Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Ruddell Road in Lacey was named for the Ruddell family, early settlers in Thurston County. Stephen Ruddell, pictured here, was involved in the so-called Indian war of 1855-1856. He later married Margaret White; the couple moved to Olympia where they built the Ruddell House on Olympia Avenue, listed on the city’s Heritage Register. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum, olympiahistory.org.
Photograph around 1860, Courtesy Oregon Historical Society