Elmer Plumb, son of early settlers, operated a cigar and confectionary store in the Cowling Building at 117 Washington Street (the building still exists, in the National Downtown Historic District). A lifelong bachelor, Elmer was asked by a reporter on his 70th birthday, “What are some of the important events which have occurred in Thurston county in your time?” He responded, “pretty near all that’s happened.”
1933 photograph, State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2020