Fraternal organizations were immensely popular in the latter part of the 19th century. Pictured here are Olympia members of the Uniform Rank, Knights of Pythias (KoP). According to a history of the KoP, the Uniform Rank was an auxiliary of the KoP, formed during the Civil War and organized along the lines of a military unit.
Unknown photographer, around 1885, courtesy State Capital Museum collection, Washington State Historical Society, catalog C1948.1186.5
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2022