Sylvester Mansion in mid 1800s

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Throughout 2021 the Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back feature portrayed events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project. 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 image of that year, we showed the mansion, this image captured soon after it was built around 1856.  

Photo courtesy State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society, catalog C2009.0.1044

Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2021

 

Hazard Stevens

 

 

 

 

 

Throughout 2021 the Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back feature portrayed events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project. 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 Cloverfields Farm on Carlyon Street, where his house still stands. 

1882 photo, courtesy State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society, catalog C1950.67.7

Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2021

Mary Ann Bigelow Mother of the Year in 1964

 

 

 

 

 

Throughout 2021 the Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back feature portrayed events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project. 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 House Museum, to the Bigelow House Historic Preservation Association, but continued to live in the home until their deaths.

1964 photograph, The Olympian, courtesy State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society, catalog C1986.43.64.3.18.1.1

Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2021

Governor Dixy Lee Ray in 1980

 

 

 

 

 

Throughout 2021 the Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back feature portrayed events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project. 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 well as achievement. She is pictured in the cityscape with one of her beloved dogs, whom she always kept with her.

1980 Photo courtesy Washington State Historical Society, catalog 2005.119.1.30

Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2021

Mayor Amanda Benek Smith

 

 

 

 

 

Throughout 2021 the Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back feature portrayed events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project. 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 openness. 

Susan Parish collection, Washington State Archives

Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2021

Belle Reeves in about 1930

 

 

 

 

 

Throughout 2021 the Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back feature portrayed events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project. 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 representative, then as the state’s first female Secretary of State. 

Washington State Archives, general photograph collection, image AR-28001001-ph002046

Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2021

Thurston County Courthouse (Old State Capitol) 1920s

 

 

 

 

 

Throughout 2021 the Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back feature portrayed events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project. 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 was acquired by the State of Washington and served as the Legislative Building for a time, hence its denomination as the Old State Capitol building. It is now the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The clock tower shown in this photo burned in 1928; several turrets were lost in the 1949 earthquake. 

Jeffers photograph, State Library collection, image AR-07809001-ph000339

Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2021

Marshville Bridge in mid 1800s

Throughout 2021 the Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back feature portrayed events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project. 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 in the center; and beyond, we can see the hillside home of Daniel and Ann Elizabeth Bigelow, now the Bigelow House Museum.  

Bigelow Collection, Washington State Library

Text © The Olympian and Deborah Ross 2021

Farmer’s Market

Throughout 2021 the Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back feature portrayed events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project. 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.  

Photograpn by Deborah Ross 2021

Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2021

Artist Robert Chamberlain self-portrait

Throughout 2021 the Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back feature portrayed events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project. 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 as a youngster. He gave us permission to publish this updated self-portrait – made many decades later! 

Courtesy the artist Robert Chamberlain

Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2021

Margaret McKenny in 1962

Throughout 2021 the Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back feature portrayed events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project. The 1950 cityscape depicts Margaret McKenny in conversation with a young man who would be featured on his own account in a different Looking Back feature. Miss McKenny grew up in Olympia and in her adulthood became a world-renowned mushroom expert, naturalist, and environmental advocate. 

1962 photograph, The Olympian collection, Washington State Historical Society, catalog C1986.43.62.10.31.5

Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2021

Josephine Corliss Preston

Throughout 2021 the Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back feature portrayed events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project. 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 Josephine Corliss Preston, former superintendent from 1913-1929, and the first woman elected to office in Washington State.    

Superintendent of Public Instruction Election Pamphlet, 1915

Text © Deborah Ross ad The Olympian 2021

 

Olympia Opera House in about 1890

Throughout 2021 the Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back feature portrayed events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project. At the far right of the 1899 cityscape is the Olympia Opera House, also known as the Olympia Theater, 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 productions.  

Olympia Opera House, State Library photograph collection, Washington State Archives, about 1890, image number AR-07809001-ph000980

Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2021

Capitol Center building in the late 1960s

Throughout 2021 the Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back feature portrayed events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project. 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, termed the Miesian style, after Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. It has been rehabilitated and remodeled as the Views on Fifth apartment building. 

late 1960s photo, courtesy Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation

Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2021

Mother Joseph

Throughout 2021 the Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back feature portrayed events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project. 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 honored with statues in our Legislative Building and the U.S. Senate Statuary Hall.  

Courtesy Providence archives

Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2021

Isaac Ellis

Throughout 2021 the Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back feature portrayed events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project. 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.  

Unknown photographer, 1860-1880, courtesy Washington State Historical Society, catalog C2018.0.10

Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2021

George Bush in 1845

 

Throughout 2021 the Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back feature portrayed events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project. 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 Tumwater, where Bush and his wife Isabella helped countless fellow settlers to establish their homesteads. 

Jacob Lawrence goache, Thank God All Mighty, home at last – the settlers erect shelter at Bush Prairie near what is now Olympia, Washington, November 1845 (detail), Courtesy State Capital Museum Collection, Washington State Historical Society

Note: the image of George Bush more often reproduced, and originally included in the Sunday Olympian, is a fanciful sketch of a “typical” African-American, created for the Los Angeles Times by artist Sam Patrick in 1969 to portray how George Bush might have looked. We have substituted Black artist Jacob Lawrence’s image which is equally based on the artist’s concept of the man. 

Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2021 and 2026

Joyce Simmons Cheeka

Throughout 2021 the Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back feature portrayed events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project. 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.  

Courtesy photo

Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2021

5th Avenue dam construction in 1949

Throughout 2021 the Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back feature portrayed events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project. The 1950 cityscape features construction of the Fifth Avenue dam to create Capitol Lake. In this photo from 1949 we can see the project from the vantage point of the Fourth Avenue Bridge. At the far end of the bridge we can see the Percival Mansion and its terraced grounds, later to be demolished to make way for the construction of the Fifth Avenue extension to the West Side. 

Unknown photographer, 1949, Susan Parish Collection, Southwest Regional Archives

Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2021 and 2026

Hotel Olympian in 1930s

Throughout 2021 the Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back feature portrayed events and people from the Sylvester’s Window cityscape project. When the state acquired the Old State Capitol Building (originally built as the Thurston County Courthouse), 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 delay, the elegant five-story Hotel Olympian, pictured in the 1933 cityscape, was completed in 1920, directly to the north of Sylvester Park. 

Susan Parish collection, Washington State Archives

Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2021