The Montgomery Ward Building was erected in 1928 on Fourth Avenue. Ward’s was a department store and catalogue retailer. The building was repurposed in the early 1960s to serve as the first home of the Olympia Regional Vocational Technical Institute (now South Puget Sound Community College). It has since been occupied by retail and entertainment venues. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum. For more information, visit olympiahistory.org.

Vibert Jeffers photo, 1938, Susan Parish Collection, Southwest Regional Archives