe Jeffers and friends pose in front of the studio as they return…
“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 Hawaii. Before Washington became a U.S. Territory, he had worked for the Hudson’s Bay Company in what is now Dupont. Kiki was Native American. The…
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, a fellow Confederate sympathizer. James Tilton had care of his namesake when George left to join the Confederate army (link here for more information on…
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” Streets. The 45 stars on the large flag establish that the photo was taken between 1896 and 1907. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross…
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 to the corner of Third and Main, now State Avenue and Capitol Way. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia…
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 positions throughout his long life. His home was at the northwest corner of Legion and Capitol (then called 6th and Main), kitty-corner from Sylvester Park.…
[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 the Coastal Salish who occupied the site for many generations before the American settlement was established. The end of what we now know as Budd…
[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 a hub for entertainment, public meetings and social events. Originally built as the Liberty Theater in 1924, it reopened in 1985 after an extensive renovation…
[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 Number 1, the first fire engine company to be established in Washington Territory, was formed in Olympia in 1865. Olympia’s first salaried fireman was hired…
[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 on this website (some individuals will have links to more than one page). Links in bold face indicate that an image of the official is…
[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 transit needs for the more than 50 years that straddled the dawn of the 20th century. The name, so the story goes, came from a…
[Captured from Wayback machine that archived deleted City of Olympia pages] E.N. Steele About E. N. (Earl) Steele was born April 19, 1881 in Altoona, Iowa, the son of John and Margaret (Newell) Steele. He married Clara Remdt of Findley, Ohio, on December 25, 1917. They had three children: Margaret Steele Everst, Richard N. Steele,…
[Captured from Wayback machine that archived deleted City of Olympia pages] Caleb S Reinhart About Caleb Reinhart was the son of Stephen and Sarah Reinhart, pioneers who crossed the plains in 1852 over the old Oregon Trail. He was born April 5, 1856 in Olympia, approximately ten years after the first western settlers had arrived.…
[Captured from Wayback machine that archived deleted City of Olympia pages] About The following information is reprinted from a poster on display at Olympia High School (formally dedicated as William Winlock Miller High School). Before the establishment of Washington Territory, William Winlock Miller arrived in Olympia in 1850, with the first commission as an American…
[Captured from Wayback machine that archived deleted City of Olympia page] Francis Henry Birth: January 27, 1827, Galena, Il Death: September 27, 1893, Olympia, WA Spouse: Eliza B. Henry (Married Yam Hill, Oregon, May 14, 1857) About Born in Galena, Illinois, January 27, 1827, Francis Henry was the first white child born in Galena. His parents, William and…
[Captured from Wayback machine that archived deleted City of Olympia page] About On January 28, 1859 the Washington State Territorial Legislature adopted Articles of Incorporation for the Town of Olympia, and appointed Elwood Evans to serve on a 5-person interim Town Board until the first Olympia elections were held. The interim Board convened for its first meeting…
[Captured from Wayback machine that archived deleted City of Olympia page] Thornton F. McElroy Born: West Middletown, Pennsylvania, 1825 Died: February 4, 1885 (Buried Masonic Cemetary, Olympia) Spouse: Sarah Elizabeth (Bates) McElroy (Married October 15, 1847, Pittsfield, Illinois) About Started from Pittsfield, Illinois by ox team, date 1849. Arrival on coast at Oregon City, Oregon Territory in 1849.…
[Captured from Wayback machine that archived deleted City of Olympia page] Born: Dundee (Yates County), New York Died: November 18, 1912, Olympia, Washington. Spouse: Mary Ann Kandle (Married July 1842) About Started from Fort Wayne, Indiana by team, Spring of 1848. Arrival on coast: Oregon City, Oregon, Fall of 1848. Spent the winter there and then wagoned to…
Fraternal organizations were immensely popular in the latter part of the 19th century. Pictured here are Olympia members of the Uniform Rank, Knights of Pythias (KoP). According to a history of the KoP, the Uniform Rank was an auxiliary of the KoP, formed during the Civil War and organized along the lines of a military…
Pictured here is Olympia native and resident Elizabeth Ayer, the first female to graduate from the University of Washington architectural school. Ayer was responsible for several important homes in Olympia and elsewhere, including the endangered Hanson Duplex on Capitol Campus. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and…
Trifold brochure produced by the City of Olympia Olympia Area Black Pioneers
Pictured here is the James family, including father Toone James (Chinese name approximates to Gim Dune), his wife Nettie Chiang and their five children. Most Chinese in Olympia at the time were from Toisan in southern China. They tended oyster beds, worked in canneries, businesses, and restaurants. Son Walter James later opened the landmark Nankin…
Joseph Conner and his family arrived in Thurston County in 1852, the peak year of the Oregon Trail migration. The family settled in what is now Lacey. Joseph was killed in the Puget Sound War of 1855-1856. Pictured here are his four children, Milton, Alice, Jane, and Martha, in a studio photograph taken in the…
The former logging community of Bordeaux, Washington, located in Capitol Forest, was founded in the late 1800s by two brothers. It grew over the years to include a hotel, school, stores, and over 1,000 residents. Logging crew members and family members are posing here in front of a donkey engine. A donkey engine was a…
The historic Olympia Armory is soon to be converted to a city-sponsored Creative Campus. In addition to serving the Washington National Guard, the Armory was a venue for social gatherings, sports events, and fundraisers. This photograph, taken at the 1958 Olympia Dog Fanciers Association competition, shows Frances Rice with her winning great Dane, Long Crest…
Shown in this 1910 photo are the office and staff members of Olympia’s Washington Standard, published by John Miller Murphy. The paper espoused progressive causes such as female suffrage, abolition of slavery, temperance, and other reforms. Unlike many publishers of the time, Murphy did not consistently endorse a particular political party’s position – the paper’s…
The White family, consisting of William and Margaret White and their children, were among the earliest American settlers in Washington Territory. Margaret and her three daughters later all settled within a few blocks of each other on Olympia’s east side, and were active in the community. Pictured here is Clara White Dunbar. She and her…
Justice Alexander has deep Washington roots. He was born in Aberdeen, and, at an early age, moved with his family to Olympia. He attended Garfield grade school and then graduated from Olympia High School, which, at the time, was located within sight of the Temple of Justice. After receiving an undergraduate degree in history from…
Greg Griffith has worked for over 30 years in the Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historical Preservation. In that timespan he has worked as the agency’s historic preservation planner and implementing the Section 106 consultation process for the built environment. He later moved into the position of Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer. In that…
A native Washingtonian, Ann was born in eastern Washington and raised in Tacoma. She moved to Olympia in January, 1971 and for most of those nearly 47 years has been active in the community. As her children were growing up she had a strong interest in their various activities and education volunteering with many youth…
The watercolor reproduced here was painted in 1857 by James Madison Alden, nephew of James Alden, commander for the U.S. Coast Survey in the 1850s. It is the oldest known image of Olympia, showing Main Street (now Capitol Way) extending down to Budd Inlet. Image selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the…
The extended Chambers family were among the earliest settlers in Thurston County. David and Elizabeth Chambers’ sons Andsworth and Walter set up as butchers in Olympia, with a long-running shop, pictured here, at the southeast corner of Fourth Avenue and Washington Street. Andsworth also served as Olympia mayor and developed the Chambers Block building…
The historic Olympia Armory is soon to be converted to a city-sponsored Creative Commons. In addition to serving the Washington National Guard since the late 1930s, the Armory was a venue for social gatherings, sports events, and fundraisers. This photo portrays Governor Langlie, his wife, and other dignitaries, at the 1941 Inaugural Ball. Please submit…
Throughout 2021 we have been featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. The cityscape project portrays what Sylvester Park and Olympia might have looked like through history, from the vantage point of a window high in the tower of Sylvester Mansion, overlooking the park. For this last…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. Pictured in the 1874 cityscape is Hazard Stevens. He was the son of first Washington Territorial governor, Isaac Stevens. After serving in the Civil War, Hazard returned to Olympia and became a developer and city booster. He established…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. The 2001 cityscape includes Mary Ann Bigelow. Mrs. Bigelow, an artist and author, was named Mother of the Year in 1964, the occasion for the above photograph with her son. The Bigelows sold their home, now the Bigelow…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. The 1972 cityscape features Dixy Lee Ray, who was elected in 1978 as Washington State’s first female governor. Ray ran as a Democrat, despite having no previous political experience, and her one term was marked by controversy as…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. Pictured in the 1950 cityscape is Amanda Benek Smith. In 1953, Smith was elected as the first female mayor of Olympia. She oversaw several civic improvements during her tenure as mayor and was noted for her spirit of…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from artist Robert Chamberlain’s Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. Pictured in the 1933 cityscape is Washington Secretary of State Belle Reeves. First elected as Chelan legislative representative through a write-in campaign, Mrs. Reeves spent her entire career in politics, many years as the only female…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. The 1899 cityscape features the beautiful building that graces the east side of Sylvester Park. It was built in 1892 to serve as the Thurston County Courthouse. It is now the Office of the…
Produced by the Thurston County Board of Commissioners and the Thurston County Historic Commission, and distributed by the Olympia Historical Society & Bigelow House Museum, Thurston County: Water, Woods and Prairies is a 290 page, fully illustrated volume containing essays authored by local historians about Native Americans, maritime explorers, loggers, early settlers and farmers, as…
Thanks to a generous grant from the Pendleton & Elisabeth Carey Miller Charitable Foundation., we have been able to scan over 200 items from the Bigelow House‘s collection of family photographs. Over one hundred of these have now been added to our website and convey a sense of the family, home, friendships, and daily life.…
In addition to family photos, the Bigelow family collected dozens of photographs of friends and neighbors in the form of “cartes de visite,” a type of photographic calling card popular in the 19th century. This page shows a few of these, all Olympia area residents. Each image provides a link to the page of our…
In 1916 and 1917, Margaret Bigelow went to Honolulu, Hawaii by boat to teach at the Korean Girls’ Seminary, established by Syngman Rhee in 1916 in the Puunui area on the island. The school was to improve the educational opportunities for the daughters particularly of those working on sugar plantations in the area. These photographs…
Many Olympia families took to campsites in the summertime for fun, recreation, and get-togethers. The images on this page show a beachfront shack that the Bigelows repaired to in the early 20th century summer. Digitization and posting of these images from the Bigelow House Collection funded through the Pendleton & Elisabeth Carey Miller Charitable Foundation.…
Living close to Budd Inlet and Priest Point Park, the Bigelow family enjoyed waterfront activities. These images are iconic snapshots of water sports that many families around Olympia enjoyed during the summer. Digitization and posting of these images from the Bigelow House Collection funded through the Pendleton & Elisabeth Carey Miller Charitable Foundation. ©Bigelow House…
The Bigelow children enjoyed a wide variety of friends and social activities. The images on this page show some of the many get-togethers they experienced as young adults in the early 20th century. Digitization and posting of these images from the Bigelow House Collection funded through the Pendleton & Elisabeth Carey Miller Charitable Foundation. ©Bigelow…
Daniel R. Bigelow claimed and was granted 160 acres under the Oregon Donation Land Law. The property included a spring which remains flowing on the property. Daniel and his wife established the “Bigelow Orchard” and raised a variety of crops and livestock, according to early agricultural census records. The property had a variety of outbuildings…
The Bigelow House, listed on local, state and national registers of historic places, was built by 1860 and is a fine example of the Carpenter Gothic style. The house, which was restored in the 1990s, retains the signature elements of the style on the exterior. The house interior features authentic furnishings and artwork as well…
Margaret Stewart was born in Ohio in 1819, the daughter of Ann McLaughlin (1795-1847) and Reverend William Stewart (1794-1885). Margaret married William Nathan White in Illinois in 1835. William Nathan White came over the Oregon Trail in 1850 and Margaret White followed in 1851. After living in Oregon and then Chehalis area, they moved to…
Mary Ann Campbell Bigelow 1913-2005 Mary Ann Campbell married Daniel Sylvester Bigelow in 1935 and moved into the Bigelow House sharing it first with Margaret and then for many years with Ruth and her husband. It was not until Ruth’s death in 1950 that the family lived in the entire house. Mary Ann and Daniel…
Daniel Sylvester Bigelow 1911-2005 Daniel Bigelow was the oldest child of George Royal and Edith Sylvester Bigelow. He followed in the family tradition of law, graduating from the University of Washington Law School. He worked for the State of Washington. He married Mary Ann Campbell in 1935. They had four sons: George, John, David and…
George Royal Bigelow 1881-1961 The youngest of the D. R. and Ann Elizabeth White Bigelow family attended Tacoma High School (with Margaret) and Ohio Wesleyan University before graduating from the University of Washington Law School. He married Edith Sylvester (1881-1973) in 1910. They had four children. He was a long- time attorney in Olympia, including…
Richardson Lee (Ray) Bigelow 1873-1967 Ray Bigelow married Belle Knox (1878-1927) in 1900. They had one child. Ray was working as a dairyman in 1910 and he worked at Sloan Shipyards in Olympia in World War I. He was later an insurance agent and built the Bigelow Apartments in 1922 and continued to manage them…
Ruth Bigelow 1860-1950 Ruth worked at the Territorial Legislature as a “Messenger” in 1879 and was attending Union Academy also in 1879. She passed teacher exam that same year. It is unclear if she taught locally. She married Albert Wright (1860-1953) in 1910 at the Bigelow House and lived her entire life there. The Wright…
Duncan Jotham Bigelow 1871-1945 Duncan Bigelow attended the Olympia Collegiate Institute, graduating in 1892. He later owned a large dairy farm on land near Bigelow Lake where he had an award winning herd and also farmed in South Bay. He married Sarah Markham (1872-1965) in 1893. Duncan Bigelow also ran unsuccessfully for Thurston County Sheriff.…
Margaret Bigelow 1878 -1937 Margaret was the youngest of the Bigelow daughters. She graduated from Tacoma High School and taught in several schools locally. She later graduated from Ellensburg Normal School, attended Ohio Wesleyan University and later attended Columbia University and secured a Master of Arts there in 1914. She returned to teach in Olympia…
Evaline Bigelow 1858-1959 Evaline attended the Union Academy and taught in schools in several areas of western Washington before her marriage to William Bonney (1856-1945) in 1882. Both William and Evaline were active in the Washington State Historical Society, where William was a curator. The Bonneys had two children who lived to adulthood. Zaidee (high…
Tirzah Bigelow 1855-1927 Tirzah was the oldest of the Bigelow children. She attended Union Academy, founded by Daniel Bigelow, and taught in the Olympia and Tacoma area. She married the Union Academy Principal, Miller Royal (1852-3?-1910) in 1877 and they had two children–Ethel Royal Hardman and Bonnie Royal Gastra. Tirzah and Miller were later divorced…
Daniel Richardson Bigelow 1824-1905 Daniel Bigelow was born in New York and graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York and read law at Harvard before coming west in 1851 via the Oregon Trail to Portland, Oregon and then north by ship to Olympia. Active in politics, he was a member of the first Territorial…
The Bigelow Family After their marriage in 1854, Daniel Richardson and Ann Elizabeth White Bigelow raised a large family at the Bigelow House. Click on individual pages in the Bigelow House Photograph Collection to see images of family members, mostly at the Bigelow House and at other important events in their lives. There are also…
Ann Elizabeth White Bigelow 1836-1926 Born 1836 in Springfield, Illinois, Ann Elizabeth White traveled with her family over the Oregon Trail in 1851. After teaching for a number of years, she married Daniel Bigelow in 1854 at her parents’ home. Daniel and Ann Elizabeth Bigelow were stalwarts in both the Methodist Church and the local…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. The 1874 cityscape includes the Marshville Bridge, built in 1869 to connect downtown Olympia with West Olympia. In this photograph from around that time, we see the bridge in the foreground, spanning the Deschutes Estuary; downtown Olympia is…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. The 2001 cityscape features the Olympia Farmers Market, near the northern tip of the Port of Olympia. The market, one of the largest in Puget Sound, was built at this location in 1996. Photograph selected and captioned by…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from artist Robert Chamberlain’s Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. Many interesting and charming surprises are included in each cityscape. In the 1950 cityscape, a young man is seen in Sylvester Park. This is “a portrait of the artist as a young man,” Mr. Chamberlain himself…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. The 1950 cityscape depicts Margaret McKenny in conversation with a young man who will be featured on his own account in an upcoming Looking Back. Miss McKenny grew up in Olympia and in her adulthood became a world-renowned…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. In the 1933 cityscape we see the Old State Capitol Building, which had recently been repurposed to the house the Superintendent of Public Instruction after the Legislative Building was completed in 1926. Pictured revisiting her old haunts is…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. At the far right of the 1899 cityscape is the Olympia Opera House, built in 1890 by publisher John Miller Murphy. Over its short 35 year life, it hosted national celebrities such as Mark Twain, and many local…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. Shown in the distance of the 1972 cityscape is the Capitol Center Building, erected in 1966. The building was the feather in local architect G. Stacey Bennett’s cap. It featured cutting edge modernism with its glass curtain effect,…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. The 1899 cityscape includes an elderly Mother Joseph visiting St. Peter’s Hospital, one of the many schools and hospitals that her order, the Sisters of Providence, built during her long tenure in the Pacific Northwest. Mother Joseph is…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. The 1874 cityscape includes Isaac (Ike) Ellis. Ellis was a noted and successful lumberman, establishing efficient logging and milling operations throughout Puget Sound. Later in his life, he invested in a short-lived racetrack in what is now Lacey.…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. The 1856 cityscape includes George Bush, early American settler. He and the Simmons party arrived first in Oregon Territory; but as a mixed race man, Bush was not welcome there. The party proceeded north to what is now…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. The 2001 cityscape includes the popular Heritage Fountain, between Fourth and Fifth Avenues. The property was acquired by the city, with the fountain donated by a generous family. It was dedicated in 1996 and is one of the…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. The 1972 cityscape includes Joyce Simmons Cheeka, Squaxin Island Tribe activist. Mrs. Cheeka was trained as a Rememberer, responsible for preserving and celebrating her tribal culture. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. The 1950 cityscape features construction of the Fifth Avenue dam and bridge to create Capitol Lake. In this photo from 1949 we can see the project from the vantage point of the Fourth Avenue Bridge. Photograph selected and…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. When the state acquired the Old State Capitol Building and moved the seat of government to downtown Olympia, it was apparent that downtown accommodations were inadequate to house all of the legislators, lobbyists and others during legislative session. After much…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. The S.S. Beaver, pictured in the 1856 cityscape, was the first steam-operated vessel in Puget Sound. She was owned by the British Hudson’s Bay Company and plied the waters of our sound and all the way to Alaska,…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. The 1899 cityscape features a bicycle parade around the grounds of Sylvester Park. Bicycling was all the rage in the last years of the 19th century. Pictured here are Olympia’s Robert Blankenship and another unidentified man with their…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. In the 1899 cityscape we see Bertha Eugley in front of her millinery (hat) store on 6th Avenue (now Legion). Late nineteenth century women would not dream of going out in public without a hat, and Mrs. Eugley…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. The 1874 cityscape includes Anna Conner Hartsuck, a so-called “Mercer Girl,” brought to the Pacific Northwest in the 1860s to remedy a deficit of eligible brides. The Mercer Girls story inspired the TV series “Here Come the Brides.”…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. The 1856 cityscape depicts Clara Pottle Sylvester with her husband, Olympia’s co-founder Edmund Sylvester, pointing out their new home, then under construction. Clara arrived in Olympia as a newlywed in 1854. She was an ardent supporter of women’s…
June 1, 2021 To all our very valued Bulletin recipients, Due to increasing personal time constraints, I am reluctantly stepping away from writing the Bulletin. My association with OHS-BHM has been one of the most enlightening experiences I have had, with both the Bulletin and my repair and restoration work on the Bigelow House…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. Barbara O’Neill, pictured in the 2001 cityscape, was a commanding presence in our area for many years. While operating a soul food restaurant on Fourth Avenue, she instituted a practice of providing free holiday meals for those in…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. The 1950 cityscape begins to include some of downtown Olympia’s iconic mid-Century architecture. The Memorial Clinic just east of the Fourth Avenue bridge, designed in 1948 by father-son team Joseph and Robert Wohleb, was an innovative concept at…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. The Security Building on Fourth Avenue, pictured in the 1933 cityscape, was Olympia’s first “skyscraper,” at five stories! The building features elaborate rosettes and pineapple motifs, a variety of rare stones, and mahogany woodwork throughout. Built on pilings that extended…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. The 1899 cityscape shows one of Olympia’s five yellow trolleys proceeding southward on Main Street (now Capitol Way). The trolley system was electrified in 1892, with power supplied by the hydroelectric plant at Deschutes Falls. The system ran…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. Religious communities have always played an important role in the life of our residents. First Congregational church, pictured here at its first location on 9th and Capitol (out of view in the 1874 cityscape), was the fifth church…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. The site of the Washington Center for the Performing Arts has been an entertainment mecca since the 1920s, beginning with the Liberty movie theater. As suburban multiplexes spelled the slow demise of downtown cinema venues, the city of…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. The 1972 cityscape pictures The Governor Hotel at the corner of 7th and Legion. The hotel has existed here since 1890, but in three different incarnations. The latest structure was built in 1970 in a mid-Century modern design…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. In its early decades, as seen in the 1856 cityscape, Olympia’s commercial core was located in the few blocks north of State Avenue. In this photograph, taken much later, around 1902, we can still see remnants of the…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. The Miller’s Department Store building was erected at Legion Way and Capitol Way about 1949, around the time this photograph was taken. The building has housed a number of retail establishments throughout the years. Damage from the 2001…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. With the completion of the Carlyon Fill in 1911, the port area of Olympia was able to accommodate dramatic industrial growth. The Washington Veneer Company was founded in 1924, joining the existing Olympia Veneer cooperative at the northern…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. This photo, taken from the Old State Capitol building, shows Sylvester Park around the end of the 19th century. To the south of the park we see the planking of “the lid,” the predecessor of the 7th Avenue…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. John Miller Murphy, prolific, opinionated, long-lived editor of the Washington Standard, came to Olympia with his sister in 1851 and published the Standard from 1860 until 1921. The Standard building was located on Third Avenue (now State Avenue). Photograph selected…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. Leschi, a member of the Nisqually tribe, was designated a leader of the tribe in treaty negotiations after Washington gained territorial status, but refused to sign the Medicine Creek treaty, deeming it inadequate to preserve the Nisqually way…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. In 1995, Earthbound Productions founder Eli Sterling spearheaded the Procession of the Species, an annual event commemorating Earth Day and the natural environment. The event features thousands of participants and spectators and involves months of preparation. This angler…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. Radio station KGY is one of the oldest on the Pacific Coast, licensed in 1916. In 1960 it moved into a mid-Century modern building design by G. Stacey Bennett, at the far northern tip of the Port area. The…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. In May 1950, Olympia held a week-long celebration of our city’s centennial. The Olympian put together a multi-page spread, residents dressed as pioneers, culminating with the Grand Centennial Parade of Progress. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross.…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. A neighborhood known as Little Hollywood had existed for many years along the shores of the Deschutes Estuary (now Capitol Lake), but expanded during the Great Depression, as depicted in the cityscape for 1933. Buildings were a mixture…
David has always been interested in history. His maternal great great grandfather Joseph de Bettencourt came to California shortly after the Civil War to work on the western portion of the trans-continental railroad. The Bettencourts were early settlers of Livermore, California. A portion of the original ranch is still in the family. David has a…
Jean Wilkinson is a Puget Sound native. She was born and grew up in Bellingham, and moved to Tacoma to attend the University of Puget Sound where she earned a B.A. in History. After spending a year in Saarbrucken, Germany on a Fulbright Scholarship, Jean attended the University of Washington School of Law, attaining a…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. After the construction of the magnificent Thurston County Courthouse, now the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, the town commons was beautified into a public park with winding pathways, bandstand, and fountain. In the year of the 1899…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. Columbia Hall, pictured in the 1874 cityscape, was built in 1869 on 4th Avenue, near the center of downtown Olympia. It served a myriad of functions: fire station on the ground floor, city offices above, entertainment hall (it…
Throughout 2021 we are featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. In 1856, Olympia’s cofounder Edmund Sylvester was overseeing construction of his Italianate mansion, located just south of the town common now named after him. A German immigrant, Konrad Schneider, was responsible for much of the home’s construction. Schneider…
Throughout 2021 we will be featuring events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project, now available online. In 1838, an American naval officer, Charles Wilkes, was given command of an expedition to explore the Pacific Ocean and document its shores and islands. Wilkes reached the southern end of Puget Sound in July 1841. He…
In this image from November 1939, a group of Cub Scouts participates in a parade celebrating the Golden Anniversary of Washington’s admittance as a state into the Union. The float, though, commemorates an earlier occasion, namely the arrival of the first U.S. citizen settlers over the Oregon Trail. Image selected and captioned by Deborah Ross…
Manufacturing giant Georgia Pacific took over the Washington Veneer plywood plant in Olympia and built its headquarters in the Port area, a building noted for its modern architecture demonstrating the versatile uses of plywood. In this photograph from 1955, a tester at the headquarters analyzes the strength of plywood. The building is now occupied by…
Olympia native Ron Dodge was a 19 year old up-and-coming baseball player for Tacoma’s Cheney Studs when this photograph was taken of him in 1955. After playing for several different baseball teams, Ron signed up as a pilot with the U.S. Navy, and was sent to Vietnam, where he was shot down and held as…
A young Ken Balsley poses for his photograph, accompanying an article from 1971 that identified him as a student representative to The Evergreen State College Board of Trustees. Ken has remained in the Olympia area, as an influential journalist, broadcaster, commentator, and political activist. Image selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the…
Throughout much of the 19th century, citizens were entitled to claim acreage under a series of federal laws designed to encourage Americans to settle in Western territories and states. As the population of the West grew rapidly in the 1870s and 1880s, United States Land Offices were established to process land claims. A group of…
When Washington achieved statehood in 1889, it was by no means a foregone conclusion that Olympia would remain the capital of the new state. A concerted campaign featuring posters like this one, and “bribes” in the form of local restaurateur Woodbury Doane’s famous pan-roasted oysters, helped Olympia retain its status over contenders Ellensburg and North…
The Bordeaux logging community was established in the 1880s by French Canadian-born Thomas Bordeaux. Before the advent of a logging railroad, teams of oxen laboriously pulled the huge logs along makeshift corduroy roads. This photograph of one such team is said to be the model for the oxen team depicted in bronze on the doors…
Washington State celebrated its Diamond Jubilee (75th anniversary) in November 1964 with a 600 pound cake. Although there had been concerns that the cake would not fit inside the doors of the Legislative Building, it survived the journey, accompanied by sisters Christy, Gayle, and Sarah Conger, of Olympia. Image selected and captioned by Deborah Ross…
The Olympia High School football team of 1909 included the children of many of Olympia’s most prominent citizens. The sweaters, emblazoned with a capital “O,” were made at Olympia Knitting Mills, then in its infancy. Eventually the company grew to become a large operation that shipped knitted sportswear as far away as China. Photograph selected…
It may surprise some that there was no Washington State-owned Governor’s Mansion until 1909. The current mansion on Capitol Campus was first occupied by Governor Marion Hay and his family. In this photograph, taken around that time, two of the governor’s seven children pose on the mansion grounds with a member of the Mansion staff.…
Donald Anthony White, a young Black man, was sentenced to death after being convicted of murder. Protesters against the death penalty, including folk singer Joan Baez, convened on the steps of the Legislative Building in 1964, seeking clemency for White, who had been diagnosed as schizophrenic. He was granted a new trial and his sentence…
On October 1, 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt went on a whirlwind tour of the Olympic Peninsula, and then stopped for a few minutes in Olympia. Rain throughout the day had forced him to tour in a closed-top car for most of the trip, but he quickly changed to an open car just before he…
Bicycles and bicycle racing were immensely popular at the turn of the 20th century. A velodrome (bicycle racing arena) was constructed near the current site of Olympia High School, and races were held weekly. In this photo from around 1900, the contenders race by in a blur while spectators, many bearing umbrellas, fill the stands.…