Mary O’Neil was one of the earliest territorial schoolteachers, arriving in Olympia in 1863. In 1910, several of her former students gathered to honor her, posing here on the steps of the State Capitol Building (now Office of Superintendant of Public Instruction). Miss O’Neil is in the center of the front row. Many of her students came to be prominent civic leaders. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum. For more information see olympiahistory.org.
Unknown photographer, 1910, State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society