Looking Back’s theme for 2025 featured Thurston County area photographers, artists, and their subjects. Robert Blankenship was a member of an early settler family. Along with his business partner Ed Winstanley, he operated a stationery and tobacco store in Olympia. The partnership also produced postcards featuring local scenes. Robert is pictured here with an unidentified friend and three bicycles.
Unknown photographer, about 1911, courtesy State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society, catalog C2009.0.2
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2025