The Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back theme for 2024 was Many Voices, celebrating our diverse and rich 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.
1891 Olympia Tribune Souvenir Edition, Washington State Library
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2024
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 featured Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Ron Allen’s photographic career began with State Patrol, then led to his own studio; he photographed legislators, local people, and events. He was photographer for the Puyallup Fair for 47 years and is shown there in a photo from the 1960s.
Photos courtesy of the Allen family
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2025
The Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back theme for 2024 was Many Voices, celebrating our diverse and rich history. Harriet Speckart, shown here, was a niece of Olympia Brewing Company founder Leopold Schmidt. In 1905 she met Doctor Marie Equi, beginning a long relationship, including a jointly adopted daughter. Harriet’s mother and uncle then unsuccessfully attempted to deny Harriet access to a large inheritance, based on the “unnatural” relationship with Dr. Equi. Harriet and Marie are buried together in Portland, Oregon.
Photograph (of Harriet as a young girl) courtesy Oregon Historical Society
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2024
The Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back theme for 2024 was Many Voices, celebrating our diverse and rich history. Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Voices, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Gustav Rosenthal was a very early Olympia merchant, arriving with his wife Katti here in 1863. The Rosenthals were among the Jewish families who settled here in early Territorial days. His store at the core of downtown Olympia at Fourth and Main (now Capitol) was described as “one of the best known in Southwest Washington.”
1891 photo, Olympia Tribune Souvenir Issue
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2024
The Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back theme for 2024 was Many Voices, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Pictured here is James Mars, African-American proprietor of the Our House restaurant on Fourth Avenue. Mars was born in New York and spent many years as a seafarer. He and his wife Mary Jane, neé Thomas, arrived in Olympia in 1870 and opened their restaurant, described as “a place where one can feel at home and enjoy home cooking.”
Image from 1891 Olympia Tribune Souvenir Issue
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2024
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 was 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 downtown Olympia. Jacob, Mollie, and their son Earl are pictured here around 1907. The Bean family’s involvement with the business spans three generations.
Photograph around 1907, courtesy Washington State Historical Society, State Capital Museum collection, catalog C1950.1326.1
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2024
A young Catherine Redpath gazes out the window of her home, located across from Sylvester Park. She was the daughter of Dr. Nathaniel Redpath and Lucy Maynard Redpath, prominent Olympia citizens. The home still exists but was moved to the South Capitol neighborhood in the 1920s.
1914 photo, unnamed photographer, courtesy State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2019
In an 1899 photo, Edgar McClarty stands outside his tent at Camp Albert G. Forse in Huntsville, Alabama. McClarty was one of many young men from Olympia who volunteered to serve in the Spanish-American War. He was twice wounded at the battle of San Juan Hill in Cuba, and later served as Quartermaster Sergeant in the Philippines. He was elected Thurston County sheriff in 1903.
1899 photo, courtesy State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society, catalog C2018.0.145
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2019
Looking Back’s theme for 2026 was Downtown by the Decades. 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 popular source of Chinese cuisine.
Daily Olympian photo, 1963, courtesy State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society, catalog C1986.43.63.1.2.4.1
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 was Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. 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 one of the oldest surviving residences in Olympia, currently operated as the Bigelow House Museum.
Photograph Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum collection
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2024
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 featured Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. James Wickersham is remembered for his Alaskan career as an ethnographer, judge, and politician. In his earlier career he lived in Washington Territory and befriended members of the Squaxin Tribe in Mud Bay, advocating on their behalf for the legitimacy of the Indian Shaker religion. As an amateur photographer he documented images of tribal members and living conditions.
1905 political poster, courtesy of Washington State Historical Society, catalog 2007.0.377
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2025
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 featured Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Frank L. Camp (sometimes spelled Camps) established his Olympia studio in about 1891. He specialized in ambrotype portraiture. Pictured here is Clark Savidge as a young mail carrier. Frank Camp later moved to Ashland, Oregon. Clark Savidge entered public service, eventually becoming Commissioner of Public Lands.
Frank Camp photo, about 1891, courtesy of State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society, catalog C1949.8.20
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2025
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 featured Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Although photographer Joseph Buchtel is better known as a Portland, Oregon photographer, he had ties in Thurston County, partnering for a time with Olympia photographer Alonzo Bixby Woodard. He made several portraits of Olympia citizens, including this 1870s photograph of Lurana Ware Percival, wife of merchant “Captain” Samuel Wing Percival.
Joseph Buchtel portrait, 1870s, courtesy of Washington State Historical Society, catalog 2015.0.208
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2025
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 featured Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Photographer Edward Sammis began his career in California but operated a studio in Olympia between 1860 and 1865. His most famous photograph was of Si’ahl, better known by settlers as Chief Seattle. This is the only known photograph of Si’ahl, taken in about 1864.
Edward Sammis photo, about 1864, courtesy Museum of History and Industry
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2025
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 featured Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. William J. Yeager, an early settler, opened his photographic studio in about 1865, and worked with various business partners including John Vivian Yantis. No existing photographs by him have been identified. This pencil and charcoal portrait is by an unknown artist.
Unknown artist, 1860s, courtesy of State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society, catalog C2018.0.154
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2025
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 featured Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Ron Allen’s photographic career began with State Patrol, then led to his own studio; he photographed legislators, local people, and events. This humorous photo from 1969 shows legislator Hal Wolf at Ragle “Rags” Thornton’s beauty salon at the Legislative Building.
Ron Allen photo, 1969, Susan Parish collection, Washington State Archives
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2025
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 featured Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Robert Blankenship was a member of an early settler family. Along with his business partner Ed Winstanley, he operated a stationery and tobacco store in Olympia. The partnership also produced postcards featuring local scenes. Robert is pictured here with an unidentified friend and three bicycles.
Unknown photographer, about 1911, courtesy State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society, catalog C2009.0.2
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2025
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 featured Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. John Vivian Yantis was the son of early settler Benjamin F. Yantis. He operated a photograph studio near the corner of Fourth Avenue and Main Street (Capitol Way) in the mid-1860s, and served in the Territorial Legislature. He is pictured here with his wife Margaret Hume Yantis, in this photograph taken by L. Wilson Clark.
Clark Photo, mid-1800s, Courtesy State Capital Museum Collection, Washington State Historical Society, catalog C1976.41.6
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2025
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Michael O’Connor arrived in Olympia in 1884 and established a book and stationery store that he operated until his retirement in 1915. He also promoted Olympia through photography. He is shown here in a photograph by the Rogers Studio, taken shortly after statehood.
Rogers Studio, about 1890, courtesy State Capital Museum Collection, Washington State Historical Society, catalog C2017.0.133
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olym