Throughout 2023 the Sunday Olympian’s Looking Back theme was origins of area place names. Hazard Lake in Olympia was named for Margaret Stevens, née Hazard, and her son Hazard Stevens. Margaret was a prominent member of New England society, who married future Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens. She was less than enthusiastic upon her arrival in muddy, thinly populated Olympia but soon became a noted hostess as the wife of our first Governor.
Lithograph, about 1841, Courtesy State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society, catalog 2011.0.205
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2023