Throughout 2023 we’ll be exploring the origins of area place names. Hicks Lake in Lacey is named for the Hicks family. Urban E. Hicks arrived in Thurston County in the 1850s. He served as Territorial Auditor, librarian, schoolteacher, and publisher. His son, Gallatin Gwin Hicks, established a resort, Gwinwood, on Hicks Lake, that still exists. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum. For more information see olympiahistory.org.
Secretary of State website, Territorial Librarians page