Bigelow House
The Bigelow House: Witness to History
The Bigelow House Museum is dedicated to preserving and interpreting the early history of Olympia and Washington Territory. It is the oldest residence in Olympia, Washington, and one of the earliest still standing in the Pacific Northwest.
Pioneer lawyer and Territorial Legislator Daniel R. Bigelow and his schoolteacher wife Ann Elizabeth White built Bigelow House in the 1850s. The Bigelows were pivotal figures in early Washington history and the struggle for women’s rights and public education.
Generations of the Bigelow family kept the home largely intact and welcomed visitors interested in regional history. The last generation lived in the in the house until 2005.
The house is a rare surviving example of the Carpenter Gothic style architecture popular in rural America during the mid-1800s and retains its historic furnishings and more than an acre of the family’s original land claim. On display are documents and artifacts representing over 150 years of the family’s participation in important community, state and national causes.