Gallewski Kaufman – 6/30/24

June 30, 2024

Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse 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. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum, https://olympiahistory.org/many-streams-a-resource-guide/.

1891 Olympia Tribune Souvenir Edition, Washington State Library

City of Olympia, Historic Preservation in Olympia, Assessment and Action Plan, April 19, 2005

March 16, 2024

This document was captured via the Wayback Machine from a former version of the City of Olympia website. Optical character recognition (OCR) tool was applied to render it word-searchable. Click on links below for individual elements and chapters. Link to the capture event in 2012 here

Cover and Table of Contents
Executive Summary
Section I: Why Preservation Matters
Section II: Historic Resources of Olympia
Section III: Historic Preservation in Olympia
Section IV: Historic Preservation Laws and Policies
Section V: Public Stewardship of the Past
Section VI: Information and Analysis of Public Incentives for Preservation
Section VII: Outreach Partnerships
Section VIII: Olympia Heritage Commission Program Assessment
Section IX: What Next
Appendices ABCD

Jesse Mars and Olympia Fire Company

March 10, 2024

Our theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Pictured here is Olympia Fire Co. No 2. The young man third from the right is Jesse Mars, son of James and Mary Jane Mars. Jesse was the first Black member of the fire company. Sadly, he died soon after this photograph was taken, of pneumonia. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum, https://olympiahistory.org/many-streams-a-resource-guide/.

Capital Apartments – first on Olyblog, captured on Wayback Machine

February 15, 2024

Capitol Park Apartments

Sat, 06/27/2009 – 5:06pm — Anonymous

Although I called them Capital Apartments in a recent post, apparently they were also known as the Capitol Park Apartments.

Shortly before they were demolished to make room for the ever-growing Capitol Campus, Charles E. Anderson and Jerrold F. Ballaine of the firm Anderson & Ashburn appraised the fair market value of the units (Nov. 1, 1969) at $425,000.

I recently came across a copy of their report for the GA: Appraisal of Property Located at 1306-1318 Capitol Way, Olympia, Washington, Capitol Park Apartments.

Here are some extracts of their description. Notice the authors have one name for the place on the previously mentioned title, but another in their narrative:

“The Capital Apartments consist of two four story and full basement brick buildings. The south building was constructed in 1923 and has an oil burning steam heating plant that supplies heat to both buildings. There is no elevator in the south building. The north building was built in 1925 and contains an Otis automatic electric elevator. Both buildings are connected on all floors …

The buildings are in fair condition for their age and both are colonial design. Roofs are flat, built up tar and gravel. The basement of the south building has some 60 lockers and a low pressure steam heating plant consisting of a Birchfield Boiler and Ray oil burner which burns heavy fuel oil. The basement of the north building has 16 garage stalls.

The ground floor of the south building has a large laundry room and drying room and an ample sized storage room. There are also 6 apartments in this floor. The public halls in both buildings are wide and carpeted.

There are a total of 61 apartments and 218 rooms in the two buildings … All apartments have oak floors in the halls, living rooms, dining rooms and bedrooms.”

Old Cap Way was never quite the same after these two buildings, along with the old OHS, were torn down. I have attached some interesting floor plans, photos, and list of residents in the twilight time of this apartment house.

Those of you who attended Roosevelt School in the Ike/JFK/LBJ era will recognize one of our 5th grade teachers in the list, who was retired by 1969. I believe she lived to be a century old, something that might not have happened if my rotten class had not convinced her it was time to retire early if we were a sign of things to come. She was a nice person who did not deserve to have a group of little demons like us, but getting out of the classroom early might have prolonged her life in the long run, so perhaps we did her a favor. I hope so.

Oak floors. Such a shame.

Stories of the Oregon Trail

June 13, 2023

Click here to view and download a searchable scan of the publication Stories of the Oregon Trail: Accounts & Reminiscences by Daniel R. Bigelow, Ann Elizabeth White Bigelow, Margaret Stewart White Ruddell, and Margaret White Chambers, edited by Annamary Fitzgerald and published in 2000 by the Bigelow House Preservation Association.

Note: Some of the historical materials in this document stem from a period or culture in which different standards and norms were dominating public opinion – and some of this historical material is discriminatory. The transcription of these documents does not represent the views of the Society and Museum.

Washington State Library Endangered Building page from DoCoMoMo

February 12, 2023

This page from the DoCoMoMo website was captured from a March 2017 post by the Wayback Machine.

Washington State Library

Designed by prominent Northwest architect Paul Thiry during the height of his career, the Washington State Library Building (Joel M. Pritchard Building), located on the State Capitol Campus south of the Legislative Building, was the last monumental building to be added to the campus. The Washington State Library Historic Structures Report, prepared for the Department of General Administration (GA) in October 2002, cited the Library Building as “…among the most important regional archetypes of mid-century architectural design and thought. The social history surrounding the Library and the prominence of designer Paul Thiry during the period anchor the building and its history firmly in the Pacific Northwest post-war development. By adding the layers of significance that come with associations to political and artistic figures, the Washington State Library becomes a textbook on how Washingtonians looked at the future in the 1950’s and how public buildings reflected that vision.”

Paul Thiry had created a master plan for the Capitol Campus along with this building as an elegant Modern interpretation of Neoclassicism. The stone and glass library contains contemporary pieces of public art, including a continuous 360 degree mural by renowned Northwest painter Kenneth Callahan. However, little of the interior is open and visible to the public. The State Library Building no longer houses a library. A few years ago, while the nearby Legislative Building was undergoing rehabilitation as a result of damage from the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, the State Library was moved to a speculative office building in Tumwater so that the original library building could serve as temporary offices and senate chambers for the Legislature. A cafeteria was also added to this mix of new temporary uses within the building. Meanwhile, the nearby Legislative Building underwent a masterful renovation, and was reopened in 2004.

The question of how to reuse and rehabilitate the library building has been under consideration by the General Administration for several years. Since mid-2006, the General Administration and the Capitol Campus Design Advisory Committee (CCDAC) have been working with architects from SRG Partnership to create design alternatives for changing the building for new, expanded uses. The proposed project will upgrade original building systems as well as permanently change its functions to a legislative support facility and public cafeteria. In response to a larger program, significant elements of the original building design will be removed, and a new addition will increase the size of the building substantially.

The GA will present the new design alternatives in a public workshop scheduled for September 18, 2006 at 6:30 pm in the lobby of the Washington State Library Building (415 15th Ave SW, Olympia).
Docomomo WEWA has been concerned about the proposed alternatives because none of the alternatives appear sensitive to the original library building, and none appear to meet The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation. We are also concerned with the lack of public process—the GA has gained approval of the preferred alternative from its advisory committee, the CCDAC, which it is presenting to the public on September 18th, but there has been no public input to date. It appears that the alternative was developed without a review by the State Capitol Conservator, and without consultation of the State’s own guidelines in the 2002 Historic Structures Report for the building.

On August 22nd, Docomomo WEWA Board members, and representatives from the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation and the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Western Regional Office met with a representative from GA to discuss the project. We received background information and an update on the project and the GA welcomed our input. We stressed the need for transparency and a meaningful and open public process. We also expressed the critical need for design alternatives that respect the integrity of the original building. Furthermore, as mandated by State law (RCW 79.24.710 and RCW 79.24.720), the design must meet The Secretary’s Standards. The preferred alternative includes an addition to the building with considerable increased square footage to meet the needs of the new programmatic uses.

Docomomo WEWA believes that an addition meeting program requirements and designed in accordance with preservation standards is possible, and we encourage the GA and its architects to come up with an appropriate design approach.

Yardbirds – Olyblog post retrieved from Wayback Machine

January 26, 2023

This anonymous post about the Yardbirds store was originally posted on the Olyblog.net site in 2006 and was captured by the Wayback Machine.

“It was like Wal-Mart on acid,” is the way I’ve heard the old Yard Birds/Sea Mart explained to those who never had the pleasure of shopping at the Olympia landmark that held our fascination for over three decades. Being from out of town, Evergreen students were particularly spellbound by the place that local people had pretty much accepted as normal. It was a frequent topic at parties when local eccentricities were discussed.

Yard Birds/Sea Mart filled three city blocks in the area between the present Farmer’s Market and the Phoenix Inn. It consisted of two buildings (connected by a staff-only sky bridge over Capitol Way) and an enormous parking lot. On more than one occasion it had been said in Evergroove circles that Hell was probably being condemned to sit on a sheet of tinfoil in the Sea Mart parking lot on a hot August day.

The outside of the buildings were adorned with huge cartoon murals of pirates, deep sea divers, and ocean creatures. They also had the Yard Birds mascot, an oversize statue of a cartoon black crow with a yellow beak and gloves. Sometimes this statue would find itself in odd places, like the roof of the Olympia High School administration building.

The Sea Mart building on the east, as I recall, was the grocery end of things. The Yard Birds side on the west was sort of a home improvement/Army surplus blend. It smelled like canvas and popcorn, evoking the circus it really was. They also had a restaurant with a maritime motif and giant crabs displayed on the walls.

Just to add a little twist, next to Yard Birds was Harvey’s Pet Store. This place was an overcrowded, smelly cacophony of an animal prison. I don’t think Harvey sold any caimans, but he did have a lot of exotic pets for sale. If it hadn’t burned down, I’m sure Harvey’s would’ve been a big target for animal rights activists in later years.

The building that became Sea Mart had originally been some sort of packing plant, maybe for fish. When Sea Mart first opened they had a promotional indoor carnival. I have this memory that reaches ‘way back to 1959 or 1960 where my Dad and I are going to the Sea Mart building at night and inside are neon lit rides for little kids. Far from being the delightful treat it was meant to be, it made my hair stand up on end (Well, since I had a crew cut, the mandatory haircut of the era, my hair was up on end anyway, but you know what I mean). It was like a scene out of Carnival of Souls.

And that weird feeling never went away. I still get it just by driving by the area where the store used to be.

Little Hollywood recalled by Dean Shacklett

January 16, 2023

This page was captured by the Wayback Machine on October 3, 2009, from the olyblog.net website

Little Hollywood Era In Olympia Recalled / by Dean Shacklett

Sat, 10/03/2009 – 8:47pm — Anonymous

[The following article was originally published in the Sunday Olympian, Mar. 23, 1958. Mr. Shacklett’s tenure as a reporter and editor for the paper included a lot of community service. I first met him when he gave me a personal tour of the Daily Olympian facilities at their old location (SE corner of State and Cap) in the 1960s. I was earning my Boy Scout merit badge in journalism, and in hindsight I realize what a chunk of valuable time he sacrificed for little insignificant me. I later talked with him in their then brand spanking new building about the business of comic strips. Just walked in off the street and he answered all my questions in a friendly and direct way. Also, he visited my OHS journalism class and was a very informative and entertaining reality check in an amusing cynical smartass way (“People always enjoy reading who is getting divorced or getting thrown in the clink”), a quality demonstrated in the article below. Although I seldom agreed with his editorials at the time (and still don’t), I can recognize and salute his devotion to building Olympia’s community as he saw fit, and appreciate his willingness to hear the story of anyone who walked in. A note of interest is that Shacklett was one of the few mainstream newspaper editors respected by the singular John Patric. It was especially nice as a young person at the time to have a community authority figure like Mr. Shacklett treat me seriously without being cutesy or condescending– and that was unusual. Dean, if you’re still out there (you must be in your 80s now), thank you for that. It made an impression.

Anyway, I stumbled across his engaging report on Little Hollywood and thought I would share it here for my fellow OlyBloggers. This makes me want to start tracking down Shacklett’s other feature pieces. Warning, his coverage would never wash in the 21st century, not only in allusions but also in journalistic focus– this not only reveals to us what Oly accepted as normal in 1958 but also demonstrates how far we’ve come in the last half-century. Bonus: catch the artesian reference, and the view of Little Hollywood as an entity totally apart from the Olympia community]

Little Hollywood Era In Olympia Recalled / by Dean Shacklett

Office workers in the Temple of Justice strained their eyes and peered down into the pall of smoke that hung over the tideflats below the Capitol buildings. It was the bleak Winter of 1938 and city officials were putting the torch to the shanty town section affectionally known as Little Hollywood. It took two years to finish the task, and, with the cooling of the ashes, the pages were closed on one of the more colorful chapters of Olympia’s history.

Little Hollywood leaned on the eastern shoreline of the tidal basin that became Capitol Lake in 1951 with the completion of the Fifth Avenue dam. The village started from the vicinity of Fifth Avenue and crowded south along the beach for about four blocks.

Ninety-seven houses there were, some standing on piling, some on dry land and others on float logs mired in the mud at low tide. A handful of the buildings were fairly livable, but most were shacks.

Drab the shanties may have been, but it was the characters living in them that gave the settlement its color, and perhaps its name.

Little Hollywood, like the pickanniny playing in the dust around Uncle Tom’s cabin, just grew. No one remembers the exact date in the 1920s when the first shack appeared on the scene, but the community reached its peak in the depression years.

Architecturally, Little Hollywood reflected that dismal building boom that followed the bursting of the financial bubble in the Roaring Twenties. Some of the dwellings were float houses, polled or towed in at high tide and left to squat on the mud flats when the saltwater ebbed. Others of the shanties were knocked together on piling from odd bits of lumber scrounged by the inhabitants.

Little Hollywood was populated by folks who were on the run– some from the depression, some from the law. All were down on their luck.

The mention of Little Hollywood evokes memories from many Olympia residents. Now, three decades after the village was at its peak, the bizarre events and the colorful and criminal characters are the ones recalled. The folks who tended to their own knitting while they weathered a financial storm have been forgotten. But that’s human nature.

Still recognized as an authority on the sinful and seamy side of Little Hollywood is Ray Hays, a practical lawman of the old school who was an Olympia police captain when he retired some ten years ago. Hays professional interest in the settlement is reflected in his recollection.

“Little Hollywood was a nest of immigrant lumber and forest workers and every type of character and bum,” boomed Hays in a voice that appeared to originate somewhere from his six foot, plus frame. “I’ve taken murderers, robbers, rapists and every type of stinking criminal out of there. There were some bad ones, all right, but as a whole the transients were pretty good old bums.”

It is Cap Hays who is credited with giving Little Hollywood its name. “I just called it that one day,” he said. “It was almost an idle remark. I picked the name because of the contrast between the bums in our settlement and the swells in California’s Hollywood. The name stuck.”

Olympia’s shanty town wasn’t unique in the days of the last depression. Hobo jungles flourished as armies of unemployed took to the highways and railroad rods in search of their next meal. As the jungles sprouted more permanent shelters, they became shanty towns and the name, Little Hollywood, or Hollywood-on-the-Flats, wasn’t uncommon in these parts where many of the settlements were located on rivers and waterfronts.

One explanation on the similarity in names comes from Broward County, Florida, and the days of the rollicking 1920s when land was booming on the Southern Atlantic Coast. A group of California promoters founded Hollywood, Florida, on a swampy, marshy site that was completely platted before the land was drained and filled.

Time passed, Hollywood, Florida, was drained then went on to flourish. Although some of the inhabitants of our Little Hollywood made a noble effort to drink the settlement dry, the fountain they tapped seemed to have a never ending supply.

“Drink? Yes, they drank a bit in Little Hollywood,” boomed Hays. “But they could walk the planks leading from shack to shack no matter how drunk they were. The planks were narrow and, when it rained, they were slippery, but I never saw anyone fall into the bay. In fact, I never heard of anyone taking a header. That’s one thing we never had to do in Little Hollywood– fish ’em out.”

The retired police officer thought for a minute then, with his head tilted back and peering down through gold-rimmed glasses, Cap Hays wondered aloud, “Do you know what some of ’em drank in Little Hollywood; Canned heat, my boy. They drank canned heat.”

Canned heat, for the young and unititiated, consists of a paraffin-like substance laced with alcohol. It is sold in cans that supply a handy source of clean heat when opened and touched off by a match.

“Canned heat,” continued Hays, “They’d heat it enough to loosen the wax which they’d shove into one of their dirty old socks. Then they’d squeeze that sock until they had all the alcohol out of the wax. The squeezings were cut with a little warm water. The fancy ones added sugar. The result was something that’d blow the top off a normal man’s head.”

Water, for cutting canned heat or adding to a batch of beer or moon, was readily available in Little Hollywood. The village had its own system originating at several artesian springs that bubbled up through the mud of the tideflats.

One day, some smart operator collected a piece of pipe that had strayed into Little Hollywood. This was driven down into one of the springs. Other hunks of pipe were connected to it. Before long, many of the shacks were tied together with a zig-zag system of piping that brought with it the luxury of running water.

The arrival of running water had nothing to do with the fact that Little Hollywood’s cup was at its fullest in the thirteen years following January 16, 1920. On that morning, the drys answer to the demon rum, national prohibition, went into effect. Little Hs’ answer to prohibition was to go into business.

It may not have pleased Carrie Nation, the Kansas anti-saloon agitator, had she learned that prohibition enabled a member of her sex to make her mark in Little Hollywood. She is remembered in certain circles as Big Nel, a gal who thumbed her nose at the Volstead Act as she followed the dictates of the age old law of supply and demand.

There still is a boulevardier or two around town who remembers Nel as Little Hollywood’s most famous female bootlegger of booze. A thirsty segment of Olympia’s population constituted the demand that was supplied by Big Nel, who may have had some close associates in the Black Hills, a moonshiner’s paradise in the days of bathtub gin. [stevenl note: the McCleary Museum has an authentic display devoted to celebrating this very fact. The exhibit was built by an expert who knew the craft firsthand. My Father, may he rest where Revenuers can’t reach him.]

Romance there was in Big Nel’s life. She had her man. The story of how she and he chased one another back and forth between here and Aberdeen is something of a legend.

As the story goes, Her Man hired a cab and went to Aberdeen on what might have been a combination business and pleasure trip. Big Nel squeezed this juicy bit of news out of the grapevine, hired a hack of her own and chased after him.

But, Her Man was homeward bound and their cars passed on that snaky stretch of highway connecting the seat of the state’s government and that Gray’s Harbor city that capitalized on vice. Memory grows dim as time passes. It generally is recalled that Big Nel and Her Man made six trips between this capital and that capital before finally getting together.

Says one chap, “Big Nel and that guy of hers ran up a couple of hundred dollar cab bills in days when hardly nobody but a bootlegger had a dime to spare.”

Cap Hays demanded respect for the law in his days on the police force. And he got it. Came then a day when Cap decided some of Little Hollywood’s regulars were falling a bit short in the respect department.

“I pulled a raid that I still get a kick out of whenever I think of it,” recalls Hays.

With the help of other lawmen and all of Olympia’s men in blue, Cap Hays surrounded the settlement of shanties. When the dragnet was closed, some one hundred and fifty of Little Hollywood’s choice characters were on the inside.

“We lined them up and marched them down to a lot, vacant at that time, across from headquarters. By the twos and the threes we took them into the station, shook ’em down to see what they had in their pockets and questioned them.”

Hays said the raid netted him “two or three hotshots” wanted by other departments for various crimes. A change in attitude was also observed around Little Hollywood. Chances are Hays wouldn’t have won any popularity polls in that neighborhood, but he was respected.

Now, on the twentieth anniversary of the city’s clampdown on Little Hollywood and more than thirty years after the settlement was at it’s peak, it’s hard telling how many lived in the shanty town by choice and how many were forced there by necessity. Doubtless, the hard days of the depression contributed to the village’s population.

As an oldtimer recalls, “it really wasn’t too bad a place. There was plenty of fresh air, a marine view and artesian wells– things that folks in many parts of the country still crave.”

Fresh the air may have been but the plumbing was primitive and city officials who barely had tolerated Little Hollywood during the worst depression years decided in 1938 that the shacks had to go. The sizable job of carrying out that order was given to W.R. Turner, building inspector.

Turner enlisted the aid of Beale Messinger, city police lieutenant at the time, and the two set to work. First, the ownership of each of the shanties was determined. This was no small job in itself. Then, each of the owners was served with condemnation papers.

As Little Hollywood’s residents were evicted, their shacks were burned. Two years after Turner and Lieutenant Messinger started their chore, the torch was applied to the last shanty.

As Turner recalls, “Some of Little Hollywood’s residents were pretty nice people, but most of them were bums.”

The condemnation proceedings were carried out with a minimum of fuss and fury, the building inspector remembers. “There was one guy who let me inside his shack and then took a swing at me with a two-by-four,” said Turner, “but that only happened once.”

Little Hollywood is gone, but the memories linger on. For instance, one fellow remembers the bearded resident who looked like a Russian Bolshevist, but wasn’t. His weakness was booze and it was the death of him.

As the story goes, the bearded one bet a crony $20 he could drink eight fifths of a whisky at one sitting. The last drop from the fifth bottle had dribbled down his chin when he groaned once and pitched forward. The winner picked up the stakes. Police collected the body.

Georgia Pacific Building Docomo page – captured from Wayback Machine

January 13, 2023

This page was captured from the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine on May 17, 2017 and describes the endangered status of the Georgia Pacific Building in the Port of Olympia. Original URL http://www.docomomo-wewa.org/endangered_detail.php?id=10

Georgia – Pacific Plywood Co. Office

The number of formally recognized and designated Modern resources in Washington State is low. Less than two dozen properties (constructed from 1941 or later) are listed on local registers and just seventy-five are listed on the State and/or National Register. Slowly, individuals and communities are beginning to recognize the need to document and celebrate the recent past.

Among the most recent Modern properties to be recognized is the 1952 Georgia-Pacific Plywood Company Office Building in Olympia, which was formally listed on the National Register of Historic Places in March 2007.

Despite its listing, the building is still threatened with demolition. Owned by the state, legislators have specifically asked that the property, along with others owned by the state in downtown Olympia, be issued for surplus. Located next to the farmer’s market, legislators note the site has high redevelopment potential, and that the existing structure is not the best and highest use for the property. What they seem to be missing however, is the historical significance of the resource.

The building, which served as headquarters for a large and bustling plywood mill, is the last extant structure (in Olympia) associated with the Georgia-Pacific Company and its subsidiary, Washington Veneer. The building holds the distinction of being the first NBBJ designed project to be listed on the National Register.

Georgia-Pacific, founded in Augusta, Georgia in 1927, served mainly as a wholesaler of hardwood lumber in its early development years. Seeing the demand for building products after World War II, the company decided to move into plywood production. In 1947, it acquired its first West Coast mill, a plywood facility in Bellingham. The next year, Georgia-Pacific acquired the Washington Veneer Mill in Olympia and a mill in Springfield, Oregon from Weyerhaeuser.

At first, Georgia-Pacific struggled to sell plywood products since the company was unfamiliar with the marketing networks for the product. The firm re-organized its operations and moved the operational headquarters for the company to the west coast. Executives chose Olympia, Washington, the location of one the company’s most successful manufacturing plants.

Before the major move of the operations side of the company to the west coast could occur, the company needed an adequate facility to house the various executives and staff. It also needed space to house lumber scalers and buyers that were associated with operating the local plywood mill. Georgia-Pacific hired the prominent Seattle architectural firm of Naramore, Bain, Brady & Johanson (NBBJ) to design a Modern facility which would highlight the products of the growing lumber company.

Completed in July of 1952 for $200,000, the building served as a unique marketing tool for the company by demonstrating the many uses of its products in a unique integration of plywood veneers for interior and exterior finishes. Inside, each office featured exotic plywood veneer walls and built-in cabinetry (each with its own plaque). On the outside, the design demonstrated how plywood could be applied in a variety of exterior applications.

Formed in 1943, the partnership of NBBJ was established initially to take advantage of large contracts commissioned by the federal government during WWII. By the end of the war, the partnership was solidified, emphasizing a “team” approach to design and a service approach to practice. By the early 1950s, the firm began to receive a variety of important commissions such as facilities at the University of Washington and Swedish Hospital, downtown Seattle office towers such as the Public Safety Building, and a variety of schools across the Pacific Northwest.

In 1954, just two years after arriving in Olympia, Georgia-Pacific moved their headquarters to a multi-story building in downtown Portland, but maintained offices in the nominated building. Not needing such a large space, Georgia-Pacific sold the nominated office building to the State of Washington Department of Game in 1959. It was during the late 1950s that the growth of state employment began to supplant the manufacturing base of the city.

Upon purchase of the building, the State Department of Game asked the architectural firm of Wohleb & Wohleb to complete drawings for an addition to the rear southeast corner of the building. The addition was completed in 1960 and is reflective of the original 1952 building with its use of plywood on the interior and exterior.

In December of 1971, the Port of Olympia purchased the former Washington Veneer/Georgia-Pacific manufacturing site. Shortly thereafter, the Port began dismantling the former plant to accommodate the area as a cargo hold for logs and other exports. The last of the Washington Veneer/Georgia-Pacific facility, except for the nominated building, was demolished in 1993, ending a chapter in the industrial history and development of the city.

The only remaining buildings from the plywood veneer industry in Olympia are the nominated Georgia-Pacific Plywood Co. Office, four manufacturing buildings, and an office building from the Olympia Veneer/St. Paul and Tacoma/St. Regis operations.

Capitol Park Apartments – Blog entry by Steven L

January 10, 2023

This blog entry from Steven L was captured by the Wayback Machine from the now-defunct OlyBlog.net website. The capture URL is https://web.archive.org/web/20160412032816/http://olyblog.net/capitol-park-apartments

Capitol Park Apartments

Sat, 06/27/2009 – 5:06pm — Anonymous

Although I called them Capital Apartments in a recent post, apparently they were also known as the Capitol Park Apartments.

I recently came across a copy of their report for the GA: Appraisal of Property Located at 1306-1318 Capitol Way, Olympia, Washington, Capitol Park Apartments.

Here are some extracts of their description. Notice the authors have one name for the place on the previously mentioned title, but another in their narrative:

There are a total of 61 apartments and 218 rooms in the two buildings … All apartments have oak floors in the halls, living rooms, dining rooms and bedrooms.”

Oak floors. Such a shame.

Images posted to page:

Apartments being demolished 1960s:

Plot plan:

Floor plan of apartment:

Tenant listing:

General Administration Building endangered – captured page from Docomomo

January 9, 2023

This page was captured from the Wayback Machine of a page from the Docomomo.org website featuring endangered properties. Original URL: https://www.docomomo-wewa.org/endangered_detail.php?id=9, captured on May 19, 2011.

General Administration Building

The Department of General Administration (GA) continues with plans to create an ambitious new Executive Office Plaza/Heritage Center despite its effect on this significant International Style building. The new structure would house executive offices, general offices, and functions related to the various agencies with heritage or history as its focus. The 1956 General Administration Building sits directly on the site where the new center is planned. The preferred plan calls for the demolition of the GA Building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

According to the nomination, the GA Building “…is the first building to be constructed on the capitol campus since the Great Depression. It represents the significant growth of state government in Olympia, Washington following World War II, and specifically the re-centralization of government to Olympia mandated by Supreme Court order in 1954. The building is also historically significant…as an intact example of Modern architecture in Olympia, Washington. The building was designed by prominent Tacoma architect, A. Gordon Lumm, in the International style distinctive for its horizontal cubical form and spare ornamentation. Its exterior minimalist appearance and interior architectural flexibility, including movable aluminum wall panels, demonstrate a growing aesthetic for modular space able to easily accommodate changing space and technology requirements. In this case, a building that needed to serve a diversity of state agencies housed in one structure. The period of significance is 1956, the date the building was completed and occupied by state offices.”

On July 17, 2006, Docomomo WEWA Board members attended a public meeting for the Executive Office Plaza/Heritage Center project. Two previous public meetings were held to get input from the public about the project. Docomomo WEWA brought up concerns about how the GA Building’s historic significance has been ignored and not presented to the public. There is also a lack of understanding on the part of those involved with the project on why the GA Building qualifies for listing on the National Register.

Docomomo WEWA was interviewed by The Olympian in a front page cover article that took a look at the GA Building itself, rather than the proposed project.

If you are interested in reading the National Register Nomination for the GA Building, please contact us at info@docomomo-wewa.org, and we will forward a copy of the document to you. Docomomo WEWA will continue to follow the process on the GA Building and provide comment. If you’d like to learn more about the Executive Office Plaza/Heritage Center project, go to the GA website for more information.

Spring 2022 Printing of Thurston County: Water, Woods and Prairies Now Available

November 4, 2021

Produced by the Thurston County Board of Commissioners and the Thurston County Historic Commission, and distributed by the Olympia Historical Society & Bigelow House Museum, Thurston County: Water, Woods and Prairies is a 290 page, fully illustrated volume containing essays authored by local historians about Native Americans, maritime explorers, loggers, early settlers and farmers, as well as the story of the state capital and contemporary times. The book is fully footnoted, indexed and features 250 illustrations as well as an extensive bibliography.

To order your copy, fill out the form below. If paying ahead with credit card or Paypal Account, be sure to proceed to step two.

Note: For updates to the first printing of Water, Woods and Prairies, please download this document.

Thank you for your support. Questions? Email olyhistory@gmail.com

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Genealogy Resources

July 14, 2020

(Legacy page from Roger Easton’s WAResearcher website). Not all links are still active

LINKS

Societies:

Misc.

Abbreviations, legends and keys used in Sanborn colored maps

April 16, 2020

These are abbreviations used in Sanborn colored maps. Link here for abbreviations used in black and white maps.

Abbreviations used on Black and White Sanborn Maps

April 16, 2020

These are abbreviations used by the Sanborn company in its black and white maps. Link here for abbreviations used in colored maps

First All-Woman Jury in Washington State

December 2, 2019

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 size copy of the poster shown at left is on display in the Thurston County Courthouse Building 2. If you would like to download and print a high resolution image of the poster shown at left, please e-mail olyhistory@gmail.com.

This project was funded through a Votes for Women Centennial Grant provided by the Washington State Women’s Commission and the Washington State Historical Society and produced by the Thurston County Historic Courts Committee in partnership with Thurston County Superior Court and Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum.

The Sanborn Overlays – Instructions and Tips

December 22, 2015

Each set of Sanborn overlay pages has two possible views: an embedded view that is contained on the page itself, and a linked view that will take you to a larger map hosted by ESRI, a Geographical Information System provider.

*To zoom and out, use the +/- buttons or your scroll wheel, if you have one
*Each map consists of several layers, including the underlying current aerial or map, one or more mosaic elements (see additional note below regarding mosaic elements), and buildings or other elements included in our website’s Where Are We? feature (see below). Clicking on the layer icon ()will allow you to toggle various layers on or off.
*Opacity of the various layers can be changed by selecting the layer, clicking on the right arrow > where you can select opacity of the selected layer.
*Link here for legends and keys that Sanborn typically used in the colored maps; link here for legends and keys for the black and white maps. These changed somewhat over time so may not be universally applicable.
*Colored dots link to information about buildings or other historical features included in the Where Are We? feature of our website. The dots are color-coded (click on legend icon ) to indicate the time frame in which the feature was added. Toggle the Historical Features layer to turn this on and off. Clicking on the dots will take you to a link for the applicable Where Are We? page.
*You can use the measure button to draw a line or enclosed area and measure length or area. Clicking on it again will make the line disappear.
*The basemap button ()allows you to select what you want to see under the Sanborn overlay — e.g., an aerial view, a street map, etc.

Note re mosaic elements: Each Sanborn map series consisted of two or more sheets, with an index, or overview, page that provided an overview of the area covered by each series. The overview also shows the sheet number for each area covered. Our Sanborn overlay maps were created by layering several individual sheets or groups of sheets (mosaic tiles) over a single contemporary aerial view or map. Occasionally, the mosaic elements slightly overlap and may obscure some information. Each layer can be toggled on and off with the layer button, so where there are overlapping mosaic tiles, you may wish to view each layer separately. We recommend that you begin your viewing with the overview layer, then toggle the separate mosaics and/or Historic Features layer on and off, and set their opacity as desired.

The Sanborn Overlays – Introduction

December 13, 2014

Sanborn Insurance maps were developed between 1867 and 2007 to assist insurance companies in assessing the risk of fire. They contain detailed information about every building and space and associated infrastructure and are an invaluable tool for researchers. Each year’s set of maps featured two or more pages. Sanborn maps came in both black and white and color versions. The colored versions provide more information about materials and other key features. Link here for select scanned colored Sanborn maps, or, If you are a member of a Timberland Library, you can access all the Washington State Sanborns here (you will prompted for your library card).

In this feature, you can access four series of Sanborn maps: 1884, 1891, 1908, and 1924-1947, with a mosaic feature that combined pages from each set to create a single map of the developed part of the city. We then overlay them on top of aerials of the Olympia of today. You can also select a view that will show many historic features that remain today, with links to more information about them. The maps are also zoomable to a high degree of detail. Features of the overlays can be turned on and off, or made more or less transparent, depending on the view chosen. Click here for detailed instructions and tips on using the overlays.

Many, many thanks to volunteer Brian Hovis for creating these maps.

Sanborn Overlay – 1884 – downtown core soon after the great 1882 fire
Sanborn Overlay – 1891 – a booming capital city after statehood
Sanborn Overlay – 1908 – the advent of the bicycle and beginning of the automotive age
Sanborn Overlay – 1924 – 1947 Carlyon Fill has created Port area; “Wohleb era” arrives; Capitol Campus created (this is a combined overlay, as the 1947 series was essentially an update of the 1924 series)

Thurston County Courthouses Through History

January 2, 2017

This “story map” is part of a collaboration between the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum and the Thurston County Courts History Committee. The left side of the map features a narrative of the locations associated with the Thurston County court system, while the right side is a map with locations noted with an gavel icon. Scroll down or click on the buttons at the left of the screen to take a stroll through history!

Text developed by Thurston County Courts History Committee; story map created by Brian Hovis and Deb Ross

To view the map in full screen, link here (external link to ArcGIS Online)

The Sanborn overlays: Olympia in 1884

September 20, 2014

After a shaky start in the late 1840s and 1850s, by the early 1880s Olympia was the most important community in Washington Territory, assisted by its status as territorial capital. Although the center of the city originally was north of Third (State) Avenue, it soon moved south to the intersection of Fourth and Main (now Capitol Way). Downtown was originally a mix of homes, stores, churches, and public buildings. Only a small part of Olympia was covered by this first Sanborn map.

These overlays consist of two individual sheets, which you can turn on or off by clicking on the layer icon (), as well as setting opacity levels for each layer (use right arrow in the layer menu). There is also a layer that contains color-coded dots with links to historical features (see instruction page for more information on this feature).

To view the map in full screen, link here (external link to ArcGIS Online)

The Sanborn overlays: Olympia in 1891

December 13, 2014

The pace of Olympia’s growth accelerated with the introduction of a railroad line and statehood. Business was booming in 1891: a close look at the maps shows the erection of many fine masonry or brick buildings downtown, as well as factories and homes extending up to what is now Capitol Campus. Many of these still exist (as shown in the Where Are We? layer). A 3/4 mile long wharf had been built, extending into Budd Inlet to deep water (only part of which is included on the Sanborn maps). The Swantown Slough continued to divide the Eastside from downtown Olympia. West Olympia was still not covered in detail by Sanborn. The shoreline can be seen outlined in blue.

These overlays consist of several individual sheets , which you can turn on or off by clicking on the layer icon (), as well as setting opacity levels for each layer (use right arrow in the layer menu). There is also a layer that contains color-coded dots with links to historical features (see instruction page for more information on this feature). We recommend you start with the overview for 1891, then click on various layers as desired.

Click here for more detailed instructions and tips on using the Sanborn overlay feature.

To view the map in full screen, link here (external link to ArcGIS Online)

The Sanborn overlays: Olympia in 1908

February 17, 2015

Notable developments between 1891 and 1908 included the completion of the Old State Capitol building overlooking Sylvester Park and the establishment of an electric trolley system that went along Fourth Avenue and Main Street (now Capitol Way). Elaborate Eastside homes such as the Funk, William White, and Patnude houses were built in this time frame as well. And the onset of the automobile era was the final impetus for the paving of Olympia’s main streets. But the shorelines (outlined in blue) remained approximately as they had been late in the 19th century: the huge Carlyon Fill was still 5 years away.

These overlays consist of many individual layers, which you can turn on or off by clicking on the layer icon (), as well as setting opacity levels for each layer (use right arrow in the layer menu). There is also a layer that contains color-coded dots with links to historical features (see instruction page for more information on this feature). We recommend you start with the overview layer, then click on various layers as desired.

Click here for more detailed instructions and tips on using the Sanborn overlay feature.

To view the map in full screen, link here (external link to ArcGIS Online)

The Sanborn overlays: Olympia in 1924 and 1947

December 15, 2015

This page includes overlay series for both 1924 and 1947. For the 1947 series, Sanborn re-used the 1924 maps and updated them by simply pasting any changes over the original maps. Some anomalies or errors exist: for example, the 1947 sheet for Capitol Campus fails to show the existence of the new diagonal streets, although the overview sheet does show them. We show the 1924 series in black and white and the 1947 series in color, which allows for easier toggling between the two sets.

The Carlyon Fill of 1911-1912 created 23 new blocks in Olympia and filled in the Swantown Slough. The shoreline in 1924 and 1947 was much as we see it today; Capitol Lake and the Fifth Avenue Dam were still in the future, as was I-5. The port area continued to add land for the next few years, and was in flux while these maps were being created. Architect Joseph Wohleb created the Mission-style look of downtown Olympia and many other important buildings. Capitol Campus, west of Capitol Way, was largely completed. Industrial activity continued to expand between 1924 and 1947, and growth continued apace.

These overlays consist of many individual layers, which you can turn on or off by clicking on the layer icon (), as well as setting opacity levels for each layer (use right arrow in the layer menu). There is also a layer that contains color-coded dots with links to historical features (see instruction page for more information on this feature). We recommend you start with overviews for 1924 and/or 1947, then click on various layers as desired.

For more instructions and tips on using the overlays, click here.

To view the map in full screen, link here. This will also allow you to select layers and set transparency (external link to ArcGIS Online)

Geographic Resources – Maps, Walking Tours, Interactive Maps, Graphics

May 13, 2014

On this website

Walking Tours
Unless indicated, these are City of Olympia and neighborhood-sponsored walking tours and brochures, scanned to this website. Note: some of these are out of date and should be relied on with caution. Most places on these brochures can also be found in our Where Are We?

Bigelow Neighborhood
Black pioneers
Chinese in Olympia
Gay and Lesbian History walking tour (courtesy Llyn DeDanaan and Carol McKinley)
Heritage Trees (created by Devon Damonte, posted by permission)
Labor History Walking Tour
Olympia Avenue
Olympia Women’s Suffrage Trail, Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House museum through a grant from Votes for Women Centennial
South Capitol (South Capitol Neighborhood Association Publication)
South Capitol (City of Olympia publication, 1992)
Southeast Neighborhood, City of Olympia brochure scanned to this website
Transportation
Victorian homes and places
Westside
Women in Olympia
See also City of Olympia Walking Tours on the City’s website, below

Interactive Maps on Our Website
Bernice Sapp, Olympia 100 Years ago, with interactive map by Ed Echtle
Sanborn Overlays
Where Are We? heritage and historic locations

Other Maps and Geographic Content
Sylvester’s Window Project
Thurston County Place Names, published by Thurston County and captured to this website (many place names out of date)
Thurston County Markers, published by POSSCA and captured to this website (many markers and places out of date)

External links

Washington Legacy Project: Bird’s Eye View of Olympia, 1879 (download as JPEG for zoomable view); same map can also be viewed and zoomed directly from Library of Congress
City of Olympia: Heritage map and links to neighborhood walking tours (Southeast brochure was incomplete, use link above; Eastide only partially available, no known copy available)
City of Olympia Women’s History Walking Tour
Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation: WISAARD interactive map and database
Findagrave: Thurston County Cemeteries
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, available through Library of Congress. See also Sanborn Overlay Project above
Tacoma Public Library Northwest Room: Washington Place Names Database
Thurston County Courthouses through history, an interactive Storymap
Olympia Labor History
Olympia Oyster Industry History
Olympia’s Hidden Histories, a project of students at The Evergreen State College
Washington State Digital Archives, select Maps as the collection and then enter key word (e.g., Olympia)

De Danaan and McKinley, Olympia’s Gay and Lesbian History

November 26, 2013

Llyn De Danaan and Carol McKinley have created a walking tour exploring Olympia’s Gay and Lesbian History. Thank you to them for permitting us to post this on our website.

Gay History Walking Tour May 29, 2012

Interactive Map – Where Are We?

April 26, 2012

The Where are We? feature of the Olympia Historical Society website allows you to find out more about important historical buildings and locations in Olympia. Click on any of the orange buttons on the map to view a popup naming the location. Clicking on “more info” at the bottom of the popup will take you to a page describing the location, “then and now” pictures, and links. You can use the +/- buttons or your scroll wheel to zoom in and out, click and hold your left mouse to move around. To search locations by theme (for example, Women’s History), click on the arrow at the top of the map to display or hide theme options. You can turn off “Combined Locations” by unchecking that selection and then check another box to see which locations are associated with a particular theme. To change the basemap to aerial photography or other views, please select the icon below the zoom box.

Be patient – map may take a few moments to load up!

To view a larger map, click here (you will be taken to an external webpage)

Visual Resources – Photographs and Videos

May 24, 2013

Photographs

The Society’s website maintains a small collection of photographs in our image bibliography. Many more photographs and links to photographs are available for viewing in our Where Are We?, Looking Back, and Who Are We? features. The following is a list of the additional photograph collections on our website.

Downtown Olympia Historical Postcard Display
Selected Photographs from Susan Parish Collection, Washington State Archives
Bigelow House Photograph Collection
Furgison Collection
Moody Collection

Videos and Films

As Long as the River Runs. 1971 documentary on the native treaty fishing rights movement. [via YouTube]
The Bigelow House, produced in 1992 to promote preservation of Bigelow House as a Museum [via YouTube]
- Bigelow House YouTube channel, videos on Olympia and Bigelow House history
Calvin Johnson’s Walking Tour of Olympia [via YouTube]
Couple Weds Atop a Smokestack, news footage of June 8, 1929 wedding
Farewell to the 4th: Link to the Past, Gateway to the Future, (2001) VHS about the Fourth Avenue bridge.
Greenwood Builds an Ark (1929) footage of “prophet” William Greenwood’s ark in West Olympia [Critical Past via YouTube]
Now Where Were We? Youtube series of short videos on Olympia area history
The Null Set Remembered, history of the 1960s coffee house, with musical performances from CD release party [via YouTube ]
On the Road Series: Visit to Olympia, WA 2014 [via C-Span]
Origins of the Evergreen Geoduck Mascot [TESC via YouTube]
Paget, John. Go With the Flow: A Film About Olympia, Washington. Paget Films, 2002 (available at Timberland Library); also available for rent on Vimeo here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/gowiththeflowfilm
President Truman Visits Olympia (1945) Universal Newsreels [via YouTube]
“Faces and Places” Series [via TVW]
U.S. Civil Defence Operation “Alert” (1956) national nuclear strike preparedness drill; Olympia footage at 0:2:30 [via British Pathe News]
State Capital Museum lecture series, [via YouTube]
Schmidt Mansion History Talks [Tumwater TV and Thurston Community Media via Youtube]
Three alarm fire at Yard Birds, 1999 [via YouTube]
The Story of Olympia, a series of four shows originally produced at TCTV, re-posted on Youtube by producer Joe Illing.

Membership form

May 24, 2013

You may print out, fill in and mail this membership form, along with your check, to the address below, or, if you prefer, send an e-mail to the Treasurer listed in the Contact us page with this information and make your payment with Paypal.

Name_____________________________________________________

Address:________________________________________________

City:_________________State:_______________ Zip:________

Phone ________________________

Email ________________________

Mail to: Olympia Historical Society, PO Box 6064, Olympia, WA 98507-6064

By joining the Olympia Historical Society, you will help support our website, meeting, and mailing expenses, and maintenance of our collection; be entitled to attend our periodic members-only events; and have a voice on the direction and events sponsored by the Society.

Membership Categories (annual dues)

Student & Senior (65+) member – $20.00

Regular member – $30.00

Non-profit Organizational member – $50.00

Business, Institutional, or Professional member – $100.00

Dues enclosed: $ _________________

Additional donation: $ _________________

Total: $ _________________

Get involved!

May 23, 2013

Do you want to become more involved in Olympia’s history and heritage? There are many ways to do so, and we can help. Here are a few:

Join the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum and help support our website and programs

Donate to the ongoing work of the Society and Museum, by clicking on the Donate button at the right of this page, or mail a check to
OHS-BHM
PO Box 1821
Olympia, WA 98507

Subscribe to our biweekly bulletins and quarterly newsletter – free! Contact us using the subject line: subscribe and we’ll add you to our list.

Attend programs and events on Olympia and Thurston County history presented by the Society and Museum or other organizations – you can find out what’s happening by subscribing to our bulletins (see above) or checking our Calendar or Upcoming Events sidebar. You can even add calendared events to your own Google calendar.

Take a walk! The City of Olympia has walking tour brochures available to view on line or print out. If you want to create your own themed walking tour, check out our Interactive Map where you can look at historic locations and even search by theme. If you are downtown, check out the display at the New Caldonia building featuring historic views of Capitol Way and Fourth Avenue, courtesy of the Society, the Olympia Heritage Commission, and the Olympia Downtown Association.

Visit the Bigelow House Museum. Link here for more information on visiting hours, or scheduling a special tour.

Donate to our collection: link here (bottom of page) to our collections policy

Preserve our heritage. If you live in an older home (50 years or more), explore the possibility of having it inventoried and/or listed on the heritage register. Benefits include research assistance, preservation assistance and tips, tax relief and the environmental, historical, and aesthetic advantages of living in a heritage home. Contact Marygrace Goddu at mgoddu@ci.olympia.wa.us for more details on the program.

Volunteer. Below is a list of current volunteer opportunities with the Society or other organizations. Contact us if you would like to volunteer or add a volunteer opportunity to this list:

Transcriber: Historian Ed Echtle and local leader Thelma Jackson are working on an oral history project to collect the stories of contemporary African Americans in Thurston County. Several interviews have been recorded but they need volunteers to transcribe them. Please contact Ed if you are interested: echtle@harbornet.com
Website assistance: review and update links to Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum website, take photographs for “Where Are We?” listings, write Where Are We? text. Qualifications vary with task.
Write articles for newsletter. We are always looking for feature (longer) articles, as well as shorter articles about families of Olympia and Thurston County.

Resources for Researching Olympia’s History

May 3, 2013

The following is a list of materials relating to Olympia area history that are available either on our website or elsewhere.

Bibliography – listing of books, transcripts, and articles – many on-line
Visual Resources – photographs, films, and videos
Geographic Resources – maps, walking tours, and interactive maps. Includes Sanborn Map overlays that virtually lays historic fire insurance maps over current maps and images.
Where Are We? resource with interactive map and pages showing historic and heritage locations throughout Olympia, with photographs and links. Toggle on theme buttons to view sites associated with themes such as diversity, women’s history, etc.
Who Are We? resource listing early residents of Olympia and Thurston County from 1840s through 1930, with brief bios, photographs and links.
Many Streams, a resource for research on ethnic, ancestral, and cultural diversity in Olympia area.
Sylvester’s Window, a “cityscape” project featuring a series of watercolors showing downtown Olympia throughout the years, with accompanying materials, reproduced by permission.
Query: If you cannot find an answer to your question or research topic, feel free to submit a query and we will try to find an answer for you.

Where Are We?

March 5, 2013

Welcome to “Where Are We?”, a new feature of the Olympia Historical Society website that gives you information about buildings and sites in Olympia. Click here for more information about this feature, or start right in with the interactive map.

Locations of Historic Interest

Researching Olympia – Contents

March 5, 2013

Articles
Bibliography
Chinese Olympia
Image Bibliography
Links to other helpful sites
Transcriptions
Where Are We?

Articles

Chinese Olympia

Bibliography

Bibliography - Books, Transcripts, and Articles

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Image Bibliography

Transcriptions

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Olympia Historical Society July 2012 bulletin

July 9, 2012

Hello friends. As we are on "summer schedule," this will be your only
bulletin for July, but it’s an important one!

First, please join historical societies and commissions throughout Thurston
County for a* tribute to Roger Easton*, to be held at the Jacob Smith House
in Lacey, 4500 Intelco Loop, on Wednesday, July 18, 6-8 p.m. Here is a link
to the Jacob Smith House:
http://www.ci.lacey.wa.us/city-government/city-departments/parks-and-recreation/parks-and-facilities/community-buildings/jacob-smith-house
All
of us who love Olympia history benefited greatly from Roger’s contributions
and we will miss him sorely.

The *Canoe Journey,* to be held at the end of July, will be a spectacular,
interesting, and fun filled time. Several organizations have contacted us
with requests for volunteers and assistance. Of course, first off the bat
is our own Olympia Historical Society, which still needs 9-10 volunteers to
help with our participation. OHS coordinator Anne Kilgannon writes:

OHS is planning to share a booth with the State Capitol Museum at the Canoe
Journey event on July 29th. This will be an exciting opportunity to work
with the Squaxin and other tribes during this huge celebration of Native
culture. See http://paddletosquaxin2012.org/ for more information. We will
need 8 to 10 people to staff our part of the booth, which will be featuring
materials on little-known Native American historical sites in the Olympia
area. Interested volunteers should attend a program at the State Capitol
Museum, The Canoe Way of Knowledge on July 17, 6:00, for orientation. We
will also have a short meeting, TBA, on logistics and other information for
volunteers. Contact Ralph Blankenship at ralph.bship@comcast.net or Anne
Kilgannon at anneandgary@gmail.com to get involved in this tremendous
gathering.

Co-host State Capitol Museum sponsor of our table, Susan Rohrer, adds: We
have the booth on July 29 from 10 am to 6 Pm. We are gathering information
from the city about the shuttle bus transportation, as you will not be able
to drive to the venue.

We are having two trainings, one for anyone wishing to volunteer, and an
additional one for anyone who wants to lead a walking tour of native sites
near the waterfront in Olympia.

The general training is scheduled for 5:00 PM on Tuesday, July 17. We will
have a brown bag dinner with our team supplying drinks and desserts. The
training will include all the details about the booth and event and
logistics. Then from 6 to 7 PM we are asking all volunteers to stay for a
program on Canoe Journey that includes an hour long documentary on the
journey and then a presentation by the film producer and canoe journey
founder Phil Red Eagle. This will provide a background for our volunteers
on the cultural and historical significance of the journey.

Finally, Jennifer Kenny, staff to the Olympia Historical Commission, writes
us: The Squaxin Island Tribe is the host of Canoe Journey 2012 (
http://paddletosquaxin2012.org/).

Tribal Journeys began in 1989, intending to coincide with the centennial
celebration for Washington State. Since 1993, ‘Tribal Journeys’ or ‘The
Paddle’ has been held on an annual basis, with various tribes serving as
the host tribe. Today more than a 100 canoes from as many as 90 US Tribes,
Canadian First Nations and New Zealand and an estimated 12,000 people
participate in the annual Tribal Canoe Journeys.

The Tribe expects to host 5,000-8,000 people at the Potlatch Protocol,
July 30-August 5, at the Squaxin Island Reservation. The Landing of the
Canoes is July 29th, in the Swantown area, Port of Olympia.

The Potlatch Protocol includes feeding and housing (camping) all guests
for the entire week of July 29-August 5. As you can imagine, many hands are
needed to assist.

The 2012 Paddle to Squaxin Canoe Journey Hosting will be a “green” event
held in the spirit of sustainability and in the spirit of the teachings of
the ancestors.

Volunteers for the Paddle to Squaxin Green Team will work on recycling and
composting in collaboration with the Public Works Team.

Watch the video to learn more: http://vimeo.com/44108195

For a more detailed description of the Squaxin Green Team and to sign up,*
please go to:

http://paddletosquaxin2012.org/volunteer/green-team

There may also be opportunities to work in a supervisory capacity during
the event. Please contact Sheena Kaas for more information, 360-432-3907 or
skaas@squaxin.us

The *State Capitol Museum* is also sponsoring several events in July and
August associated with the Canoe Journey and the museum’s exhibit on Orca
whales. For more information, click on this link:
http://wshs.org/scmoc/event-programs.aspx

For music lovers and those interested in recent history, the Olympia
library has a great upcoming event: Friday, July 27, 2012
*Start Time:* 7:30 PM
*Library:* Olympia
*Description:*
Mark Baumgarten will read from and sign his new book "Love Rock Revolution:
*K Records and the Rise of Independent Music*," and musical guests The
Maxines will perform

The South Sound Maritime Association asks us to pass along the sad news
that, along with Roger Easton, our area has lost another passionate lover
of local history, *Robin Paterson. *Chuck Fowler writes: Robin passed
away last Wednesday after a several months-long battle with cancer.

Finally, the July issue of "Inquiring Minds Want to Know" is available for
your viewing pleasure. Remember, you can also subscribe to this interesting
monthly compilation of queries that the Society receives. Here is the link:
https://olympiahistory.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=16&Itemid=34

As many OHS members know, Robin and his wife Kae were dedicated, quietly
passionate tug owner participants in Olympia Harbor Days for almost its
entire 37 year history. With their first restored, retired tugboat, *Bayburn
*, they entered the first Harbor Days event to feature a tugboat race in
1975 and only missed one annual event during their more than three decades
of involvement.

—
Deborah Ross, on behalf of
The Olympia Historical Society
www.OlympiaHistory.org
To unsubscribe, send us an e-mail: olyhistory@gmail.com

Queries

May 18, 2012

Our website has extensive materials and links on Olympia history, but sometimes it’s hard to know where to get started or how to find answers to specific questions. We suggest you begin by entering a search term in the Search button above our Menu bar. If this doesn’t answer your question, we welcome and will reply to all queries (although we can’t always guarantee that your questions will be answered). Please email your query to olyhistoryresearch@gmail.com,

If you find this service helpful and are not already a member of our organization, please consider either joining, or making a tax-deductible donation to the organization by clicking on the Donate button at the bottom of this page.

Olympia’s Historic Chinese Community – Links

May 17, 2012

Related Sites

Chinese and Asian American History

Historical Societies, Museums, and Exhibits:

Genealogy

Miscellaneous

Back to Main Page

Olympia’s Historic Chinese Community – Interpretive Marker

May 17, 2012

The dedication of the Olympia Chinatown Historical Marker took place May 22, 2004 at Heritage Park.

Interpretive Marker located in Heritage Park, near the site of Olympia’s last Chinatown

The Olympia Area Chinese Fellowship Youth Orchestra
provided traditional music for the ceremony.

Bill and Toy Kay, Brian Lock, Jimmy Locke, Mary Pang, and City Councilman Doug Mah unveil the marker

Lion Dance presented by Mak Fai Washington Kung Fu Club of Seattle.
Performers include Kavin Chan, Gary Chan, Royal Gam, Sifu Mak, Sifu Zhu, Assim and Franklin Hsu.

Project Sponsors

Olympia Heritage Commission
Locke Family Association
Olympia Area Chinese Association

Event Sponsors

Locke Family Association
City of Olympia Parks and Recreation
Olympia Area Chinese Association

Event Planning and Staging

Kathy Thompson
Carla Wulfsberg
Emily Locke
Jane Locke
Muoi Nguy
Wendy Seid

Special Thanks

Bill and Toy Kay for sponsoring the Lion Dance performance.
Susan Karren, Director, Archival Operations, NARA – Pacific Alaska Region
Ron Chew, Director, Wing Luke Asian Museum
Jane Boubel, City of Olympia Parks and Recreation
David Hanna, City of Olympia Parks and Recreation
Greg Miller, Bartel’s Men Store
Lynne Chao and Corliss Fong

The Olympia Chinatown Historical Project Committee, 1998.

L-R: Shanna Stevenson, Bill Kay, Edward Echtle, Brian Lock, Toy Kay and Ron Locke

Back to Main Page

Olympia’s Historic Chinese Community – Chinese Cemetery

May 17, 2012

At Forest Memorial Gardens, 2501 Pacific Ave., Olympia

Marker for Locke Mai Tuck

Edward Echtle photo

As late as the 1930s members of Olympia’s Chinese community still gathered at Forest Cemetery for the traditional springtime Ching Ming memorial ceremony. After tidying the site, they laid out offerings of food, burned incense and set off fireworks to ward off malevolent spirits.

Early Chinese sojourners made arrangements with their surname association to return their bones to their family’s ancestral burial site in China so that family members could honor them. These associations interred Chinese who died in the United States with only a temporary marker and some years later exhumed them for their return to China. This service required that a traveling monk, or “bone gatherer” visit the city every few years and prepare the remains for the voyage home. This practice persisted until the 1930s when war and the Communist Revolution in China severed contact.

Forest Cemetery records show a section sold to “Chinese Sam,” (probably Sam Fun Locke,) generically labeled “Chinese.” The site, which is in the oldest part of the cemetery, is located just inside the gate, on the raised ground to the left. The Chinese community managed this section as a cemetery within a cemetery, maintaining their own records separate from the rest of the non-Chinese burials.

At present [2014] there is only one marker remaining, that of Locke Mai Tuck who drowned while tending oyster floats at Henderson Inlet in 1914. In 1987 construction workers found his marker under the sod when Pacific Avenue was widened, lost during the years the cemetery was neglected and overgrown. The Cemetery association did not record individual Chinese interments. The Locke Family Association kept these records but they were destroyed in the 1970s when the Locke Family Association Hall in Seattle burned. It is unknown how many of Olympia’s Chinese pioneers at the site awaiting a return to their families in China.

Partial List of Chinese pioneers interred at Forest Cemetery:

– Don Yin, “Billy,” d. June 18, 1904
– Hey Lee, d. June 23, 1901
– Hong Hai, Mrs., d. November 1902
– Lee Fon, d. May 1894
– Lee Klet, d. April 30, 1915
– Leuu Gim Hing, “China Jim,” d. December 25, 1913
– Lew He Soon, “Old Charlie,” d. October 1911
– Lewis Yu Kea, “Hong Hai,” d. January 24, 1912
– Lock Hock Joe, d. August 7, 1904
– Lock Kay, d. November 26, 1931
– Lock Pow, d. January 1894
– Mo Hen, d. April 11, 1899
– Poo, Yee “Johnson,” d. November 30, 1934
– Sing Yet Ying, d. October 27, 1918
– Su He, d. April 24, 1880
– Unknown, “Chinaman Joe,” d. July 15, 1899
– Unknown, Chinese Man, d. 1892

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Olympia’s Historic Chinese Community – Families

May 17, 2012

Due to immigration restrictions it was prohibitively expensive and legally difficult for most Chinese men to bring a wife and family members to America. Nevertheless, a small but significant number of Chinese American families established homes in Olympia from very early on. Census records show several families that came and went over the early decades of Olympia’s existence. Intriguing clues and oblique references surface infrequently in local records and much detail may be lost to history.

After the Seatte fire of 1889, a number of displaced Chinese relocated to Olympia. Among them was the Jim Ah Toone family. Jim and his wife Nettie Chiang raised a family of five children in Olympia before moving on to Yakima and then Minneapolis where their Olympia-born son Walter James opened the successful Nankin Cafe in 1919. The family continued its operation through 1999.

Jim Ah Toone and Nettie James Family, 1890s
WSHS Photo

The James Family Children in Olympia
Keystone/Maste

Nettie James at Ida Smith’s Studio, Olympia
Photo Courtesy of Corliss Fong and Lynne Chao

In 1902, prominent local merchant Sam Fun Locke returned from Toison with a wife. They lived in the space above the Hong Yek Kee and Company store. On the occasion of the birth of their first child, Loy Wing, the new family had a photo taken, a copy of which was presented to Sheriff Billings’ family in gratitude for his intervention in the 1886 riots. Eventually the Lockes had nine children, all born at Hong Yek.

In 1934 Sam Fun Locke, known locally as the “Mayor of Chinatown,” passed away. The local press described hs funeral as one of the most elaborate in Olympia history. Many surviving pioneers from the area and Chinese community leaders from around the region attended the event. The procession passed by the Water Street Chinatown before proceeding to the Masonic Cemetery at Tumwater. He was later reinterred at Calvary Cemetery, Seattle.

Sam Fun Locke Family, 1905
Courtesy of Hugh Locke

Sam Fun Locke Family ca. 1930
Courtesy of Hugh Locke

Locke Suey Kay , emigrated around 1900, and brought his wife Lam Shee, and their first two children to Olympia in 1915. Locke Suey Kay , known locally as Charley Kay, worked as a cook in Olympia. He was employed for a time at Doane’s Oyster House and, along with many other Olympia Chinese, at the Hotel Olympian.

In 1928 the Kay family opened the Nankin Cafe on the north side of Fourth Avenue between Columbia and Capitol Way. During the depression Charley worked in Seattle. Lam Shee Kay, with the help of their children, opened Kay’s Cafe on Capital Way in 1941, which continued operation through 1976.

Lam Shee Kay immigration photo, 1915
Photo courtesy of the Kay Family

Kay Family, ca. 1920s
Photo courtesy of the Kay Family

Also among the young Chinese men seeking work in Olympia in the early 1900s was Suey Gim Locke, grandfather of Washington State Governor [1996-2004] Gary Locke. Governor Locke acknowledged his family’s early connection to Olympia in his 1997 Inaugural Address, excerpted here in a press release:

Locke, the first Chinese-American governor in the nation’s history, traced his family’s roots in Washington from his grandfather’s arrival in the state nearly 100 years ago. His grandfather, Suey Gim Locke, worked as a “house boy” for a family in Olympia, where he learned English in return for his work.

“Although I may be standing less than a mile from where our family started its life in America, we’ve come a long way,” the new governor said.

http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/governorlocke/speeches/speech-view.asp?SpeechSeq=107

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Olympia’s Historic Chinese Community – Market Gardens

May 17, 2012

By the 1870s some of Olympia’s Chinese residents earned their keep as market gardeners. In fact, they were so efficient they effectively cornered the local produce market for some years. Two or more crops annually were common, and some even harvested wild blackberries which were offered for sale along with garden produce:

We are asserting only what everybody knows to be a fact, when we say that, until the arrival of our Chinese gardeners, all our earliest small fruits and vegetables came by steamer from San Francisco, for which we paid exorbitant prices. Now, through the native tact and indomitable energy of Chinamen, these fruits and vegetables are raised from our own soil and brought to our doors, weeks earlier than ever they were produced by white men.

Olympia: Washington Standard, June 20, 1879.

In a 1933 interview, George Blankenship of Olympia recalled an early Chinese garden at the foot of the bluff below the Capitol Campus, along the tide flat. This was later displaced by the Northern Pacific Railroad depot and switching yard when the Tacoma to Grays Harbor line was built around 1890. The area is now part of Heritage Park.

One of Olympia’s early produce grower was Lum Jo. Lum was also an herbalist and described himself in the census as the community doctor as well as a farmer. His garden and small cabin were located at Eighth and Plumb Streets. There is still a natural spring flowing at the site which Lum Jo used to irrigate his crops. Known locally as “The Vegetable Man,” Lum delivered his produce door to door in baskets he carried on a shoulder pole. In 1889 the Washington Standard reported that a local gardener, possibly Lum Jo, had switched from shoulder pole baskets to a horse cart to make his deliveries.

In 1887 gardener, Wong Jong Hang, leased three acres located between the foot of Madison Street above West Bay Avenue on Olympia’s west side. This site is also adjacent to a natural spring. Terms of this lease included the use of a cabin already at the site, clearing of the land of stumps and other debris, and grading the steep bluff to a more gentle incline. Evidently this was a successful endeavor, as plats for the development of the West Side in 1918 continued to show this site in use as a “China Garden.”

Yet another truck garden located near where Eastside Street now [2014] crosses the Interstate 5 freeway was developed around 1891 by Lock Chong and Le-u Choong and was one of the first leases recorded in the Stevens Addition plat.

It remains unclear whether these lease dates reflect the actual time of establishment of these gardens, due to the lack of formally recorded business agreements between local Chinese and the white community prior to the mid 1880s. It may be that the gardens existed before the paperwork was filed. Considering the tensions of the anti-Chinese era, whites and Chinese may have been reluctant to create a “paper trail.” The appearance of these leases after the 1880s may reflect a lessening of anti-Chinese sentiments among whites.

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Olympia’s Historic Chinese Community – Restaurants

May 17, 2012

Restaurants were a pioneer business for Chinese immigrants. Many early Chinese found employment as cooks for affluent families, at lumber camps and in hotels and rooming houses and learned this trade “on the job.” Since opening a restaurant required a relatively small capital investment, it was a more accessible first enterprise. While it is still unknown what the first Chinese owned restaurant in Olympia was, records show a number that came and went through the 1890s and early 1900s. During the 1890s,local restaurateur Jim Ah Toone operated the historic Gold Bar Restaurant on lower Capitol Way, the site of the meeting of the first territorial legislature in 1853.

Lumber and plywood mills around the Olympia area operated three shifts a day. Local Chinese-owned restaurants were among the few that stayed open late and opened early to serve the workers coming and going to their shifts. Menus were not strictly Chinese cuisine; steak and eggs, ham, and potatoes were also available to hungry workers at reasonable prices. The combination of extended hours and low prices enabled Chinese owned restaurants to compete in Olympia.

The Pekin Cafe, ca. 1920. This restaurant was located on the east side of Capitol Way between State Street and Fourth Avenue. The Pekin Cafe advertised that they “…specialize in chop suey and noodles, [and] the choicest American dishes.” The proprietor, Lock Hoy, went on to manage the Shanghai Cafe on Fifth Ave.

Henderson House Museum Photo

The Nan Young Cafe, which opened around 1918, operated at 116 West Fourth Street. This became the Nankin Cafe after it was purchased by Charley Kay in 1928, but closed in the 1930s due to the depression.

Photo courtesy of Bill and Toy Kay

During the depression when opportunity was scarce in Olympia, Charley Kay worked in Seattle. In order to make ends meet, his wife Lam Shee, with the help of their children, opened Kay’s Cafe in 1941 at 111 Capitol Way, The restaurant was operated by the Kay family at that location until 1976.

Photo courtesy of Bill and Toy Kay

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Olympia’s Historic Chinese Community – Laundries

May 17, 2012

A number of Chinese owned laundries existed in Olympia over the years. As laundries required little start up capital, they were often the first business a recent Chinese immigrant could start. Since profit margins were small, laundry operators had to cut expenses wherever possible. For example, the continual need for wood to heat water prompted some of the Chinese engaged in the laundry business to collect bark and other waste wood from mills around Budd Inlet They used rafts to transport it back to their laundries to use as fuel for heating water.

The 1870 Federal Census lists three Chinese laundries in Olympia. One laundry, operated by Ung Cheung and Ung Naeg was the home of the only female Chinese resident listed in any local census of the time, Kow Kow, age 16 in 1870.

A few of the early laundries located away from the central Chinese quarters on Fourth Avenue. Some of the earliest were located in the vicinity of the intersection of what is now State and Washington Streets, which was then waterfront. Probably the earliest of these was the Shong Gong Laundry, located on the north side of State Street between Washington and Franklin Streets, the present site (2007) of the Intercity Transit station. Early maps show a number of small Chinese laundries in this vicinity into the 1880s, probably supported by business from the various inns and boarding houses nearby. Many disappear within a short time, evidence of the transitory nature of the business. The Quong Dan Laundry, for example, appears on the northwest corner of the intersection of State and Washington streets in the late 1880s but is gone by 1896.

When the core of the Chinese community relocated to Fifth Street, the Kwong Hong Yick Laundry was the most substantial Chinese laundry in Olympia and operated into the early twentieth century. There were usually about six to eight men who lived and worked at Kwong Hong Yick, and many who lived above the stores on Fifth Street were employed there. Established around 1889, it may have been a continuation of the Yick Lee Laundry business which was located on Fourth Avenue next to Hong Yek and Company. Kwong Hong Yick operated until 1913 at this location and then moved to new quarters on Capitol Way north of State St. when the Fifth St. Chinatown moved to Water St.

One of the longest lived laundries in Olympia was the Chong Lee laundry on the south side of State Street between Capitol Way and Washington Streets. Initially, the Chong Lee laundry began business in 1891 at the northwest corner of Columbia and State Streets in a one story frame building on piling, directly adjacent to Percival’s Dock. By the early 1900s Chong Lee Laundry moved to the larger State Street location, where it operated until at least 1920. This laundry changed hands a number of times. Records show the owner/proprietors to be Lock Kung, Lock Suig and Lock Lee in 1910.

Parade on Third St. (present State St,) the Chong Lee Laundry in the background.
Washington State Library Photo

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Olympia’s Historic Chinese Community – Chinatowns

May 17, 2012

The International Chinese Business Directory of the World for the Year 1913

Over the years Olympia’s main Chinese quarters were located in three places. Available records show the earliest Chinatown was located ½ block west of Capital Way on Fourth Avenue, although some Chinese-owned businesses located near the intersection of State and Washington Streets. The core of Chinatown consisted of several structures including at least one hand laundry and two small mercantiles.

As downtown expanded in the late 1880s, Chinese relocated their businesses to the corner of Fifth Avenue and Columbia Streets, on what was then the waterfront. Five two-story wood frame buildings, housing the Hong Yek Kee Company, the Quong Yuen Sang Company and the Hong Hai Company were built on piles over tide flats.

In 1913 further expansion of the land area downtown through filling caused the Chinese owned stores to move a second time. Five buildings moved from the Fifth Street site to the west side of Water Street, between Fourth and Fifth. This was the third and final location of Olympia’s Chinatown.

The Chinese store was key to early Chinese community. It served as a multi-purpose facility, providing many services to resident Chinese. Inside, Chinese laborers found lodging, cooked their meals, sent and received mail, purchased supplies and socialized. For the primarily young male Chinese immigrant population, leisure time was often boisterous, with drinking and gambling the favorite forms of passtime. The Chinese merchants who operated these stores often rose to local prominence as representatives of the Chinese community, serving as liaisons between the Chinese and the white populations in business and government transactions.

By the 1890s Olympia Merchant Sam Fun Locke emerged as an important leader in the community. He arrived in 1874 as a railroad laborer, but soon rose to senior partner of the Hong Yek Kee Company. He served as banker for the laborers, many of whom spoke no English. Sam Fun Locke used this money to finance new Chinese owned businesses in Olympia and as far away as Hoquiam and South Bend, keeping the funds in a metal box in his home above Hong Yek.

Three of the five buildings that made up Olympia’s Chinatown, ca. 1902, SE corner of 5th and Columbia Streets. From left to right: “Chinese boarding house” (partly shown,) Hong Yek Kee and Co. Import Mercantile and Labor Contracting, and the Kwong Hong Yick Laundry. Note the firewood stacked on the side of Kwong Hong Yick,

used for fuel to heat water and the laundry drying platform built on the roof.

National Archives and Records Administration Photo.
NARA’s Pacific Alaska Region

Interior of the Hong Yek Kee Mercantile. Doorway on right looks across alley into the Kwong Hong Yick Laundry.

National Archives and Records Administration Photo.
NARA Pacific Alaska Region

By the early 1900s the local population of Chinese began to dwindle. Restrictive immigration laws limited new arrivals to replace the aging population. In addition, immigrant laborers from Japan filled many of the jobs that formerly employed Chinese. Many of Olympia’s Chinese retired to larger population centers like Seattle or, if they were able, returned to their families in China. By the early 1940s the old stores on Water Street were nearly vacant. In 1943 the fire department deemed them hazardous and condemned them. They were razed later that year; the same year the US repealed Chinese exclusion laws.

Olympia Fire Dept photo of the rear of Water St Chinatown ca1940

Digital Archives

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Olympia’s Historic Chinese History – Railroads and Riots

May 17, 2012

Chinese railroad section hands at the
Tenino Northern Pacific Railroad depot, early 1880s

WSHS Image

In the early 1870s construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad in western Washington brought a large influx of new Chinese laborers to Olympia, adding to the existing population. Excitement ran high locally over the approach of the rails and residents expected Olympia to be the terminus on Puget Sound. When the Northern Pacific Railroad bypassed Olympia in favor of Tacoma in 1873, Olympia residents formed the Thurston County Railroad Construction Company and began building their own narrow gauge spur line to the main tracks at Tenino, fifteen miles to the south. Initially conceived and implemented as a volunteer effort, work soon slowed to a crawl. After the project languished for a time, the TCRCC hired a Chinese labor contractor identified in records as Jimmia to complete the project. Jimmia recruited forty laborers for the task. They completed the grading of the right of way and track laying. Completed in 1878, historians consider the little railroad to have saved Olympia from economic oblivion and helped preserve its standing as the capitol.

Anti Chinese Era

By the the 1880s unemployed Euroamericans saw Chinese residents as unfair labor competition for scarce jobs. Many whites derided Chinese, (who were relegated to lower earning status all along,) as detrimental to wages because they worked for less. Tragically, the Knights of Labor used this animosity to unite European immigrant laborers against the Chinese as a common foe.

In 1882, congress passed the first of several exclusionary immigration laws aimed specifically at the Chinese. The goal was to stem the immigration of unskilled Chinese labor. Further, US customs officials began requiring Chinese returning from overseas to pass detailed questionings about their families and places of residence to determine whether they might be entering the US under the identity of a legal resident. Some Chinese bypassed this step and enter illegally, “blending” with the local population until able to speak enough English to get by on their own.

Organized agitation by white workers against the Chinese became increasingly violent. In September of 1885, white miners at Rock Springs Wyoming attacked Chinese miners, driving them out of town and killing many in the process. News of this incident emboldened radical anti-Chinese agitators in the Puget Sound region. Several instances of violence against the Chinese culminated in November, when a white mob that included the Mayor and many prominent businessmen removed the entire Chinese population of Tacoma, and burned their homes and businesses. Seattle citizens immediately attempted to follow suit, but Territorial Governor Watson Squire called in Federal Troops to keep peace and, for a time, Seattle lived under martial law.

Sporadic outbreaks of violence against the Chinese persisted throughout the winter. Vigilantes burned Chinese railroad workers out of their homes on Christmas Eve at Tenino and elsewhere in Thurston County. The men escaped only with their blankets. When the federal troops finally left Seattle in early February of 1886, citizens there reprised the “Tacoma Method.”

On February 8, 1886, agitators in Olympia also tried to emulate their counterparts to the north. The prearranged signal was the ringing of the city fire bell. Rioters converged on the Chinese dwellings on Fourth Avenue and demanded that the Chinese depart at once. While the majority of the white population of Olympia approved of Chinese expulsion, they were also determined to uphold the rule of law. The ambivalence of white Olympia residents over this issue is reflected in the resolution drafted at a town meeting the previous November in the aftermath of the Tacoma riot:

Be It Resolved: […] while we fully realize the fact that we have too much of the Chinese element in our midst, we as clearly recognize the fact that they are here in and by the virtue of law and treaty stipulations, and that we are decidedly opposed to their expulsion by force or by intimidation, or by any other unlawful means, but we will at all times give our aid and support to any measures looking to a peaceable and lawful riddance of that element and a final solution of the ‘Chinese question’

Town Meeting: November 12, 1885
Olympia: Washington Standard, 13 November 1885

During the riot Sheriff William Billings deputized many prominent Olympia residents and they patrolled the scene to maintain order. While the deputies allowed the agitators to harass the Chinese , apparently none were forced to leave. The deputized businessmen subsequently arrested the leaders of the “riot” who were tried, convicted of conspiracy, fined, and sentenced to prison at McNeil Island.

While shaken by these events, Chinese in Olympia kept their homes and businesses. In addition, refugees escaping from violence in other cities came to the relative safety of Olympia, bolstering the small population.

Polk Directory listing “No Chinamen Employed”

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Olympia’s Historic Chinese Community – Origins and Early Arrivals

May 16, 2012

During the latter half of the 19th century, the Puget Sound region received an influx of settlers from around the world. Among them were immigrants from southeast China. Many came to earn money to send to their struggling families, while others arrived planning to stay and make a new start. These men and women provided a much needed labor force in constructing new towns in the region, including Olympia.

Long before the railroads, Chinese arrived to live and work in Olympia. In September 1852, the first edition of the Columbian (the first newspaper published on Puget Sound) carried an advertisement for Olympia founder Edmund Sylvester’s Olympia House Hotel, which highlighted its “…accomplished Chinese cook.” By the early 1860s, the annual celebration of Lunar New Year by the Chinese in Olympia received regular mention in the local press:

Chinese New Year.- The Chinese Residents of our town kept up the a continual popping of firecrackers on Tuesday last, in honor of the commencement of new year. John is about ten months ahead of us in this anniversary and celebrates in a much more becoming way. His firecrackers and strong tea take the place of firearms and strong whiskey sometimes used by his more civilized brethren; and their hospitality on such occasions is immense. They kept a supply of ‘hardware’ for the ‘mellicans’ but confined themselves mostly, we believe, to their tea.

Olympia: Washington Standard, 21 February 1863

Prior to the arrival of the Chinese, most of Olympia’s streets existed only on paper. Hired by the town as contract laborers, these men built bridges, pulled stumps, and graded streets in and around what is now downtown. Chinese also worked at many local manufacturing concerns, at lumber camps, and were employed extensively in the local oystering industry. Some also served as crew on the early steamships that were the main form of transportation on Puget Sound.

Sun Wo, 1890s.

WSHS/Capitol Museum Photo

Chinese also found other opportunities. Many became cooks or house servants for affluent families. Chinese men operated commercial hand laundries, working long hours and living in their places of business to save money. Others cultivated vegetables in gardens near town and delivered them door to door, the first locally grown commercial produce.

Community Life

Chinese immigrants with the same surname tended to congregate in the same towns. Early on, Olympia emerged as a “Locke town.” Family Associations, based on surname, language and village ties, were the foundation of early Chinese American communities. Generally, those sharing the same surname were from the same vicinity in China. In the case of the Locke clan, this was the Toisan region of Guangdong Province, southeast China.

Most early Chinese immigrants were male. In the absence of traditional family structure in America they relied on the services provided by the Family Associations to secure a place to live, employment, and legal representation. In turn, they paid dues to the Association to support the various services it provided.

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Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum Bylaws

April 28, 2012

AMENDED: DECEMBER 31, 2013, January 12, 2015, January 11, 2016, January 16, 2017, and January 20, 2018

Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum

Article I. Purpose

Consistent with Article III of the Restated Articles of Incorporation, the purpose of the corporation is to preserve, protect, and promote the history and heritage of Olympia and of the Bigelow House.

Article II. Registered Office and Registered Agent

The registered office of the corporation shall be located in the State of Washington at such place as may be fixed from time to time by the board of trustees upon filing of such notices as may be required by law, and the registered agent shall have a business office identical with such registered office. Any change in the registered agent or registered office shall be effective upon filing such change with the office of the Secretary of State of the State of Washington.

Article III. Member Meetings

Section 3.01 Membership. Membership classes, the qualifications and rights of each class of members, and the dues for members may be established at the discretion of the board of trustees. The board of trustees must make the designation of such membership classes and the associated dues available to the members of this corporation and to the public. Each member shall be entitled to one vote.

Memberships for dues received shall run until the end of that calendar year, provided, however, that memberships for dues received after September 30^th shall run until December 31^st of the following year.

Section 3.02 Annual Meeting. The annual meeting of the members of this corporation, for the purpose of election of trustees and for such other business as may come before it, shall be held either (a) in the month of January of each and every year at such place and time as designated by the board of trustees and specified in the notice of the meeting, or (b) at such other place and time which may be within the State of Washington, as may be determined by the board of trustees and specified in the notice of the meeting. At each annual meeting, the board of trustees shall present a financial report for the past year to the members. Such report shall also be posted publicly.

Section 3.03 Special Meetings. Special meetings of the members of this corporation may be called at any time by the board of trustees. No business shall be transacted at any special meeting of the members except as is specified in the notice calling for said meeting. The place of any special meeting shall be such place, within the State of Washington, determined by the board of trustees and specified in the notice of the meeting.

Members may call a meeting of the membership at any time. Thirty (30) percent of the current membership will be necessary to call a valid meeting. All notification, quorum and voting requirements specified elsewhere in the Bylaws will be followed; the purpose of the meeting and an advance agenda will be provided to all members. The President will chair the meeting and the Secretary will take minutes; in their absence the members assembled will elect a chairperson and recording secretary. The “Rules for Conduct of Meetings” of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum will be followed. Meeting minutes will be provided to all members within one week of the meeting.

Section 3.04 Notice of Meetings. Notice of annual or special meetings of the members stating the place, day, and hour of the meeting, and, in the case of a special meeting, the purpose or purposes for which the meeting is called, shall be given by the secretary or persons authorized to call the meeting to each member of record. Notice of annual meetings shall be given no less than one calendar month before the meeting date; notice of special meetings shall be given no less than one week before the meeting date.

(a) Notices in writing may be delivered or mailed to the member at his or her address shown on the records of the corporation. If notice is delivered via regular mail, the notice shall be deemed effective when deposited in the official government mail properly addressed with postage thereon prepaid.

(b) Notices may be provided in an electronic transmission and be electronically transmitted. Notice in an electronic transmission is deemed effective with respect to those members that have provided a valid e-mail address, location or system to which these notices may be electronically transmitted, unless the member has specifically requested notice by mail, or if the corporation is unable to electronically transmit two consecutive notices given by the corporation. Notice provided in an electronic transmission is effective when it is electronically transmitted to an address, location or system designated by the recipient for that purpose.

Section 3.05 Quorum. Ten percent (10%) of the number of members of record shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at any annual meeting or special meeting of the members. If a quorum is not present at a meeting, the board of trustees may adjourn the meeting from time to time without further notice.

Section 3.06 Membership Approval. Approval of the members, by majority vote, shall be required for: (i) mergers or a sale of all or substantially all of the assets of the corporation; (ii) amendment or restatement of the Articles of Incorporation of the corporation; or (iii) amendment or restatement of these Bylaws of the corporation that would result in an increase in the power of the board of the trustees.

Article IV. Board of Trustees

Section 4.01 General Powers. The affairs of the corporation shall be managed by a board of trustees.

Section 4.02 Number. The number of trustees of the corporation shall be no less than nine (9) nor more than fifteen (15). Board positions, whether filled or vacant, shall be numbered with staggered terms as provided in section 4.03.

Section 4.03 Tenure; Qualification; Conflicts of Interest. Trustee terms shall be staggered and new trustees may be elected to complete unfilled terms. Trustees shall serve three (3) year terms, except when elected or appointed to fill positions vacated before a term is completed. Trustee terms shall expire at the end of the annual membership meeting. This could result in terms that are slightly shorter or slightly longer than three (3) years. Trustees must be members in good standing of the organization prior to election or appointment. Trustees must disclose to the board of trustees any conflicts of interest, including personal interests in organizational programs, contracts, or other activities or membership or employment in organizations with competing missions.

Section 4.04 Election.

(a) Nominating Committee. A nominating committee, appointed by the board of trustees, shall be formed at least two (2) months prior to the annual meeting to recommend a slate of trustees to the membership. This committee shall consist of three trustees whose positions will not expire in the following year. The nominating committee shall (1) identify those current board members who have been appointed to fill vacant positions pursuant to paragraph 4.05 and whose positions are subject to ratification by the membership; (2) propose candidates to fill positions that are or will be vacant by virtue of the expiration of a term or have remained unfilled.

(b) Member Vote. The trustees shall be elected at the annual meeting of the members, by an affirmative majority vote of the members present at a membership meeting. Vacancies filled by Board appointment shall be subject to ratification by membership at the annual meeting. No vote of membership to decrease the number of trustees shall operate to remove an incumbent trustee whose term has not yet expired. Nominations for any vacant position or additional positions may also be made from the floor at the annual meeting.

Section 4.05 Vacancies. In the event of (a) any vacancy in the board of trustees resulting in board membership falling below nine (9), or (b) a vacancy of a board trustee who also held a board officer position, e.g. Treasurer, which cannot be filled by a current board member, the vacancy may be filled either by action of (a) a quorum of the board of trustees or (b) if no action has been taken by the board of trustees, then by a majority of the members present at a membership meeting.

Section 4.06. Transition. All board members elected or appointed between December 1, 2013 and December 31, 2014 shall serve the terms for which they were elected or appointed, without the need for further ratification by membership. Thereafter, terms and positions shall be filled in accordance with these bylaws.

Section 4.07 Resignation. Any trustee may resign at any time by delivering an executed notice to the board of trustees or the president or secretary of the corporation. A resignation shall be effective when the notice is delivered, unless the notice specifies a later effective date.

Section 4.08 Removal of Trustees. A trustee may be removed from the board of trustees, by a majority vote of the remaining trustees, if the trustee has three unexcused absences, as defined by resolution of the board of trustees.

Section 4.09 Regular Meetings. Regular meetings of the board of trustees may be held at such place and on such day and hour as shall from time to time be fixed by resolution of the board of trustees. Regular meetings shall be held at least quarterly.

Section 4.10 Special Meetings. Special meetings of the board of trustees of this corporation may be called at any time by the president, secretary or a majority of the trustees. No business shall be transacted at any special meeting of the board of trustees except as is specified in the notice calling for said meeting. The place of any special meeting shall be such place, within or without the State of Washington, determined by the board of trustees and specified in the notice of the meeting.

Section 4.11 Notice of Meetings. Notice of regular or special meetings of the board of trustees stating the place, day, and hour of the meeting, and, in the case of a special meeting, the purpose or purposes for which the meeting is called, shall be given by the secretary or persons authorized to call the meeting to each trustee. Notice of regular or special meetings shall be given no less than one week before the meeting date.

(a) Notices in writing may be delivered or mailed to the trustee at his or her address shown on the records of the corporation. If notice is delivered via regular mail, the notice shall be deemed effective when deposited in the official government mail properly addressed with postage thereon prepaid.

(b) Notices may be provided in an electronic transmission and be electronically transmitted. Notice in an electronic transmission is deemed effective with respect to those trustees that have provided a valid e-mail address, location or system to which these notices may be electronically transmitted, unless the trustee has specifically requested notice by mail or if the corporation is unable to transmit two consecutive notices given by the corporation. Notice provided in an electronic transmission is effective when it is electronically transmitted to an address, location or system designated by the recipient for that purpose.

(c) Notice of regular or special board meetings stating the place, day, and hour of the meeting, and, in the case of a special meeting, the purpose or purposes for which the meeting is called, shall be given by the secretary or persons authorized to call the meeting to each member of record. Such notice shall expressly state that members are welcome to attend board meetings.

Section 4.12 Quorum and Voting. A majority of the number of trustees specified in or fixed in accordance with these Bylaws shall constitute a quorum, but a lesser number may adjourn any meeting from time to time until a quorum is obtained, and no further notice thereof need be given. If a quorum is present when a vote is taken, the affirmative vote of a majority of the trustees present at the meeting is an act of the board.

Section 4.13 Presumption of Assent. A trustee of the corporation who is present at a meeting of the board of trustees at which action on any corporate matter is taken shall be deemed to have assented to the action taken unless: (1) the trustee objects at the beginning of the meeting, or promptly upon the trustee’s arrival, to holding it or transacting business at the meeting; (2) the trustee’s dissent or abstention from the action taken is entered in the minutes of the meeting; or (3) the trustee delivers notice of the trustee’s dissent or abstention to the presiding officer of the meeting before its adjournment or to the corporation within a reasonable time after adjournment of the meeting. The right of dissent or adjournment is not available to a trustee who votes in favor of an action taken.

Section 4.14 Action Without Meeting. Any corporate action required or permitted by the Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws or the Washington Nonprofit Corporation Act, to be voted upon or approved at a duly called meeting of the board of trustees or a committee of trustees may be accomplished without a meeting if one or more unanimous consents of the respective trustees or committee members entitled to vote on the actions, setting forth the actions so taken shall be executed by all the trustees or committee members entitled to vote thereon, as the case may be.

Such consents may be executed in counterpart. The consents may be executed before or after the action is taken. Action taken by unanimous consent of the trustees or a committee of the trustees is effective when the last trustee or committee member executes the consent, unless the consent specifies a later effective date.

Section 4.15 Committees. The President may appoint committees after consultation with the trustees. Both trustees and members may serve on committees, provided that each committee shall be chaired by a trustee appointed by the President.

(a) Bigelow House Operations Committee. There shall be a standing committee that shall be responsible for the care, maintenance, and day-to-day operations of the Bigelow House facility. Such committee shall have a line item in the budget for purposes of regular and emergency facility maintenance expenditures.

(b) Finance Committee. There shall be a standing committee that shall be responsible for managing the corporation’s budget and finances. The treasurer shall chair the finance committee.

Article V. Officers

Section 5.01 Officers Designated. The officers of the corporation shall be a president, a vice president, a secretary and a treasurer, each of whom shall be elected by the board of trustees at the first board meeting following the annual meeting. Such other officers and assistant officers as may be deemed necessary may be elected or appointed by the board of trustees. Any two (2) or more offices may be held by the same person.

Section 5.02 Term of Office. Each officer shall hold office for a one (1) year term, subject to the provisions of Section 5.01, which could result in a term that is slightly shorter or slightly longer than one year. Terms of officers will end at the first board meeting following the annual meeting, unless re-elected.

Section 5.03 Powers and Duties.

(a) President. Unless otherwise determined by the board of trustees, the president shall be the chairperson of the board and, subject to the direction and control of the board of trustees, shall have general charge and supervision over its property, business and affairs. The president shall preside at meetings of the members and the board of trustees.

(b) Vice President. In the absence of the president or the president’s inability to act, the vice president shall act in the president’s place and stead and shall have all the powers and authority of the president, except as limited by resolution of the board of trustees.

(c) Secretary. The secretary shall: (i) keep the minutes of the meetings of the members and the board of trustees; (ii) see that all notices are duly given in accordance with the provisions of these Bylaws or as required by law; (iii) be custodian of the corporate records; (iv) keep, or cause to be kept, a register of the post office address or email address of each member which shall be furnished to the secretary by each member; and (v) in general perform all duties incident to the office of secretary and such other duties as from time to time may be assigned to the secretary by the president or the board of trustees.

(d) Treasurer. Subject to the direction and control of the board of trustees, the treasurer shall have custody, control, and disposition of the funds of the corporation and shall account for the same.

Article VI. Staff

Such staff of the corporation, including without limitation, an executive director, as may be deemed necessary may be hired by the board of trustees.

Article VII. Financials

Section 7.01 Fiscal Year. The fiscal year of the corporation shall be the calendar year.

Section 7.02 Signor Convention. Two signatures will be required on all checks and account withdrawal and transfer documents in the name of the corporation. Signatures may be any combination of the president, vice-president or treasurer.

Section 7.03 Donation Acceptance Policy. Items offered for donation, whether monetary or otherwise, that have restrictions placed on the donation will be accepted or refused by a majority of the board of trustees.

Article VIII. Amendments to Bylaws

Section 8.01 By the Members. These Bylaws may be amended, altered, or repealed by a 2/3 vote of those members attending at any annual meeting or special meeting of the members; provided that, in the case of a special meeting, notice of the proposed alteration or amendment is contained in the notice of the meeting.

Section 8.02 By the Board of Trustees. Except as otherwise provided herein, these Bylaws may be amended, altered, or repealed by a 2/3 vote of the board of trustees at any regular or special meeting of the board.

Welcome to “Where Are We?”

April 14, 2012

This feature of our website includes separate pages for historic locations and buildings throughout Olympia. Each location has side-by-side photographs, with brief descriptions of the history and importance of the location, followed by links to other photographs and information. New locations are being added every day, so check back often!

We seek your help in adding to this feature! If you would like to research a location or building for this section, please contact us at Olyhistory@gmail.com, and we can either assign you a location, or you can suggest your own.

You can search for locations in several ways:

Use the interactive map and click on a location or theme of interest. A popup box will allow you to click to a page describing the location and its history
Scroll through the list of locations on our Contents Page
A random virtual “stroll”: Start with the Harris Dry Goods Building, then scroll through the pages by following the “Go to the next location” link at the bottom of each page
Enter any search term on our search page (this will take you to any place on our website where this term is found, including the “where are we” listings)

Each location is identified by address and may include one or more themes, shown near the top of the page. The interactive map allows you to search for locations that fall under particular themes, so you can develop your own walking tour or list. Themes to date include:

Registered properties or districts: Local, State and National Registered properties and districts
Diversity: locations that have significance for our rich ethnic and cultural diversity
Transportation
Popular Culture
Schools
Women’s History
Wohleb: buildings designed or remodeled by Wohleb brothers
Religious Institutions
Mid-century Modern: built between 1949 and 1974

Unless noted, all text is written by Deborah Ross, Olympia Historical Society web content master. Thanks to Brian Hovis for interactive maps, to photographers Matthew Kennelly and Benjamin Helle, and others who provided information and assistance as noted on individual pages.

Meet a Family: Charles and Zoe Chaenn

February 10, 2012

by Richard Edwards

Charles Chaenn was born in France in January 1839 to John Chaenn and Madelina Juliet. According to local oral tradition, he served in the French military before entering the United States. He was married on 15 March 1876 to Mari Zoe (maiden name unknown, born in France about 1849) in Texas.

Charles and Zoe (as she is usually referred to) were in Thurston County by early 1879 where he is listed as a Farmer in the territorial census. In 1884 they purchased 80 acres of Section 7, Township 16 North, Range 1 West from Avery Gilmore for $600.

This area just north of Tenino would become known as Chaenn Hill, though spelled many ways over the decades including Chain, Chaen and Chane. In 1885 they purchased lots in Olympia now located on the corner of Capitol Way and 18th Ave SE. In 1887 Charles is listed in the city directory as running a saloon on Main (Capitol Way) near the city limits.

In 1888 a well publicized legal battle between Zoe and her husband ended up in Territorial District Court where amid criminal charges involving Adultery and Selling Liquor without a License (against Zoe though she was not found guilty) they were granted a divorce in 1889. By 1890 Zoe was running a saloon on Main (Capitol Way) between 16th and 17th according to the city directory but nothing after that is known of her.

Charles Chaenn appears to have retired to his farm at Chaenn Hill, though he also spent a brief time around 1900 serving as a gardener for Edward Wittler in Seattle where he also married a second time (to Lisette Schmidt) though it appears they soon divorced as well. By 1903 Charles was living back on his farm in Thurston County. His health declining, in 1909 he sold his land for $1 to Wilbur F Blue in return for being cared for by Wilbur’s wife, Margaret.Charles died on 4 March 1910 from “general breakdown and old age.” He was buried at county expense in Forest Cemetery, Tenino.

This newsletter series will help you become acquainted with some of the families whose names you see in our local history, neighborhoods, and street signs. Their intentional brevity will hopefully pique your curiosity and consequent research. We welcome contributions from our members and friends.

Richard Edwards is a retired librarian with the Washington State Library. He is a member of the Southwest Thurston County Historical Society

Contact

January 31, 2012

For research queries: submit your query by emailing olyhistoryresearch@gmail.com,

For website content suggestions and corrections, membership questions, to be added to bulletins, newsletters, and blogs, and all other communications, email olyhistory@gmail.com

To contact the Board or for suggestions about programs and activities, e-mail us at: olyhistory@gmail.com

To tour Bigelow House: Reservations are not required to tour the Bigelow House Museum during regular hours. To schedule a tour of the Bigelow House Museum outside of normal opening hours, contact bigelowhousemuseum@gmail.com. All of our tours are operated by volunteer docents who may or may not be available to provide tours outside regular hours. Please contact us at least 5 days ahead of time to arrange a special tour.

Mailing address:

OHS-BHM

PO Box 1821

Olympia, WA 98507

Fenske: Captain Calvin Hale and his House on Tullis Street

June 8, 2011

Captain Calvin Hale and his House on Tullis Street

by Lois J. Fenske

There is a unique house on the corner of Tullis and Pine streets in North East Olympia. According to the description from the City of Olympia: “This charming Queen Anne-style cottage was built for Captain Calvin Hale and his second wife, Pamela Case Hale in 1882. The Hale House, though small in scale, captures all the spirited elements of the popular Queen Anne style: irregular profile and floor plan, steeply pitched roof, large front porch, elaborate use of fancy shingles, turned posts and other decorative millwork.”

It is currently a private residence as it was when it was built in 1882. The unpretentious house is listed on the National and Washington State Registers of Historic Places as well as the Olympia Heritage Register.

Calvin Henry Hale was born 26 June 1818 in Norridgewock, Somerset County, Maine. His father was Ebenezer Hale (1784-1861) and his mother was Ann Dinsmore (1788-1861).

Captain Hale was a master seaman and boat builder. He married Waitstill Look in about 1841. According to the 1850 census, they lived in Lincolnville, Waldo County, Maine with two sons, Henry Calvin, born 25 September 1842, and Samuel Look, born in 1846. They had a daughter, Nancy A., born in late 1850, after the census was taken.

In 1851 Captain Hale, his wife and three young children decided to head west, but not overland. They boarded a ship that took the family around Cape Horn to Olympia where he obtained a 320 acre donation land claim in North East Olympia.

In all of the federal, state and territorial census from 1860 on, Captain Hale was listed as a farmer (or agriculturist or horticulturist), but he made much more of an impact on his new home in Olympia than just as a farmer.

Captain Hale had been a legislator in Maine and he became active in local affairs soon after his arrival in Olympia. In 1852 he attended the Monticello Convention and served in the first territorial legislature. At one time, he was the Thurston County Coroner and was on the Olympia City Council. He also helped establish the Puget Sound Wesleyan Institute, the first school of higher education in the State. (The original building still exists near the Capital Campus and is used as a private residence.) Captain Hale was also on the first Board of Regents of the University of Washington.

In 1862, Captain Hale was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln to the post of Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Washington and Idaho Territories. In this capacity he was involved in the Treaty of 1863 with the Nez Perce tribe, among many other treaties over the years.

These were busy years for Captain Hale and Waitstill, Calvin with his local civic duties, his Indian Affairs responsibilities, and, of course, being a farmer.

Waitstill died 4 December 1870 and had been bedridden during the last six years of her life, having injured her spine in a fall.

On 17 August 1872, Captain Hale married Mrs. Pamela C. Case. They had one child, a son, Paul Eaton Hale, born in 1873. Pamela was a respected school teacher, an astute busiiness woman and a founding member of the Olympia Woman’s Club. In 1882, she became the first woman ever elected as Thurston County’s Superintendent of Public Schools.

1882 was also the year that the Hales had their house on Tullis Street built. Captain Hale was only able to enjoy the house for five years. He died in 1887.

Take a Sunday drive and look at this delightful little house. It is worth saving for Olympia and the state’s and nation’s historic value.

Sources:

Various federal, state and territorial census.

Internet, City of Olympia’s Historic Places.

Internet, Monticello Convenstion Commemoration, Calvin Henry Hale.

Olympia Historical Society Bulletin – upcoming events and newsletter deadline

January 3, 2011

Happy New Year to all of you history lovers in our midst! January promises
to be a busy month with lots of events to participate in. Here are some we
know of:

– January 5, 6:30-8:30 PM: Wood Window restoration. This is part of
the Do-it-Yourself Wednesdays! Workshops, Hosted by Olympia Supply Co, 625
Columbia St. Olympia. With each Workshop: Get a 15% Off Coupon at Oly
Supply, and a chance to win free products worth $30 or more!

– January 10, noon, State Capital Museum: Arrowheads, Dart Points, and
Knives, Oh My! Stone Tool Technology of the Southern Puget Sound. Scott
Williams, Cultural Resources program manager at Washington’s Department of
Transportation, will discuss the history of stone tools and technologies in
the South Sound with a slide presentation and hands-on artifact display.

– January 17, 7:30: The Olympia Power and Sail Squadron has invited John
Dodge to speak on the history of Olympia’s estuary and waterfront, as part
of its regular January meeting. The Squadron has graciously invited Olympia
Historical Society members and friends to attend John’s talk. The event will
be held at the Yacht Club (near Bayview Market)

The winter 2011 issue of the Olympia Historical Society newsletter will be
issued towards the end of January. 2010 and 2011 members who wish to place a
*free *ad in the newsletter should e-mail their image and/or copy
(preferably in jpg format) to the above address no later than January 10.
This is a great way to advertise your business, organization, book, etc.
The newsletter editor is always interested in hearing your stories
about Olympia – for example, your family, events from your youth or
childhood. One or two paragraphs can always be accommodated. If you are
interested in submitting a longer, feature, article, please contact us for
use in a future issue.
Another great format for sharing your memories is our Facebook page
(Olympia Historical Society), also maintained by our newsletter editor Mark
Derricott. It has lively discussions about all sorts of historical subjects,
including a new "This week in Olympia’s history" feature. If you visit this
page, and become a "fan" you will receive updates on your Facebook home page
whenever there is a new post.

And speaking of membership: if you haven’t done so already, don’t forget to
send in your renewal. Your dues help to pay for our website, brochures and
collection, as well as contributions to other important history-related
organizations and events.

—
Deborah Ross, on behalf of
The Olympia Historical Society
www.OlympiaHistory.org

Fall Newsletter

November 17, 2010

The Olympia Historical Society’s Fall Newsletter is now available for your
viewing at
https://olympiahistory.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=19&Itemid=38

Enjoy, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!
—
Deborah Ross, on behalf of
The Olympia Historical Society
www.OlympiaHistory.org

Olympia Historical Society Bulletin

November 5, 2010

“‘Come Softly to Me’: Gretchen Christopher of the Fleetwoods.” Saturday February 19th at 1:00 p.m. at the Coach House at the State Capital Museum, 211 21st Avenue SW. Gretchen Christopher of the Fleetwoods will tell the story of this famous group as part of Olympia’s music history. Ms. Christopher will also have CDs for sale and autographing at the event.

Also coming up in February:

February 14, noon: State Capital Museum ongoing lecture series presents: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Washington State Parks — A Long-Term Investment
This lecture is presented by Ryan Karlson, Interpretive Program Manager, Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission. The Civilian Conservation Corps played a significant role in the early development of Washington’s state park system. This program will highlight the accomplishments of the CCC and the lasting benefits of their work, including local examples such as Millersylvania State Park. $2 suggested donation

Though not, strictly speaking, a part of Olympia history, OHS friends and members will not want to miss the upcoming exhibit about the Klee Wyk artist cooperative at Tacoma’s Washington State History Museum. Long-time State Capital Museum curator Del McBride was part of this cooperative. On Thursday February 17 from 4 to 6 PM, at the WSHS museum you can meet Del’s brother Bud and his fellow and Klee Wyk partner Richard Schneider to kick off this exhibit.

State Capital Museum: February 21, 1 PM: Special Lecture in honor of President’s Day—
Michael Allen: The Formative Years of Presidents Truman and Reagan

Michael Allen, Professor of History at the University of Washington, Tacoma and Washington State Historical Society’s Board of Directors. Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan rank alongside the two Roosevelts—Theodore and Franklin—as the four most pivotal U.S Presidents of the 29th Century. But Truman and Reagan came from very different background than the two New Yorkers. This talk will discuss the formative Midwestern upbringing of Truman and Reagan, both Mississippi Valley men strongly impacted by the culture of the American heartland. Book signing with Professor Allen to follow program.

The deadline has been extended for nominations for the Washington State Historical Society’s annual awards recognizing excellence in advancing the field of history in the state of Washington through writing, teaching, historic projects, understanding cultural diversity and voluntarism. Nominations are now due February 24, 2011.

For further information about the awards program, contact Society Awards Committee staff member:

Shanna Stevenson
State Capital Museum and Outreach Center
211 – 21st Avenue SW
Olympia, WA 98501
(360) 360-586-0171
(360) 586-8322 – fax
E-mail: sstevenson@wshs.wa.gov

Olympia Historical society bulletin

October 4, 2010

There are several upcoming events to put on your calendars. We hope to see you at one or more of these!

*First*, remember our membership meeting coming up soon on October 16. It will be held at the State Capitol Museum. We begin as usual with a members-only “meet and greet” in the dining room at 10:30, followed by a short business meeting and a presentation by Roger Easton on the Olympia trolley system. OHS president Ralph Blankenship will bring in an actual piece of the trolley still attached to a piece of the old Fourth Avenue bridge. This event is cohosted by the Washington State Historical Society and State Capitol Museum.

Clarification/correction: In my last bulletin, I indicated that these events are free to the public. While there is no extra charge to attend the presentation, WSHS charges a $2 fee to enter the museum itself. HOWEVER, WSHS has generously agreed to waive this fee for members of the Olympia Historical Society. If you are a member (or wish to join at the meeting), come to the meet and greet event at 10:30 to receive a “ticket” that will grant you free admission to the museum and the presentation for the day. The OHS Board has also agreed that joining in October will extend you membership through 2010 and 2011. Existing members may wish to pay their 2011 dues at the same time.

*Second*, the Heritage Center, in conjunction with other sponsoring agencies, are once again presenting a Basics of Archives workshop to be held at a variety of locations throughout the region. “The Basics of Archives” is a free workshop that will equip you with practical advice, sample forms and policies, and the basics of care for archival materials. Workshops will be held in three locations from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.: National Archives Pacific-Alaska Region in Seattle (October 14), Eastern Washington Regional Archives in Cheney (October 21), and Pierce County Public Works Environmental Services Building, University Place (October 29). Pre-registration is required by October 8. Enrollment is limited. To register, contact Mark Vessey, mvessey@wshs.wa.gov, 360-586-0219

*Last* but not least, the 63rd Annual Pacific Northwest History Conference “Game Changers & History Makers: Women in Pacific Northwest History,” will be held November 3-5, 2010 at the Davenport Hotel in Spokane, Washington.

For information, program and registration visit: http://www.washingtonhistory.org/heritageServices/conferences.aspx

Note that online registration is required with all types of payments.

* *

*HURRY! Reduced fee for “Early Bird” registration ends October 6!*

Summer Newsletter Available!

July 2, 2010

The Olympia Historical Society’s Summer 2010 Newsletter is available on line
for your reading and viewing pleasure! Link to it here:
https://olympiahistory.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=18&Itemid=36
, or, go to our website olympiahistory.org and click on the Newsletter menu
for this and previous issues.

I’m sure you will enjoy, as we have, the feature article by Elizabeth Bret,
a descendant of Samuel W and John C Percival – it’s delightful.

While you are visiting our website, check out its new features, including
improved Calendar information. Highlights of the upcoming summer season
include the State Capitol Museum’s summer film festival, and the celebration
of the 100th anniversary of the Sandman in August. In early fall, you will
have the opportunity to join our sister organization and newest member of
OHS, the Lacey Historical Society, for its exciting annual meeting,
featuring celebrated developments in Lacey’s early history.

Speaking of summer, we will be switching to a summer schedule and sending
out only one bulletin a month, instead of the usual two. So keep close to
the website for scheduled events and activities, and get out in the sun if
and when it appears!
—
Deborah Ross, on behalf of
The Olympia Historical Society
www.OlympiaHistory.org

Instructions/Tips for Using Provided Links

February 28, 2010

Most links will open a new window (or tab, depending on your browser), taking you to an external site with information and/or pictures of the named person (or, in the case of State Historical Society images, to the Collections Search page). In some cases, for example, full texts of books posted at Google, you may have to enter the provided page number in a search box. To return to the index, simply X out of the new window/tab. Please contact us if you find broken links, or have a suggested name or link to add to this site. Updates are made continually.

Instructions for specific sources:
Washington State Historical Society (WSHS): To access images from the Washington State Historical Society (WSHS) collections, enter their catalog numbers in Collections Search box. You will be taken to a detailed description of the photograph or object, whether or not it has been scanned. Items in bold face have been scanned.

Works Projects Administration, Told by the Pioneers: Clicking on a link will take you directly to the biography or sketch in question. Warning: links will download large PDF files; not suitable for dial-up connections.

Georgiana Blankenship: Clicking on a link will take you to an “Overview” page, where you can enter the provided page number (or enter a person’s name in the search box) to be taken to their biography or picture.

Thurston County Pioneers: Clicking on a thumbnail will take you to a photograph of the person posted on the Thurston County Pioneers site. Clicking on the TCP link will take you to page one of the pioneer’s listing. Note: there may be two or more pages associated with one pioneer – you can enter the pioneer’s name in the Pioneer website’s search box to find all pages.

Historic Newspapers Project: The Secretary of State has scanned and indexed a number of newspapers from before Washington became a state (main page here). Links are provided to a select number of articles relating to Olympia pioneers. Many others are available by entering a personal name search here. For the most part, these links are to the DJVU version of these articles. DJVU is a free downloadable reader available here. Articles are also available in PDF format through the search links provided above.

Olympia Women’s Walking Tour: clicking on the WHC link will take you to the interactive Google map compiled by the Women’s History Consortium. You will then have to scroll down the left-hand column to look for the provided site name

Who Are We? An Index to Olympia Area Residents 1845-1930

February 18, 2010

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P-Q R S T-U V W X Y Z

This project provides links to on-line and other resources and, where available, brief information about Olympia area residents from first pioneer settlement to 1930. Please refer to the following list of resources, acronyms and hints on how to search for individuals in this index. Additional instructions are available at the Instructions page.

Disclaimer: The Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum does not vouch for the accuracy of any information contained in the links provided. Contact us to suggest additional links, individuals, or needed corrections. The index is neither intended to be comprehensive nor make judgments about the relative importance of the individuals listed. It will be continually added to as time permits and resources become available on line.

Thumbnail images in this index are either in the public domain or provided by special arrangement. Clicking on a thumbnail or link will link to a site from which you may be able to view higher resolution images, if available. Please respect any and all copyrights.

A note about women’s names: for the most part, women are indexed under their maiden names if known, with a cross-reference at her married name. If a woman is currently better known by her married name (for example, photographer Ida B. Smith), her primary listing may be under her married name, with a cross reference to her maiden name.

Sources/hints:

Currently indexed

Blankenship, Georgiana (Georgiana): Early History of Thurston County, Washington, Together with Biographies and Reminiscences of those Identified with Pioneer Days Olympia, 1914 (Reprint: Seattle: Shorey Book Store, 1972). [Available Online via Google Books]A compilation of accounts by several early pioneers. To search for individuals, click on the link at the person’s entry, and then enter the provided page number in the search box at the top of the page.
Thurston County Pioneers (TCP): a project from the early 20th century wherein pioneers or their descendants were asked to fill out forms with information concerning their pioneer experience. Clicking on the link at the person’s entry should bring up the first page of each person’s entry. In many cases, additional pages or photos are also available.
Washington State Historical Society (WSHS) –ongoing. Photographs and other materials from the State Capital Museum collection, now housed at the Research Center in Tacoma. If the image has been scanned, small thumbnails will be included, provided by special license from the Washington State Historical Society. If additional information about the photo is desired, clicking on the provided link to the on-line catalog and entering the provided number will take you to the catalog listing for the item.
Works Projects Administration, Told by the Pioneers (WPA). A three volume Depression-era project by the Works Projects Administration that includes interviews, submissions, and other materials about Washington Territory Pioneer Life. Links are provided to individual chapters about Thurston County or Olympia pioneers.Please be aware that links will begin uploading large PDF files, not suitable for dial-up connection.
Thurston County History in Photos, a pictoral project of Thurston County
References contained in transcriptions on this website, including Early Olympia Doctors,Captain Doane’s Oyster Roast, Bulletin articles, etc.
Links to pages in the Where Are We? section of our website
Historic Newspapers project of the Secretary of State’s office. Limited to Olympia newspapers that are currently scanned and indexed on line. Not all articles are linked here. A personal name search at this site may result in additional hits. Please review instructions page for information on format and additional links.
Territorial Librarians: short biographies of librarians of Washington Territory, compiled by State Library
Photographs from Washington’s Digital Archives collection, in process
Olympia Women’s History Walking Tour, prepared by Women’s History Consortium funded by Olympia Heritage Commission. Link will bring up a Google Map, sites can be searched by name from there.
Transcriptions from Olympia Tribune’s Souvenir Issue of 1891, containing biographies and photographs of notable Olympia citizens
Washington West of the Cascades, a turn-of-the-century compilation
Gordon Newell, Rogues, Buffoons, and Statesmen
Sylvester’s Window project
Chronology of Elected Officials, from City of Olympia website, retrieved via Internet Archive.
Workingman’s Hill, by Rebecca Christie, searchable PDF available here.

As time and resources are available, other on-line resources are added, such as Wikipedia entries or materials from the City of Olympia and other historical organizations. Contributions are welcome.

This bibliography lists books, articles, and transcripts relating to Olympia area history. Many are also available on line, either housed on our website or externally, and links will be underlined. External links (those found on other websites) will open new windows. Many links are in PDF format and require the free Acrobat reader. Please contact us to add to this list, or if you find a broken link. Link here for visual media resources (photographs and films). Link here for geographic resources (maps, walking tours, interactive maps)

NOTE: Some of the historical materials linked or cited on this page may stem from a period or culture in which different standards and norms were dominating public opinion – and some of this historical material is discriminatory. People from a great range of identities, whether due to gender, religion, ethnicity, race, sexuality, disability or class are presented in derogatory ways – both in word and image. The inclusion of any such historical documents does not represent the views of the Society and Museum. We request that you alert us to any contemporary documents that contain racist or discriminatory language and links to these documents will be removed from this page and our website. We apologize in advance for any unintended insensitivity, and encourage you to contact us with additions, corrections, and suggestions for more inclusive or accurate language.

Alexander, Gerry L. “Olympia’s Legal Battles to Retain the Capital,” Columbia Magazine 14:4 (2000-01), 3-5.

Bates, Kate Stevens. “The Old Stevens Mansion.”Washington Historical Quarterly, Vol 19 No 2 (April 1928) 108-111.

Bigelow, Daniel R., Ann Elizabeth White Bigelow, Margaret Stewart White Ruddell, Margaret White Chambers, Annamary Fitzgerald, ed., Stories of the Oregon Trail: Accounts and Reminiscences, Olympia: Bigelow House Preservation Association, 2000.

Bigelow, Mary Ann. Where the Potholes Are. Olympia: Thurston Regional Planning Council, 1990.

Blankenship, George E. History of Olympia Lodge No. 1, F. & A. M. Olympia, Washington 1852–1935. Olympia: The Masons, 1935.

Blankenship, Georgiana Mitchell, Early History of Thurston County, Washington, Together with Biographies and Reminiscences of those Identified with Pioneer Days Olympia, 1914

Blankenship, Georgiana Mitchell, Old Olympia Landmarks, manuscript at Washington State Library, transcribed here, with links to Where Are We? and Residents pages

Blankenship, Ralph “Meet the Yantises and Blankenships,” Olympia Historical Society Newsletter, Summer 2011.

Boba, Eleanor A. “The Governor’s Mansion” Portage 1988 9:3, 13-15, posted by permission

Bond, Gabrielle, Bibliography compiled for Diversity in Local History grant for Squaxin Park interpretation.

Bowman, George. McLane Volunteer Fire Department: Fire Dist. no. 9, 1950 to 1980, Thurston County, Washington Olympia: The Fire Dept, 1989.

Budlong, Caroline Gale, Memories of Pioneer Days, Oregon and Washington Territory, Eugene, OR, Picture Press Printers, 1949

Bullock, Jill. Olympia. Arcadia Publishing, 2010.

Brazier, Don. History of the Washington Legislature: 1854 – 1963 Olympia: Washington State Senate, 2000

Bret, Elizabeth “Living with the Pioneers,” Olympia Historical Society Newsletter Summer 2010.

Carr, Shelley Sperry, and Stephanie Takase. A Public Mansion, a Private Home: The Governor’s Mansion of Washington State : First 100 Years, [1909-2009]. Centralia, Wash: Gorham Printing, 2009.

Christie, Rebecca. Workingman’s Hill: A History of an Olympia Neighborhood. Olympia: Bigelow House Preservation Association with the Bigelow Highlands Neighborhood Association, 2001; Full searchable text here

City of Olympia, former pages on website, retrieved from Wayback Machine and posted here for information: History of Olympia, Chronology of Elected Officials, History of the lympia Fire Department, History of the Washington Center

City of Olympia, Historic Preservation in Olympia, Assessment and Action Plan, April 19, 2005, former document on website, captured from Wayback Machine and searchable

The Coast: Olympia and Thurston County, Wash. 17:3 (March, 1909)

Contris, Mike, Jr., The History of the Olympia Yacht Club (uploaded by permission)

Crooks, Drew. A Centennial History of Westminster Presbyterian Church, Olympia, Washington. 1994.

Crooks, Drew, Edward Lange: An Early Artist of Olympia and Washington State, Tenalquot Press, 2019

Crooks, Drew. (ed.) Olympia Washington, A People’s History. City of Olympia 2010.

Crooks, Drew. “Shipwreck and Captivity” Columbia Magazine 8:2 (1994): 17-23.

Crooks, Jennifer. Washington State Capitol Campus, Arcadia 2021

Crowell, Sandra and Stirling, Shirley, eds., Thurston County Water, Woods & Prairies, Thurston County 2019

The Daily Olympian: Louisiana Purchase Edition, 1904 (promotional pamphlet).

Daughters of the American Revolution, Sacajawea Chapter. Location of Houses in Olympia, Washington Territory, in 1873. typescript, n.d.

Derricott, Mark “Applied Historiography: Olympia’s Capital Lake”Olympia Historical Society Newsletter Summer 2011.

Derricott, Mark “Bush Prairie Farm, Then and Now”Olympia Historical Society Newsletter Spring 2011.

Derricott, Mark “The Honorable Lee Creighton”Olympia Historical Society Newsletter Fall 2011.

Derricott, Mark “Personal Reflections of a Former Newsletter Editor”Olympia Historical Society Newsletter Spring 2013.

Downtown Olympia’s Historic Resources Olympia: Olympia Heritage Commission, 1984 (available at Washington State Library).

Easton, Roger. (ed.) Mere Mention: John Miller Murphy’s Local News Column from the Weekly 1889 Newspaper Olympia: Olympia Heritage Commission, 1989. Captured from Wayback Machine to this website.

Eaton, Edgar Eugene. A History of Olympia Newspapers from 1852 to 1885. MA Thesis, University of Washington, 1963.

Echtle, Edward. The Cultural History of the Olympia Oyster. City of Olympia, 2013. Captured from Wayback Machine to this website.

Echtle, Edward. Historic Forest Cemetery. Olympia: Forest Funeral Homes and Cemetery, 2014.

Echtle, Edward. “(Re)Discover Bigelow House!” Olympia Historical Society Newsletter Fall 2013.

Echtle, Edward. “A Brief History of the South Sound Country.” South Sound Heritage Association, reposted on Olympia Historical Society/Bigelow House Museum website by permission.

Echtle, Edward. History of the Washington Center for the Performing Arts. City of Olympia, 2014, retrieved via Wayback Machine

Echtle, Edward. “Olympia’s Backyard: The History of Priest Point Park”Olympia Historical Society Newsletter Spring 2005, p. 3.

Echtle. Edward “Olympia’s Historic Chinese Community,” series of articles created for Olympia Historical Society website.

“Edmund Sylvester’s Narrative of the Founding of Olympia” Pacific Northwest Quarterly 36 (1945): 331-41 (Transcribed and captured by Ed Echtle and Roger Easton).

Emmons, Della Gould, Leschi of the Nisquallies. T.S. Dennison & Co., 1965.

Erickson, Lynn, Sylvester’s Window accompanying materials, including extensive references.

Fenske, Lois. A History of South Puget Sound Community College, 1957 to 1997: A Chronology of Shifting Power and Control. Olympia: South Puget Sound Community College, 1997. (Available at South Puget Sound Community College library)

Fenske, Lois, “Captain Calvin Hale and his house on Tullis Street, a Forgotten Piece of Olympia History” Olympia Historical Society Newsletter Fall 2010.

First Presbyterian Church of Olympia, History of the Organization and Directory of Worship of the First Presbyterian Church, Olympia, Washington, 1854-1904 Olympia, Wash., 1904. Uploaded to this website by permission United Churches of Olympia.

First United Methodist Church of Olympia, ” History of First United Methodist Church,” Olympia United First Methodist Church, accessed April 7, 2022.

Foutch, Mark, “Origins of the Olympia Historical Society, part 1,” Olympia Historical Society Newsletter Fall 2012.

Foutch, Mark, “Origins of the Olympia Historical Society, part 2,” Olympia Historical Society Newsletter Spring 2013.

Foutch, Mark, “Origins of the Olympia Historical Society, part 3,” Olympia Historical Society Newsletter Summer 2013.

Foutch, Mark, “Origins of the Olympia Historical Society: part 4,” Olympia Historical Society Newsletter Fall 2013.

Frost, Robert. “Olympia Fifty Years Ago” Morning Olympian, 26 January 1908.

Fultz, Hollis. Elkdom in Olympia: A History. Olympia: Warren’s Quick Print, 1966.

Funk, Goldie Robertson. “Captain Doane and His Oyster Pan Roast” Pacific Northwest Quarterly 43 [1948]:154-157 (transcribed on this website)

Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (Olympia, Wash.). Lutefisk & Liturgy : A Collection of Memories from Members of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, Olympia, Washington, 1905-2005. Olympia, Wash: Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, 2005. (Available from Gloria Dei church)

Goforth, Pennelope, “Home Again in Olympia,” Olympia Historical Society Newsletter Winter 2009.

Goularte, David, “Egbert-Ingham House, Built 1914,” Olympia Historical Society Newsletter Fall 2013.

Gribskov, Margaret. “The Women Behind Washington’s Libraries.” Columbia Magazine 11:2 (1997): 37-42.

Hancock, Samuel, Thirteen Years on the Northwest Coast (link includes Hancock’s memoir, a master’s thesis, and annotated transcription)

Heffernan, Trova. Where the Salmon Run: The Life and Legacy of Billy Frank Jr. Olympia, Wash: Washington State Heritage Center Legacy Project, 2012.

Holmes, H. E., PGM. Pioneer Links: A Narrative Of The Establishment Of The Independent Order Of Odd Fellows On The Pacific Coast And A History Of Odd Fellowship In Washington To 1880, A Souvenir Of Thirty-Two Years In The Grand Lodge Of Washington IOOF. Seattle: Press of the Washington Odd Fellow Times Bldg, 1913.

Howard, Helen Addison. “Isaac Ingalls Stevens: First Governor of Washington Territory.” Journal of the West 2:3 (1963): 336-346.

Howard, Spencer J. “Capitol Challenge: The Olmsted Brothers’ Landscape Architecture Master Plan for the Washington State Capitol Group in Olympia” Columbia v25, n2. (Summer 2011)

Hunt, Herbert and Kaylor, Washington West of the Cascades, S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1916, Vol I, Vol II, viewable through Google Books

Ingham, Dr. T.R. Some Early Doctors of Olympia. Olympia: Thurston County Historic Commission, 1994.

James, Walter; “Walter James: Reminiscences of My Younger Days” (Hom, Marlon K., ed.; Lai, Him Mark, Lai, Laura, and Choy, Philip P., interviewers.) Chinese America: History and Perspectives 1995: 75-86.

Jessett, Thomas E. Pioneering God’s Country; The History of the Diocese of Olympia, 1853-1967. Seattle: Diocese of Olympia Press, 1967.

Jessett, Thomas E. “The Episcopate of William Morris Barker, Second Missionary Bishop of Olympia.” Historical Magazine of the Protestant Episcopal Church 39:3 (1970): 251-263.

Jessett, Thomas E. St. John’s Church of Olympia (1853-1941): A Brief History. Olympia, Wash.?: The Church?, 1940.

Johnson, Karen L., and Dennis M. Larsen. A Yankee on Puget Sound: Pioneer Dispatches of Edward Jay Allen, 1852-1855. Washington State University Press, 2013.

Johnston, Norman. Washington’s Audacious State Capitol and Its Builders Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1988.

Johnston, Norman J. “A Capitol in Search of an Architect.” Pacific Northwest Quarterly 1982 73(1): 2-9.

Johnston, Norman J. “The Washington State Capitol Campus and its Peripatetic Planning” Columbia Magazine 13:1 (1999): 16-23.

Kainber, Jim. Olympia High School. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub, 2007.

Kilgannon, Anne “Free Boy, a story about slavery and freedom in Washington Territory,” Olympia Historical Society book review, undated

Kilgannon, Anne “Temple Beth Hatfiloh is 75!” Olympia Historical Society Newsletter Summer 2013.

Knopfler, Mary Schouweiler. The View from My Roller Skates: Olympia in the 1930s and 40s As Seen Through the Eyes of a Child. Lacey, WA: Miracle of Mary Pub, 2009.

Knox, Esther. A Diary of the Olympia School District, 1852-1976, ca. 1976; link to Olympia High School Alumni Association website; thank you for providing this service!

Lang, William L. A Confederacy of Ambition: William Winlock Miller and the Making of Washington Territory Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1997.

Lockman, Heather. Building a Capital City: Olympia’s Past Revealed Through Its Historic Architecture (researched by Shanna Stevenson) Olympia: Olympia Community Planning and Development Dept, 2000.

Lockman, Heather. “Shaken But Still Standing: Washington’s Legislative Building- Survivor of Three Major Earthquakes.” Columbia, 17:2 (Summer, 2003)

“McMenamins Brings New Life to Olympia’s Cafe, ‘The Spar‘” McMenamins Newsletter December-February 2006-2007, 11-12

Miller, William Winlock. “The Olympia Narrow Gauge Railroad” Washington Historical Quarterly Vol 16 No 4 (October 1925): 243-250 (linked and transcribed on this website)

Miller, Allen and O’Connell, Emmett. “Revisiting Capitol Lake” Olympia Historical Society Newsletter Fall 2011.

Miller, Allen, “Centennial of the Wilder and White Plan.” Olympia Historical Society Newsletter Spring 2011.

Munro, Ralph, “Olympia’s African American Trailblazers,” Olympia Historical Society Newsletter Summer 2012.

Newell, Gordon R. So Fair a Dwelling Place: A History of Olympia and Thurston County, Washington. Olympia: Olympia News Publishing, 1950. (scanned to this website)

Newell, Gordon R. Rogues, Buffoons & Statesmen; The Inside Story of Washington’s Capital City & the Hilarious History of 120 Years of State Politics. Seattle, Wash: Superior Pub. Co, 1975. (scanned to this website; click on link for searchable PDFs of this book).

Nicandri, David. Olympia’s Forgotten Pioneers: The Oblates of Mary Immaculate Olympia: State Capitol Historical Association, 1976 (available at Washington State Library)

Nicandri, David. (ed.) Olympia’s Old Times and Places. Olympia: State Capital Museum, 1976.

Nicandri, David and Derek Valley. Olympia Wins: Washington’s Capital Controversies. Olympia: Washington State Capital Museum, 1980.

Oakland, Mike (et al.) Images of South Sound Olympia: The Olympian, 2000.

O’Connell, Emmett, “Olympia in Minor League Baseball,” Olympia Historical Society Newsletter Spring 2013.

O’Connell, Emmett, “The Myth of Connection Between Wilder and White and Capitol Lake,” Olympia Historical Society Newsletter Summer 2011.

Olsen, Winnifred. You’re Making History Now (Edited by Erica Stillman and Lois Fenske.) Olympia: Olympia Historical Society, 2006.

Olsen, Winnifred and Fenske, Lois, “The History and Memories of Priest Point Park,” Olympia Historical Society Newsletter, Summer 2009.

Olympia, City of, Labor History Walking Tour, PDF of narrative created for Heritage Month 2016

Olympia High School History Class, see William Winlock Miller (Olympia) History Class below

Olympia Municipal Government, voter registration forms from 1872 to 1890, transcribed by Shanna Stevenson, volunteer for Washington State Archives. Enter a name in the search box or scroll through this list of over 2,000 residents, including women, who were allowed to vote between 1883 and 1886.

Olympia Tribune Souvenir Issue of 1891 (selected transcriptions and images, courtesy Washington State Library)

The Olympian, “Celebrating the Dream: Olympia’s 150th Birthday Olympia”, The Daily Olympian, 2000.

Palmer, Gayle, and Shanna Stevenson, Thurston County Places Names: A Heritage Guide, Thurston County Historic Commission, 1992. (Copied to this website from Wayback Machine)

Partlow, Janet, “Meet a Family: the Streets and Partlows of West Olympia,” Olympia Historical Society Newsletter, Summer 2012.

Plywood Pioneers Association, 1969, Olympia Veneer Company

Plywood Pioneers Association, 1969, Washington Veneer Company

Prosser, William F., A History of the Puget Sound Country, vol I, vol II, Lewis Publishing Company, 1903 (links are to State Library viewer version)

Rainey, Thomas. “A Short History of Industry and Manufacturing in Thurston County, Washington,” Washington State Employment Security Office

Ramsey, Guy Reed, Postmarked Washington: Thurston County. [Thurston County, Wash.]: Thurston County Historic Commission, 1988. Captured to this website from Wayback Machine

Rathbun, J. C. History of Thurston County, Washington. Olympia: Paladium Publishing, 1895. (Transcribed by Ed Echtle, linked Internet Archive)

Reddick, SuAnn M. and Cary C. Collins. “Medicine Creek to Fox Island: Cadastral Scams and Contested Domains” Oregon Historical Quarterly 106:3 (Fall, 2005)

Richards, Kent D. Isaac I. Stevens: Young Man in a Hurry. Brigham Young U. Press, 1979.

Rosenberg, Jessica and Gitana Garofalo. “Riot Grrrl: Revolutions From Within” Signs, Vol. 23, No. 3, (Spring, 1998), 809-841.

Ross, Deborah Jane. Konrad and Albertina. [Philadelphia]: Xlibris, 2009.

Ross, Deborah Jane, Tales from Schneider’s Creek. [Philadelphia]: Xlibris, 2013

Ross, Deborah, “The Loft on Cherry,” Olympia Historical Society Newsletter, Winter 2010-11.

Sapp, Bernice A. Memorials for Thurston County Pioneer and Historical Society, Olympia Washington Olympia: Thurston County Pioneer and Historical Society, 1952. (Scrapbook consisting largely of obituaries viewable at Washington State Library)

Sapp, Bernice, Olympia 100 Years Ago, Echtle Edward, and Ross, Deborah, eds. (Excerpt from Newell, So Fair a Dwelling Place, with Interactive Map and Hyperlinks to Where Are We? pages)

Schreiner, Charles F. A History of the Bishops of the Diocese of Olympia: The Episcopal Church in Western Washington. [Seattle]: Diocese of Olympia, 1986.

Smith, Larry (ed.) How the West Was Once; A History of West Olympia, by Larry Smith’s Eighth Grade English Classes, Jefferson Junior High School Olympia, Jefferson Junior High, 1974.

Smith, Levi Lathrop, Diary 1847-1848, Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, scanned and uploaded to this website by permission. see also transcriptions by Tanis and Easton below.

Steele, E. N. The Rise and Decline of the Olympia Oyster. Elma, Wash., Fulco Publications, 1957, link to the Internet Archives.

Simmons, Katharine N. “The Cultural Beginnings of Olympia, Washington, 1850-1865.” M.A. Thesis, Washington State College, 1948.

Stevens, Hazard. Olympia. Boston (1891?). Link to Washington State Library

Stevenson, Shanna. “Daniel R. Bigelow: A Man of Principle Who Stood Against the Political Order” Columbia Magazine 7:4 (1993), 31-35.

Stevenson, Shanna, “First All-Woman Jury in Washington State”

Stevenson, Shanna. History of the Port of Olympia Olympia, Port of Olympia (1982).

Stevenson, Shanna. Marking Time: Thurston County Historical Markers. Olympia: POSSCA, 1983.

Stevenson, Shanna. St. Peter’s Hospital: A History. Olympia: St. Peter Hospital Centennial Committee, 1987.

Stevenson, Shanna. Olympia, Tumwater, and Lacey: A Pictorial History Norfolk: Donning Co, 1985.

Stevenson, Shanna. Olympiana: Historical Vignettes of Olympia’s People and Places Olympia: Washington State Capital Museum, 1982.

Stevenson, Shanna. History of Women’s Suffrage in Olympia

Strong, Harry McElroy. “T.F. McElroy: Pioneer Publisher of Washington’s First Newspaper“ Columbia 14:2 (Summer 2000): 32-37.

Swan, John M., 1875 Interview with Hubert Bancroft, edited by Roger Easton and Ed Echtle

Talcott, G. Noyes, and David W. Owens. Oral History Interview with G. Noyes Talcott, May 14-July 22, 1975, Including Articles and Documents Pertaining to the Chambers/Talcott Families. [Olympia]: State of Washington, Division of Archives and Records Management, 1975.

Tanis, James R., (ed.). “The Journal of Levi Lathrop Smith, 1847-1848” Pacific Northwest Quarterly 43 (1952): 277-301 (transcribed by Lacey historian Roger Easton); link here to print version (JSTOR log-in required). See also Smith manuscript above.

Thurston County Historic Commission, A Short History of Budd Inlet. Olympia: Thurston County Historic Commission, 1992. Captured to this website from the Wayback Machine.

Thurston County Pioneer & Historical Society, Cooking Favorites of Olympia, 1966, Women’s Clubs Publishing Co, Chicago.

Thurston County Sesquicentennial. Olympia: The Daily Olympian, 2002.

Told By The Pioneers: Tales of Frontier Life as Told By Those Who Remember the Days of the Territory and Early Statehood of Washington. Olympia: Works Progress Administration, 1937 & 1938. [Online at Washington State Library: Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3]

United Churches of Olympia, A History of the United Churches 1854-1980. United Churches of Olympia, 1980, uploaded to this website by permission.

Weir, Allen. “Olympia, The Capital of the State of Washington” The Washington Historian 2:3 (April, 1901): 107-111.

William Winlock Miller (Olympia) High School History Class, History of Olympia (1927) (downloadable with Optical Character Recognition).

Yockey, Beth. Olympia Federal Savings: The First Hundred Years. Seattle: Abecedary Press, 2006.

Youmans, Vance H. “Christian Churches in the Early History of Olympia,” Pacific Northwest Forum, v4 n1 (Winter-Spring 1991) 121-123. (May be viewable at Washington State Library)

Zindt, Mary, “Memories of Olympia,” Olympia Historical Society Newsletter Winter 2010-11.

Olympia’s Historic Chinese Community

June 12, 2009

By Edward Echtle

Jim Ah Toone Family, Olympia, 1890s. WSHS Collection

Origins and Early Arrivals

During the latter half of the 19th century, the Puget Sound region received an influx of settlers from around the world. Among them were immigrants from southeast China Many came to earn money to send to their struggling families. Others arrived planning to stay and make a new start. These men and women provided a much needed labor force in constructing new towns in the region, including Olympia.

Long before the arrival of the railroads, Chinese looking for new opportunities began arriving in Olympia. In 1852, the first edition of the Columbia (the first newspaper published on Puget Sound) carried an advertisement for Edmund Sylvester’s Olympia House Hotel, which boasted an “…accomplished Chinese cook, who comes highly recommended by the American Consul at Canton.” By the early 1860s, the annual celebration of Lunar New Year by Chinese in Olympia received regular mention in the local press:

Before the arrival of the Chinese, most of Olympia’s streets existed only on paper. Hired by the community as contract laborers, these men built bridges, pulled stumps and graded streets in and around what is now downtown. Chinese also worked at many local manufacturing concerns, at lumber camps, and were employed extensively in the local oystering industry. Some also served as crew on the early steamers that served as the main form of transportation on Puget Sound.

WSHS Photo

Community Life

Chinese sojourners with the same surname tended to congregate in the same towns. Early on, Olympia emerged as a “Locke town.” Family Associations, based on surname, language and village ties, were the foundation of early Chinese American communities. Generally, those sharing the same surname were from the same vicinity in China. In the case of the Locke clan, this was the Toisan county region of Guangdong Province, southeast China.

Most early Chinese immigrants were male. In the absence of traditional family structure they relied on the services provided by the Family Associations to secure a place to live and employment. In turn, they paid dues to the Association to support the various services it provided.

Kay’s Chop Suey – 9/8/24
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. Beginning in the late 1800s and up to the present, Chinese-American families have contributed to Olympia’s commerce and social life in many ways, including the restaurant business. Pictured here is Kay’s Chop Suey, on Capitol Way, owned and operated by the…
September 8, 2024
Pacific House – 9/1/24
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich and diverse history. The Pacific House, located at what is now State Avenue and Capitol Way, was managed by African-American Rebecca Groundage Howard and her husband Alexander. With its location near Budd Inlet, it was popular with travelers and locals alike. Photograph selected and…
September 1, 2024
Ralph Munro at Camp Pendleton – 8/25/24
Looking Back’s theme for 2024 is Many Streams, celebrating our rich history. In 1975, large numbers of Vietnamese refugees arrived in the US at temporary resettlement centers. When California Governor Jerry Brown refused them permanent settlement status, Washington Governor Dan Evans asked staff member (later Secretary of State) Ralph Munro, pictured here, to go to…
August 25, 2024

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