Looking Back’s theme for 2026 is Downtown by the Decades. The Homestead Act encouraged American settlers to come to the west and claim land for a small fee. This photograph from the 1880s shows Olympia’s U.S. Land Office, north of Main Street and 6th Avenue (Capitol Way and Legion), where settlers could file their claims. The man with the furled paper is early settler Charles M. Moore. Image selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum, https://olympiahistory.org
Unknown photographer, courtesy State Capital Museum Collection, Washington State Historical Society