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…
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…
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…
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.…
In 1914, photographer Robert Esterley took a series of photographs documenting downtown businesses, their owners, and staff. Shown here is The Olympia Cafe at 116 4th Avenue. It was owned by John Baretich. In the 1930s he hired architect Joseph Wohleb to design an art moderne-style building for the same location. The Baretich building is…
Leopold Schmidt began brewing beer in 1896 at the foot of Tumwater Falls. By 1906 he had built the large complex seen in this advertising poster. The Old Brewhouse building, still in existence, takes center stage; beyond it we can see the Schmidt Mansion on the hillside, but most other structures in the image were…
In 1969, the second annual Sky River Rock Festival took place in Tenino over Labor Day weekend. (The first Sky River was in Snohomish County.) Held over the objections of local residents, the festival lineup included James Cotton, Country Joe and the Fish, Flying Burrito Brothers, Buddy Guy, Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, among others. Daily Olympian staff were…
In 1853, Charles Burmeister established one of the earliest saloons in Olympia. It was located on Fourth Avenue and Washington Street, where the State Theater is now. This photograph from the 1860s shows Burmeister, his wife, and others in front of the saloon. The building was later moved further west on Fourth Avenue but succumbed…
The Olympia jazz scene was hopping in the 1930s and 1940s, with both local and nationally known groups performing in several area venues. In this photo from that era, Olympia’s own Herb McClarty Trio takes the stage at the Eagles Club Ballroom. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical…
Mary O’Neil was one of the earliest territorial schoolteachers, arriving in Olympia in 1863. In 1910, several of her former students gathered to honor her, posing here on the steps of the State Capitol Building (now Office of Superintendant of Public Instruction). Miss O’Neil is in the center of the front row. Many of her…
George Adams, a member of the Skokomish Tribe in Mason County, was one of the first Native Americans elected to the Washington State Legislature, serving for sixteen years. In this photograph taken early in his career, Adams poses in traditional attire. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society…
Click on image to view larger image (tip: if you have two monitors, it may be helpful to open the image while you browse the accompanying materials) Narrative Research Meet the Neighbors Styles of Architecture If you were there Key to the Places and People in the painting Return to main Sylvester’s Window page
Click on image to view larger image (tip: if you have two monitors, it may be helpful to open the image while you browse the accompanying materials) Narrative Research Meet the Neighbors If you were there What else was happening? Key to the Places and People in the painting Return to main Sylvester’s Window page
Click on image to view larger image (tip: if you have two monitors, it may be helpful to open the image while you browse the accompanying materials) Narrative Research Meet the Neighbors News Clippings If you were there Key to the Places and People in the painting Return to main Sylvester’s Window page
Click on image to view larger image (tip: if you have two monitors, it may be helpful to open the image while you browse the accompanying materials) Narrative Research Meet the Neighbors If you were there Key to the Places and People in the painting Return to main Sylvester’s Window page
Click on image to view larger image (tip: if you have two monitors, it may be helpful to open the image while you browse the accompanying materials) Narrative Research Meet the Neighbors If you were there What else was happening? Key to the Places and People in the painting Return to main Sylvester’s Window page
Click on image to view larger image (tip: if you have two monitors, it may be helpful to open the image while you browse the accompanying materials) Narrative Research Meet the Neighbors If you were there Key to the Places and People in the painting Return to main Sylvester’s Window page
Click on image to view larger image (tip: if you have two monitors, it may be helpful to open the image while you browse the accompanying materials). The Narrative page linked below describes the scene depicted; click on Meet the Neighbors to learn more about some of the people in the painting. Narrative Research Meet…
Click on image to view larger image (tip: if you have two monitors, it may be helpful to open the image while you browse the accompanying materials). The Narrative page linked below describes the scene depicted; click on Meet the Neighbors to learn more about some of the people in the painting. Narrative Research Meet…
The Fourth Avenue Bridge shown here was completed in 1921, replacing a faulty drawbridge. The new bridge accommodated a trolley line from downtown to West Olympia, as well as foot, bicycle, and automobile traffic. After it sustained damage in the 2001 Nisqually Quake, it was reopened and dedicated in 2004 as the Olympia-Yashiro Friendship Bridge.…
Albert Rutledge, son of pioneer Thomas Rutledge, stands behind the rock 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 State, and both it and the rock still exist. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on…
Elmer Plumb, son of early pioneers, operated a cigar and confectionary store in the Cowling Building at 117 Washington Street (the building still exists, in the National Downtown Historic District). A lifelong bachelor, Elmer was asked by a reporter on his 70th birthday, “What are some of the important events which have occurred in Thurston…
(Legacy page from Roger Easton’s WAResearcher website). Not all links are still active List of Thurston County Pioneer Settlers Pioneer Biographies Genealogy Resources in Washington State Archives Holdings Inventory for Washington State Archives, SW Regional Branch LINKS Societies: Olympia Genealogical Society Thurston County, WA Genealogy Washington State Genealogical Society WSGS Thurston County Resources Misc.…
The pages below are legacy pages from the late Roger Easton’s website, WAResearcher.com, copied here by permission from Easton’s literary executor, Ed Echtle. Not all links are still active. Washington State Archives, Southwest Regional Branch Collections Abstract Genealogy Resources
Note: This is an abridged version of the above. It contains a listing of records Roger Easton, a volunteer at SW Archives, selected and transcribed, for those interested in family history research, and to others who might visit my home page for other research. Should you wish to know if other specific records are in this archive,…
When the Capitol Lake recreation area opened in summer 1964, it was an instant hit with adults and children alike. Here an unidentified grownup makes a big splash while trying out the water slide. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum. Daily Olympian photo,…
The 1908 Fourth of July parade in downtown Olympia featured a float, dubbed the Liberty Car, promoting the drive for women’s suffrage. Women dressed in white, the emblem of the suffrage movement, wear sashes representing the states, while float queen Mollie Moore is draped in the flag. Women’s Suffrage was passed in Washington State in…
Early public water systems used wooden pipes to carry water underground to homes and businesses. One major manufacturer of wooden pipes was the National Wood Pipe company, located about where the Hands On Children’s Museum is today. This photograph shows a load of wooden pipes being transported along the Union Railroad tracks on Jefferson Street.…
This drawing of Fourth Avenue, reproduced in an 1891 edition of the Olympia Tribune, was based on an earlier photograph, now lost. It shows Fourth Avenue, looking west. The building with the cupola at the right of the image is Columbia Hall, the current site of the Fourth Ave Tav. Image selected and captioned by…
A group of Washington State Civil War veterans gathered for a convention in Olympia in 1934, posing here for their photograph in the Old State Capitol Building (now Superintendent of Public Instruction). The local chapter of the Civil War veterans’ association, known as the Grand Army of the Republic, gathered each year for a picnic…
In 1964, Ernest Cheeka, Jr., was named chief of the Makah Tribe. Cheeka, then a resident of Olympia, took the Indian name of Khulchoot. He is pictured here with a ceremonial mask, in preparation for his installation. Cheeka was a Vietnam veteran, accomplished artist, and supporter of Native American rights and traditions. He died in…
Our focus this month has been Thurston County’s long love affair with amateur theatrics. School dramatic performances have always been popular with students and parents alike. In this Daily Olympian publicity photograph from 1966, Tumwater High School students Virginia Hamrick, Jim Damitio, Rick Yarber, Kathy Kohse, and Candy Street rehearse a performance of The Importance…
Our focus this month is Thurston County’s long love affair with amateur theatrics. In 1908 a performance of The Whirl O’ the Town was staged at the 1,000-seat Olympia Opera House, as a fund raiser for a new Olympia Woman’s Club home. Its previous clubhouse had burned down in 1907. With a cast numbering about…
Our focus this month is Thurston County’s long love affair with amateur theatrics. Unlike some other kinds of comedy routines, men dressing as women never seems to go out of style. In this image, one of a montage of publicity images for a local minstrel show, a male actor, dressed in a sweeping gown, is…
Our focus this month is Thurston County’s long love affair with amateur theatrics. In this image from 1888, members of the St. John’s Musical Society perform a number from the operetta The Chimes of Normandy. It was staged at Columbia Hall, one of the earliest performing arts venues in Olympia. Proceeds of the production helped…
Frank Sparks looks over an antique prescription case in this photograph from 1965. His grandfather was Champion Mann, who first operated a pharmacy downtown, and later opened Mann’s Seeds, at the current location of Rainy Day Records on 5th Avenue. Sparks was closing the store after many years of operation, the victim of mass production…
Abbie Howard Hunt, born and college-educated in Massachusetts, came west to seek a career. She eventually married Robert Stuart, a Federal lands commissioner, and moved to Olympia. Abbie was an ardent suffragist who founded one of the first women’s clubs on the west coast, the Olympia Woman’s Club. Its clubhouse on Washington Street is named…
Meet Lurana Ware Percival. The Percivals were early arrivals to Olympia. Samuel Wing Percival operated a lumber mill and store, and established Percival Wharf, now Percival Landing, in order to receive and transport merchandise to and from his operations. An apartment building, the Laurana, located at the southern end of Percival Landing, honors Mrs. Percival…
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 tribe member Robert Satiacum. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of…
These are abbreviations used in Sanborn colored maps. Link here for abbreviations used in black and white maps.
These are abbreviations used by the Sanborn company in its black and white maps. Link here for abbreviations used in colored maps
In 1864, Asenath Ann Kennedy and Christopher Columbus (CC) Simmons eloped via a “rudely fashioned rowboat.” Asenath Ann was only 14, and CC 19. Legend has it that Asenath Ann placed a piece of paper inscribed with the number 18 in her shoe, so she could answer the preacher truthfully when he asked “Are you…
As the “fish wars” asserting Native American fishing rights heated up in the mid-1960s, protests regularly occurred at the Legislative Building. In this photograph from March 1964, a group of Makah Indians performed as dance as part of one such event. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society…
Roadrunners of Olympia was a hot rod club for teenage boys, aimed at “giving teenage boys good things to do.” The boys helped motorists, engaged in car talk, and enjoyed cruising the 4th Avenue and State Street circuit downtown. Members pictured here with club advisor Officer Oscar Schultz include Ernie Main, John Bert, Mike Faber,…
Music has always been an important feature of Olympia life. In this photo from around 1915, instructor Benjamin McClelland is seated with members of the Olympia High School Band. McClelland’s home on the West Side is on the local heritage register. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society…
In February 1938, Ann Nielsen’s Scottish father was aboard the Pacific Pioneer, a British cargo ship that arrived at the Port of Olympia, loading fresh fruit and lumber bound for Great Britain, which was already on the verge of World War II. The port would have looked vastly different than it does today. This aerial…
Jocelyn Dohm founded the Sherwood Press in 1940 to produce high-quality printed material using traditional techniques. Here, in a photo from 1964, Miss Dohm is creating stationery for the Olympia branch of the American Association of University Women. AAUW member Mrs. Walter Vitous looks on appreciatively. The Sherwood Press is still in operation, now under…
Ted Burntrager, long-time Olympia resident, demonstrates how to mount a “pennyfarthing,” or high wheeled bicycle. The bicycle was on display at Talcott Jewelers, a long-time Olympia store that sold jewelry, bicycles, and everything in between. The bicycle would have been an antique at the time the photograph was taken. Fittingly, the Talcott Jewelers building is…
Jeannette Whitcher understood the concept of “pay it forward” before it became a byword. In this January 1964 photo, she and Olympia Vocational Technical Institute classmate Paul Golden view a pile of wrapped gifts. The Golden family had lost all of their Christmas gifts in a fire, and Mrs. Whitcher organized a drive to replace…
Carpenter Bill Soller put his talents into action to create this Disneyesque castle for the holiday display at the Legislative Building Rotunda in 1963. Soller is shown at the entrance to the castle, putting on finishing touches. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum,…
The Daily Olympian captured youngsters from Washington Junior High School in December 1963 as they practiced for an upcoming Christmas concert. Pictured here are Freddy Dobler, Tom Cooper, and Doug Parris, members of the school’s glee club. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum,…
Meet the four daughters of Olympia merchant Robert Frost: Carrie, Annie, Nellie and Florence (Floy). The Frost home was on the east side of Olympia, near East Bay Drive. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum, olympiahistory.org. 1885 photo by Rogers Studio, courtesy State…
The Union Pacific depot on Fourth Avenue is shown here in a photo from the 1920s. The depot was later the site of a tragic 1959 accident involving runaway freight cars. A portion of the depot building still exists, now the site of a pet store. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf…
Note: Links in this article are to Residents and/or Where Are We? entries on our website for the individuals and organizations named. The issue of jury service for women was integral to the history of woman suffrage. When Washington Women gained the right to vote during the Territorial period from 1883-1888, the issue of their…
After most women in Washington permanently achieved the right to vote on November 8, 1910 with the ratification of an amendment to the Washington State Constitution, the first all-women jury in the state was impaneled on December 13, 1910 in Olympia. Link here for more information about the jurors and the trial. A full…
Excerpted in part from Women’s Votes, Women’s Voices: The Campaign for Equal Rights in Washington by Shanna Stevenson, published by the Washington State Historical Society 2009. Copyright Washington State Historical Society—Used by permission, all rights reserved. As the territorial and state capital of Washington, Olympia was central to women’s suffrage history of Washington. During the…
A former resident of Olympia, Minnie Mossman Hill was the first licensed female steamship captain. She navigated some of the most treacherous waters on the Pacific Coast, the mouth of the Columbia River on the border between Oregon and Washington, on a variety of steamships, one of them named the Minnie Hill. She was posthumously…
League of Women Voters members Mrs. Jess Spielholz and Mrs. Frank Calkins receive instructions from Thurston County auditor Wes Leach on the workings of the new voting machine in Olympia, acquired in 1964 to tabulate votes without human intervention. The machine was temporarily installed in a grocery store, to give voters experience using it in…
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 resident of Olympia. Photograph selected and captioned by…
John Grace is a cherished member of Olympia’s music-loving community. Blind from early childhood, Grace has operated a piano tuning service for over five decades. He is shown here in this Daily Olympian article from 1964, early in his career. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and…
Emma Page was a noted temperance advocate. A fountain at the corner of Sylvester Park commemorates her work to promote water as a healthy alternative to alcohol. A trough at the base of the fountain recognizes her love of animals. In this photograph from the early 20th century, a group of women from Olympia’s First…
The China Clipper, now the Clipper Cafe, is an iconic establishment in downtown Olympia. In this photograph from 1963, owner CY Wong is at work in the restaurant’s kitchen. The Clipper was one of the businesses destroyed in the Great Train Wreck of 1959 but was rebuilt within a year and continued to be a…
The Washington State Teachers Association, now the Washington Education Association, is one of the state’s oldest professional associations. In this photograph from April 1889, its charter members and their families pose at the Territorial Capitol to celebrate the association’s foundation. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and…
Lincoln Elementary School crossing guards sported new fluorescent vests for the start of the 1963 school year. Pictured here are fifth graders Charles Barron and Mary Thomson, assisting young Susie Baker, Bobby Hunter, and Wanda Ewell. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum. For…
The annual Pet Parade, sponsored by the Olympian, is a long-standing late summer tradition. In this photo from 1964, four-year-old Jeff Hettler dresses as his favorite Beatle, John. His pet is not identified: perhaps a beetle? Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum. Daily…
In 1909, President William Howard Taft took a tour of Washington State. This photo commemorates the day that residents of Lacey came out in force to cheer on the president as he passed by rail through the small community. The Lacey depot can be seen behind the crowd. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross…
The Null Set coffee house opened in West Olympia in August 1964, owned by Pat and Pete Holm and Bonnie and Bob Gillis. In addition to serving coffee and pastries, the coffee house featured folk music, served up with a dash of liberal-leaning politics. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the…
Mary Olney Brown, an early area settler, was a medical practitioner, poet, and ardent suffragist. In 1870 she attempted to vote in Thurston County but was turned away. Several other women, including Mary’s sister Emily Olney French, were more successful, voting in south Thurston County. Wilson Clark photo, about 1883, courtesy State Capital Museum collection,…
A group of workers carefully places a large stone, called a petroglyph, at the Olympia Tumwater Foundation’s headquarters at Tumwater Falls Park. The stone, inscribed with multiple tribal symbols, had been transported from a beach on Harstine Island in 1963 and donated to the Washington State Historical Society. In 2008 it was returned to the…
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 adjacent to Sylvester Park, is now at the corner of 7th and Adams. Photograph…
The Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum has created an Olympia Women’s Suffrage Trail to highlight the important contributions Olympia residents made toward the goal of votes for women. An interactive map of the trail is below as well as a link to a downloadable PDF describing the features of the trail, and additional…
Father Eugene Kellenbenz was a renowned liturgical composer and faculty member at St. Martin’s College in Lacey. But he also enjoyed music on the lighter side, and is shown here in 1964 with the Spotlighters, St. Martin’s glee club, who were rehearsing for a concert to honor the Sisters of Providence. Photograph selected and captioned…
On July 4, 1889 the S.S. T.J. Potter and the S.S. Fleetwood, members of Puget Sound’s Mosquito Fleet, steam into the Port of Olympia. The day was a particularly important one in our state’s history. Besides being our nation’s Independence Day, it was on this day that Washington Territory assembled delegates to begin writing a…
Pioneer Emiline Himes is shown here with her knitting, in this photo taken around 1880. Mrs. Himes was the mother of George Himes, one of the first and most prolific historians of Oregon and Washington Territory. After crossing west on the Oregon Trail, Emiline and her husband settled in what is now Lacey. Photograph selected…
Nathaniel Crosby III was the son of a sea captain whose family settled in Tumwater in early days. Nathaniel, the central figure in this photo, operated this store for several years. He and his wife Cordelia built the Crosby House in Tumwater, which still exists, one of the few spared when I-5 was built. Crosby…
Anna Blom, a Russian immigrant, opened the Anna Blom Book Shop in 1938 at the current location of Drees. She was a beloved and long-time fixture in downtown Olympia, presiding over the store until 1968. The bookshop still exists, now called Browser’s, on Capitol Way. Anna is pictured here surrounded by some of the thousands…
Captain Duncan Finch began his sailing profession in New York, then navigated the Horn to California. In about 1868 he arrived in Puget Sound, where he pursued a distinguished career as captain of the wood-burning steamer Eliza Anderson. He is described as a “cold water man,” that is, anti-alcohol, and permitted no alcoholic beverages to…
In this photograph from 1963, a blindfolded Mary Hall, Thurston County clerk, selects slips of paper with prospective jurors’ names from a hopper and hands them to Judge Charles Wright. Rosemary Ewer transcribes their names. The process was developed to ensure that jury selection was fair and impartial. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross…
This photograph of milliner Katherine Eugley Musgrove is one of a series, taken by Robert Esterly around 1914, of local businesses and their owners. Mrs. Musgrove was one of a handful of female proprietors in downtown Olympia. A milliner is a hat maker, an important trade in days when a woman’s hat defined her status…
Phyllis Olsen and Nelson Osborn, students at the Olympia Vocational Technical Institute (now South Puget Sound Community College), fire up a new data storage disk machine. The machine was rented for $244 a month and could store 6 disks for a total of .2 megabytes (for comparison, this digital image is about 12 times that…
The Messenger was a member of the Mosquito Fleet of steam-power vessels that plied that waters of Puget Sound. The small stern-wheeler had separate compartments for ladies and gentlemen. In this photo from around the 1880s, she pulls up alongside an unnamed dock. undated photo, courtesy State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society
In 1850, pioneer David Chambers purchased a Black Heart cherry sapling from Oregon-based orchardist Henderson Lewelling and planted it on his homestead, now the site of Panorama retirement community in Lacey. The tree lived to an immense age and size and continued to bear cherries until the 1920s. In this photograph from around 1912, the…
In August 1963, Capital City Forging was forced to relocate from its site in downtown Olympia, to make way for the establishment of new recreational facilities at Capitol Lake. In this Daily Olympian photo, co-owner John Plantenberg and his crew prepare to move a huge air hammer out of the 43 year old building.…
Sixty years ago, on April 13, Olympia experienced the most destructive earthquake in recent memory. In this photograph taken the following day, hardware store owner Oscar Kincy surveys the damage to his downtown store. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum. April 14, 1949…
On a rainy Arbor Day in 1963, Governor Albert Rosellini plants a tree on the grounds of the State Capital Museum. With the governor are museum staffers and naturalist Margaret McKenny. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum. For more information see olympiahistory.org. Daily…
The Daffodil Festival has been held in Pierce county annually since the 1930s. Here the 1964 daffodil princesses make a goodwill stop at the Hotel Olympian in downtown Olympia in advance of the event. Daffodil parade entrants from Olympia that year included a 50 foot yacht, and the Lakefair Float, which won a prize for…
In this photo from 1963, Olympia native Walt Hamilton fills a jug with artesian water at a fountain on the corner of 4th Avenue and Washington Street. Although he had moved to Yuma, Arizona, he made a point of bringing back the good water whenever he visited his hometown. The fountain was removed several years…
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, we bring you this photograph of Rossell Galbraith O’Brien, an Irish immigrant who rose to become a Brigadier General in the Washington National Guard. O’Brien is said to have initiated the custom of standing for the National Anthem. He was a long-time resident of Olympia and served on the…
A young Harry McElroy poses in a studio portrait from around 1865. Harry was the son of Olympia’s first newspaper publisher, Thornton McElroy. Until the early 20th century, it was customary for young boys to be dressed in skirts or dresses until they were “breeched” at around age 3 or 4. Photograph selected and captioned…
Students and teachers line up outside the Central School, located at Union and Washington, in a photo from 1883. Among the students, seated in front, is Jesse Mars, who served as Olympia’s first Black firefighter from the age of 13. The school building still exists, now at the corner of Adams and Union. Photograph selected…
The Seamart store was a sprawling complex in the Port of Olympia that featured everything from groceries to amusement rides. In this undated photo, likely from the 1970s, a manager proudly displays the produce section of the store. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House…
The ZIP code was introduced in 1963, to facilitate sorting and delivering United States mail. In this publicity photo, Thurston County resident Carol Bjorklund demonstrates the correct use of the ZIP on an oversized envelope. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum. Daily Olympian…
Ben Helle is an archivist with Washington State Archives (Office of the Secretary of the State), having previously served as Government Records Archivist for the Ohio Historical Society. He received his BA with an emphasis in anthropology from Ohio State University, Columbus, in 1993 and has worked in the archives field since 1995. He has…
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…
A group of men, women, and children gather around the End of the Oregon Trail monument, in Sylvester Park, at its dedication in 1913. The bearded gentleman at the right of the image is Ezra Meeker, who helped to publicize and celebrate the significance of the Oregon Trail. Governor Lister is in the center. The…
A group of local citizens, pioneer descendants, and historians pose for their photograph at the 1916 dedication of the Oregon Trail Monument in Grand Mound. The monument, shown draped in a U.S. flag, was one of several erected by the Daughters and Sons of the American Revolution to commemorate the historic mass migration. The monument…
Threats of nuclear fallout were much on the public’s mind in the early 1960s. Here, youngsters Doug Drew and Donald Collins pose for their photo, having demonstrated they could survive a week in a simulated fallout shelter (with their parents’ permission and periodic contributions of food). Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf…
Legislative pages Tom Harris and Pascual Pellizzia model page uniforms from the present (1963) and past. The older uniforms had recently been discovered at the State Capital Museum. With the boys are their legislative sponsors Harry Lewis and Charles Savage. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and…
Benjamin Hartsuck was the first architect registered in Olympia. His most lasting contribution was as supervising architect for the Old State Capitol building, now the Superintendent of Public Instruction building in downtown Olympia. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum.
A young Andy Crow repairs pipes of the Wurlitzer organ at the Olympic movie theater, in this 1963 photograph. When the theater was headed for demolition, Crow bought and restored the magnificent organ, which was then re-installed at the same site, now the Washington Center for the Performing Arts. The renamed Andy Crow Wurlitzer continues…
The S.S. Nisqually, a member of the Mosquito Fleet, steams along Puget Sound. The Mosquito Fleet is the name given to the dozens of small steamers that plied the waters of the Sound in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and…
The Proffitt’s Department store was a fixture of downtown Olympia for many years. The building is now the site of the New Caldonia mini-mall on Fifth Avenue. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum. May 1970, unknown photographer, Susan Parish Collection, Washington State Archives
Frederick J.X. Miller, shown here, was a prolific Thurston County writer and poet. He and his sisters donated the family property to the State of Washington provided it be maintained as a park, now Millersylvania State Park. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum. …
In this photograph from around 1904, we are looking across the Fourth Avenue Bridge towards downtown Olympia, from the Westside. Visible buildings that still exist include the Old State Capitol Building (now Superintendent of Public Instruction), with its clock tower still intact; and the Iverson and Overhulse homes in foreground left. Photograph selected and captioned…
Early Olympia saloon keeper Jack Gimblet had this professional photograph taken of his handsome boxer “Jerry” in this image from around the turn of the century. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum. For more information see olympiahistory.org. unknown photographer, State Capital Museum collection,…
Sam McClellan (or McClelland) was a businessman and chief of the Olympia Fire Department. He poses here in his uniform in a photograph from the late 1800s. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum. Frank Camps photograph, undated, State Capital Museum collection, Washington State…
The two Roe sisters Jeannine and Sharon, along with their mother and an instructor, Mrs. Carl Neal, have fun with hand-made puppets as part of Olympia’s 1963 summer activity program. One of the sisters, Jeannine, later served on the Olympia City Council. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical…
James T. Spirlock arrived in Thurston County in 1858, and settled in the Mima Mounds area. His property, now the Nelson Ranch, has been in the family ever since and is being farmed by the fourth and fifth generations of his descendants. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical…
Olympia photographer Ida Smith capture this photograph of Chinese entrepreneur Sun Wo in traditional garb in about 1890-1910. Chinese merchants were an important element of commerce in the 19th and early 20th century. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum.
In this undated photograph, members of the Kenney family proudly pose in front of the Woodland Hotel that they operated. Woodland was the original name for the community that is now the City of Lacey, and the hotel was located at a key intersection near the current location of the Lacey Post Office. Photograph selected…
In 1963 a welcoming pole was created for the State Capital Museum at the Lord Mansion that replicated the poles at the entrance to the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. The poles were designed by famed architect Fred Bassetti. Only a small portion of the pole still exists, deteriorating on the grounds of the mansion. Photograph…
This photograph by Asahel Curtis shows members of the Mosquito Fleet approaching Percival Landing at the Port of Olympia on an overcast day in 1910. The Sand Man tug is at the left, near the same location you can find it today. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical…
September 1, 2018 Fall is just around the corner, bringing with it changing colors and fascinating History events! Today, we note with sadness the sudden death of accomplished area historian and writer John Hough while on vacation in South Africa. John was a past president and board member of the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society,…
In 1963, St. Peter Hospital, then located in West Olympia, introduced the opportunity for patients to have televisions in their rooms. Here, Mrs. Herb (Shirley) Legg, a volunteer at the hospital, demonstrates its use to a grateful patient. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House…
In 1913, a group of Olympia citizens, many of them early pioneers, gathered to dedicate a plaque at the site of the first Washington Territorial Assembly. This plaque is still in existence, in front of the Bread Peddler at 222 Capitol Way N, in the port area. The site is one of the most important…
Few landmarks still exist to identify this August 1949 scene as the future site of the 5th Avenue dam and bridge. This photograph was taken as construction was getting under way. In the distance we can just make out the Governor Hotel, the Dolliver Building, and the Security Building. We can also see the smokestack…
In 1909, a special summer session of the Legislature was called, resulting in Session lasting until mid-August. A group of young women, all legislative clerks, posed for a group photo in Governor Hays’s automobile, still a relative rarity in Olympia. Behind them are the Old State Capitol Building, now the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and…
The Port of Olympia was the hub of commercial activity in Olympia’s earliest decades. By 1910, when this photograph was taken, it was in decline: even the Red Light District had moved elsewhere. The old Bettman store is at foreground left, with the New England Hotel to its right, now the site of the 222…
Earl Bean came here from Russia in 1892 and joined his father Joseph in the scrap metal business. He parlayed this into hardware store Olympia Supply on the shore of Capitol Lake, still part of the Bean family. In the 1930s Earl Bean was one of the founders of Temple Beth Hatfiloh. In this photo…
This photograph was taken about 1900 from the Old State Capitol Building (now Superintendent of Public Instruction). Dominating the image is the Olympia Hotel, which burned down in 1904. Other identifiable buildings include the Sylvester Mansion and steepled St. Michael Parish. The home in the foreground belonged to Mitchel Harris. It still exists, but was…
Natalie Riggin won Second Grand Prize in the national Pillsbury Bakeoff contest in 1956, when she was only a teenager. Her Hoot Owl cookies are still included in compilations of best cookie recipes of all time. Natalie was later Lakefair Queen in 1962, the third young woman to earn that title. Photograph selected and captioned…
Olympia attorney Trena Belsito Worthington, at left, confers with Governor Albert and First Lady Ethel Rosellini as they barbecue a fish on Capitol Campus. In addition to being a successful lawyer, in an age where female attorneys were rare, Mrs. Worthington was responsible for the design and construction of five nearly identical homes in southeast…
In this Daily Olympian photo from summer 1966, Olympia city staffers stock the water feature at the new City Hall with fish. Since the “moat” was never intended as a fish pond, all the fish died shortly thereafter. This building complex is now the Lee Creighton Justice Center. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross…
In this early photograph from about 1880, we see the Tumwater Long Bridge spanning the Deschutes Estuary. The homes and businesses of Tumwater are in the background; they succumbed to I-5 construction in the 1960s. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum. More information…
In June of 1894, during the “golden age of fraternalism” in America, members of the Grand Lodge Knights of Pythias parade up a rain- and mud-soaked Capitol Way in Olympia. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum. For more information, visit olympiahistory.org. William Duckering…
A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hit the Pacific Northwest on April 29, 1965, causing 7 deaths and millions of dollars of damage. In this photograph from the Daily Olympian, a postal worker at the brand-new Olympia post office examines the havoc wreaked by the quake. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the…
Olympia Vocational Technical Institute student Kent Loomey demonstrates a cathode ray oscilloscope in this photograph from 1963. The Institute (later South Puget Sound Community College) was located in the former Montgomery Ward Building in downtown Olympia. The Institute held an open house to familiarize citizens with the new school, and to publicize the fact that…
During the Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps hired thousands of young men and put them to work building and improving public amenities. CCC members were responsible for building many of the structures still in place at Millersylvania State Park, outside of Olympia. In this photo, a group of young men are hard at work building…
In this Daily Olympian photograph from 1966, Washington State Archivist Sid McAlpin puzzles over a jar of ashes of a person identified only as John Montgomery. No one knew who he was or why his ashes were at Archives. In 2014, genealogists identified the ashes as belonging to a 6 year old, and the ashes…
This sweet photograph from around 1870 commemorates the teenaged friendship of early Olympia residents Anna Pullen and Maggie Sutton. Anna later married printer Martin Kelly and Maggie became a teacher in Tumwater. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum, olympiahistory.org. circa 1870 photograph, State…
