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 in many arenas in early Washington Territory and State. He was a noted agriculturist, served as the first African American member of the Washington Territorial…
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 here, to the City Council. She was the first African American woman to hold such a position in Washington State. Pinson served on the Olympia…
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 food restaurant on Fourth Avenue, she instituted a practice of providing free holiday meals for those in need. The tradition continued after her death, with…
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 five books of the Hebrew Bible). He, his wife Mollie, and their son Earl owned the business now known as Olympia Supply, still in existence in…
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 challenged the state’s interpretation of fishing treaty rights. He was arrested for his efforts. He’s shown here in the Thurston County Courthouse, consulting with Puyallup…
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 areas of downtown informally dubbed “Chinatown,” although the location of these quarters changed over the years. Shown here is the back of Chinatown as it…
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 in 1970 of the famed Minneapolis restaurateur, who spent his childhood and early youth in Olympia. The article was first printed in 1995 in the…
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 of early settlers Robert and Mary Louisa Frost and family. He is buried in the Frost family cemetery lot at the Masonic Memorial Park. Photograph…
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 the Nisqually River. This photograph from 1962 accompanied a Daily Olympian profile of Frank, Sr., in which he lamented the struggles of the Nisqually Tribe and the…
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 developers of the Panorama retirement community developers. She and her life-long companion Marie Lauenroth were also among the first residents. In this 1969 photo, Margaret…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich history. Scandinavians began arriving in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1800s, with many working in logging, lumber, and construction industries. In 1921, Swedish-born Ed Westman, pictured here, founded the Olympia Veneer Company, which was a revolutionary experiment in cooperative ownership as well as…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich history. The Olympia Junk Company, located at the corner of Legion Way and Columbia, was founded in about 1906 by Jewish entrepreneur Morris Berkowitz, who is likely in this 1914 photograph. It was later purchased by Morris’s in-laws, the Bean family, and became Olympia…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. In about 1881, Squaxin tribal member John Slocum and Louis Yowaluch, pictured here, and their families, co-founded the Indian Shaker church near Mud Bay. The denomination eventually spread to include dozens of churches throughout the Pacific Northwest. The Indian Shaker church…
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 commerce and social life in many ways, including the restaurant business. Pictured here is Kay’s Chop Suey, on Capitol Way, owned and operated by the…
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 African-American Rebecca Groundage Howard and her husband Alexander. With its location near Budd Inlet, it was popular with travelers and locals alike. Photograph selected and…
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 Jerry Brown refused them permanent settlement status, Washington Governor Dan Evans asked staff member (later Secretary of State) Ralph Munro, pictured here, to go to…
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 general during the Civil War and served heroically at the Battle of Gettysburg before being appointed governor by President U.S. Grant. Image selected and captioned…
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 Rememberer, responsible for preserving and celebrating her tribal culture. She was an expert on Salish languages and taught at the University of Washington. Photograph selected and…
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, and their five children. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross and Ron Locke on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum.…
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, Klickitat, and Quinault tribes; and Hudson’s Bay Company employee John McLeod. She married Daniel Morgan Mounts, who settled near the mouth of the Nisqually River.…
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 to settle in Massachusetts, later moving to Olympia. A talented horticulturalist, he lived with his long-time companion Mary Quincy in a home on what is…
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 as an artist. He and his brother Bud McBride, and Bud’s long-term partner Richard Schneider, owned the Klee Wyk studio in the Nisqually Valley. Del’s…
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 Harris family were prominent Olympia merchants and active in the Jewish community. Their store building still exists at 518 Capitol Way, and their home, formerly…
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 brother-in-law Ferdinand Toklas established the Toklas and Kaufman mercantile store, now the Mottman Building at Fourth Avenue and Capitol Way. Photograph selected and captioned by…
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 Toisan, China. In 1902 he traveled back to China and returned with his wife Lay Shee. They had nine children. The family is pictured here…
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 techniques. She and her life-long partner Marjorie Sayre were active in the political and arts communities. Jocelyn is pictured here with American Association of University…
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 in Olympia in 1853. They operated a store at the foot of Main Street (Capitol Way). Pictured here is Louis’s son William Bettman, who took…
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 captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum, https://olympiahistory.org/many-streams-a-resource-guide/. Pen and ink portrait, undated, creator unknown, courtesy Washington…
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 by Ida Smith. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum, https://olympiahistory.org/many-streams-a-resource-guide/. Ida Smith photograph,…
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Jish Jish, also known by early Territorial settlers as Old Betsey, was likely a member of the Nisqually Tribe. She had seasonal homes at the current location of the Capitol Campus and at the Nisqually Reservation. She had a very long…
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 was a noted attorney in Olympia. She designed and built five distinguished homes in Olympia, based on a design from the magazine Architectural Digest. Trena…
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 originally harvested by Native Americans, by the 1930s Japanese immigrants were the primary source of harvesting labor in Thurston County. Pictured here are harvesters doing…
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 Pekin offered both Chinese and “American dishes.” It was one of several Chinese-owned restaurants in late 19th and early 20th century Olympia. It was owned…
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 on links below for individual elements and chapters. Link to the capture event in 2012 here Cover and Table of Contents Executive Summary Section I:…
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 Mars, son of James and Mary Jane Mars. Jesse was the first Black member of the fire company. Sadly, he died soon after this photograph…
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 water tank for visiting steamships. Kanaka Jack was a native of Hawaii. Before Washington became a U.S. Territory, he had worked for the Hudson’s Bay…
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 Tribe. He was hanged for his alleged killing of A. Benton Moses during the Indian Treaty Wars of 1855-1856. A judicial inquiry exonerated him posthumously…
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 temperance and animal rights. A fountain in Sylvester Park is dedicated to Miss Page, and two troughs at the foot of the fountain were intended…
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 make room for the ever-growing Capitol Campus, Charles E. Anderson and Jerrold F. Ballaine of the firm Anderson & Ashburn appraised the…
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 Pacific Coast. She bucked traditional female expectations by pursuing an independent career, wearing her hair short and, in common with other members of the Club,…
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 scrap metal business. He parlayed this into hardware store Olympia Supply on the shore of the Deschutes Estuary (now Capitol Lake). In the 1930s Earl Bean…
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 Washington State. She is shown here in a photograph from around 1918, holding her own among the other elected male statewide officials. Preston championed education…
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 dominant labor force in the harvesting and processing oysters for the area’s important industry. Pictured here is the “opening room” of the J.J. Brenner company,…
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 Third Avenue (now State Avenue). Chinese immigrants contributed to Olympia’s development throughout the latter part of the 19th century up to their present day descendants…
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. They were very early settlers in Thurston County. Ira Ward erected the first sawmill on the nearby Deschutes River, in what is now Tumwater. He…
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 form the headwaters of Moxie Creek. For many years Olympia took most of its municipal water supply from here. This painting by artist Edward Lange…
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 developed the nearby Wildwood subdivision. He was a member of the Washington State Legislature and son of Olympia evangelist Harriet Henderson and teacher John L.…
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 here is the family’s son Frederick Xenophon Jacob Miller, a prolific poet and author. Image selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the…
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. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum, olympiahistory.org. Rogers Photo, about 1889, Courtesy State…
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 member of Lacey’s City Council, beginning with its incorporation in 1966. He served as Lacey’s mayor in 1973. Image selected and captioned by Deborah Ross…
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 in 1853 until 1859. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum, olympiahistory.org. unknown photographer,…
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 Road in the early 1900s and engaged in farming. Pictured here are Charles and Oma Cain, with their granddaughter Linda. Image selected and captioned by…
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 here, arrived here from Kansas in 1892. Along with other area residents, they built the first county dirt and gravel road between Tumwater and Black…
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 their name to a creek, school, fire district and grange. McLane served for six terms in the Washington Territorial Legislature. Image selected and captioned by…
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 Course, that once existed at the current site of the Panorama retirement community. Pictured here are golfers at the starting tee. In the background is…
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 to mention a world-class golf course in Pierce County. Pictured here is Andsworth Chambers, son of David and Elizabeth Harrison Chambers. He served as Olympia…
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 near Tenino. His son, Moses Rice Tilley, operated a livery stable at the corner of State and Capitol (then Third and Main). Pictured here is…
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. Bush Prairie, five miles south of Olympia, is named for the family, as is Tumwater’s Bush Middle School. Pictured here is son William Owen Bush.…
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…
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…
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…