Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Giles Street, in northwest Olympia, takes its name from Charles Giles, whose home is at the corner of West Bay Drive and Giles Avenue. Charles Giles was a mill operator, whose business was nearby. The home is on the state register of historic places. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum, olympiahistory.org.
Photograph of Charles P. Giles, around 1925, unknown photographer, Ancestry Public Member Photos & Scanned Documents, shared August 15, 2018