Goodyear Tire Company Building/First site of United Presbyterian

Location: 421 4th Ave E
Wohleb; Transportation; Religious institutions

United Presbyterian Church, undated, courtesy of Westminster Presbyterian

Goodyear tire building (2013), photo by Deb Ross

United Presbyterian Church, now Westminster Presbyterian Church, is another participant in the game of “musical pews” described in our listing for Gloria Dei. The church was organized in 1893 in a room of the Hale Block, and grew quickly enough so that a permanent building, pictured at above left, was completed in 1896 at the southwest corner of 4th and Jefferson Streets. In the 1920s, the church built a new brick building further east on Fourth Avenue and sold this structure (that brick building later became the home of the Salvation Army). Westminster is now located on Boulevard Road.

The current art deco style building at this location was designed in 1935 by architect Joseph Wohleb and was a Goodyear Tire Company store. Besides tires, it sold appliances such as washing machines. Its sleek L-shaped style is consistent with the streamlined aesthetic of the early automobile era, and was one of the many buildings along the eastern end of Fourth Avenue to cater to the growing automotive environment of Olympia in the early to mid 20th century. The building is now (2013) a bar.

Thanks to Drew Crooks for research and assistance.

Additional resources:

History of Westminster Presbyterian Church

View of church from top of adjacent Olympia Opera House, from Moody Collection

Olympia Heritage inventory (Goodyear Tire building)