Looking Back’s theme for 2026 was Downtown by the Decades. Two competing private fire companies existed in early Olympia. Pictured here in 1891 are members of the Columbia Fire Company number 2, taken shortly after the company added a new engine and a second story to its building on Columbia Street, between 4th and 5th Avenues.
Pettis & Mulligan photo, about 1891, courtesy State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society, catalog C1943.2x.44
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2026