Echtle: Olympia’s Historic Chinese Community

by Edward Echtle

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This series of articles about the Chinese in Olympia was prepared by Edward Echtle, Olympia historian, for the Olympia Historical Society website. The Society is grateful to Edward for his willingness to share his years of research into this important aspect of Olympia’s history.

Origins and Early Arrivals
Railroads and Riots
Olympia’s Chinatowns
Laundries
Restaurants
Market Gardens
Families
The Chinese Cemetery
Chinatown Interpretive Marker Project
Links

Eliza Olney – 5/11/25
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Charles M. Moore arrived in Washington Territory with his family in 1877 and was a merchant in downtown Olympia, as well as an avid amateur photographer in his later years. Shown here is Moore’s aunt, Eliza Olney (sister of prominent suffragists…
May 11, 2025
Charles M. Moore – 5/4/25
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Charles M. Moore arrived in Washington Territory with his family in 1877 and was a merchant in downtown Olympia. When photographic technology became widely available to nonprofessionals in the late 19th century, Moore captured local people and places as an amateur…
May 5, 2025
Ida B. Smith Studio – 4/27/25
Looking Back’s theme for 2025 features Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Pictured here is the studio of photographer Ida B. Smith, who was active in the late 19th and early 20th century. The studio, shared with her sister, photographer Agnes Mitchel, was near the corner of Jefferson and 4th Avenue, next door…
April 27, 2025