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
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
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. 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 2024 was 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 tribe member and codefendant Robert Satiacum.
Daily Olympian photo, 1964, State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society, catalog C1986.43.64.3.2.6.1
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2024
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 was 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 Legislature, and helped found Washington State University.
Photograph about 1890, Courtesy Washington State Historical Society, catalog 2015.0.75
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2024
Isabella Bush and her husband, mixed-race George Bush, arrived in Thurston County in 1844, settling in what is now Tumwater. Their oldest son, William Owen Bush, pictured here in middle age, was a prominent and respected legislator, farmer, and tireless promoter of Washington State agriculture and industry.
photo about 1890, Courtesy Washington State Historical Society, catalog 2015.0.75
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2020
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 featured Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. In 2005, historian Lynn Erickson and artist Robert Chamberlain collaborated to produce a series of watercolors called Sylvester’s Window. The images portrayed how downtown Olympia evolved over the course of 150 years, from a spot overlooking Sylvester Park. This watercolor is a self-portrait by Mr. Chamberlain, painted a few years after he completed the Sylvester’s Window project.
Courtesy Robert Chamberlain
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2025
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 was Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. According to a 1964 article in the Olympian, Ernest Cheeka, Jr., was installed that year as Makah hereditary chief, after he reached adulthood. Cheeka, then a resident of Olympia, took the Indian name of Kolchote. 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 2011.
Daily Olympian photo, 1964, State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society, catalog C1986.43.64.12.4.1
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2024
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 featured Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. The 1935 Olympia High School yearbook notes that William P. Conser, pictured here, was involved with journalism as early as high school. He became a photographer for the Olympian and captured many events and people, including an historic series that documented the destruction caused by the 1949 earthquake.
Olympus, high school yearbook of the William Winlock Miller High School, 1935
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2025
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 featured Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Robert Esterly was an early owner of a shingle mill at Tumwater Falls. He was also a talented photographer. In this photo from the late 1800s, said to be in part a self-portrait, he and his companions proudly show the result of a successful bear hunt.
Esterly photograph, courtesy Washington State Historical Society, catalog 2010.149.57
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2025
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 featured Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Between 1891 and 1894, photographer Agnes Mitchel operated a studio at 507 4th Avenue. The State Capital Museum collection at the Washington State Historical Society contains two photographs by Mitchel, including this photograph of Belle (Mandana Isabelle) Bush Gaston, daughter of noted agriculturalist and state representative William Owen Bush, and granddaughter of early settlers George and Isabella Bush.
Agnes Mitchel photograph, courtesy State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society, catalog C1950.3.101
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. John Grace was a cherished member of Olympia’s music-loving community. Blind from early childhood, Grace operated a piano tuning service for over five decades. He is shown here in this Daily Olympian article from 1964, early in his career.
Daily Olympian Photograph, 1964, courtesy State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society, catalog C1986.43.64.7.23.3.1
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2024
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 was 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 fisheries resource it traditionally relied on for sustenance.
The Olympian photo, 1962, Courtesy State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society, catalog C1986.43.62.3.21.5.1
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. 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.
City of Olympia Women’s History walk
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. Pictured here is the James family, including Chinese-born father Toone James and his wife Nettie Chiang, and their five children.
Ida Smith photo, around 1900, courtesy State Capital Museum Collection, Washington State Historical Society, catalog C1948.64.76
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. 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 now Capitol Campus.
Courtesy First Baptist Church, Pittsfield, Massachusetts
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. 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.
Courtesy Washington State Historical Society, State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society, catalog C2018.0.53
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2024