Looking Back’s theme for 2026 was Downtown by the Decades. Each week featured a view of downtown Olympia over the years. In 1882, after a fire destroyed most of downtown Olympia, the Talcott Brothers built a new brick structure at 420 Capitol Way (then called Main Street). This cropped image from an 1887 envelope advertises the assortment of goods that they sold. The building still exists and is on the local Heritage Register.
1887 envelope, cropped, courtesy Washington State Historical Society, catalog 1998.122.44
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2026