City of Olympia history

In 1861 the issue of territorial capital was put before the voters.

Columbia Number 1, the first fire engine company to be established in Washington Territory, was formed in Olympia in 1865.

Lack of funds held up the project until 1868 when Thurston County loaned the City of Olympia $1,500.

Like other cities on Puget Sound, in the 1870’s, Olympia awaited the coming of the railroad then making its way up from the south.

Olympia residents elected the town’s first Mayor in 1873 – William Winlock Miller.

​Captain S. W. Percival in the early 1880's.

The home was the largest in Olympia and Sylvester’s strong-minded wife Clara hosted the first meeting of the Woman’s Club there in 1883 and housed a number of visiting suffragettes during the fight of Washington women for the right to vote.

In 1885, the City built a long wharf, 4,798 feet long from the foot of Main Street (later Capitol Way) out to deep water so that ships could tie up regardless of the tide.

When Washington became a state in 1889 with Olympia as the capital, the city grew and prospered adding amenities such as an opera house, city water system, street car line, street lamps, and a new hotel to accommodate visiting legislators.

In 1890, one year after statehood, Olympia City Marshal George Savidge was the first in City history to be officially referred to as Chief of Police.

The Old Capitol (built 1893) is used as a state office building.

First church and first school in Olympia, 1902

However, the building soon became too expensive to operate and the State of Washington purchased the building and the park in 1905 fo use as the state capitol.

​Olympia High School Glee Club, 1906, Upsilon Lambda Kappa, Miss Margaret Bigelow, teacher.

A dramatic change overtook Olympia itself beginning in 1909 with another dredging project that filled mudflats north of downtown, adding 29 blocks, and filled in the Deschutes Waterway.

Changes were made to the topography of the city in 1911-12, when almost 22 blocks were added to the downtown area in a gigantic dredging and filling effort to create a deep water harbor and fill the sloughs to the north and east of the city.

First to go up was the Temple of Justice beginning in 1912.

​Photo taken around 1920. of the Stebbins Ragtime Orchestra.

Voters formed the Port of Olympia in 1922.

The state built an addition, and the building served as the state capitol until the new capitol group was opened in 1928.

The photo was taken around 1948.

An earthquake on April 13, 1949, severely damaged the capitol dome and other State buildings and several old structures downtown.

The 1950’s ushered in construction of a new freeway through Olympia and her neighboring communities of Tumwater and Lacey.

A Washington State Supreme Court decision in 1954 mandated that Olympia was the seat of government and that state office headquarters must locate here.

A new era began at the close of the 1960’s when The Evergreen State College was authorized by the state legislature on Cooper Point road at the site of historic Athens University, just west of the Olympia City limits.

Long time residents still mention the “Columbus Day” storm which hit the northwest on October 12, 1962, with seventy-eight mile per hour winds.

In April 1972, the Evergreen State College opened on 1,000 acres on Cooper point with both original architecture and innovative educational strategies.

In 1977, Olympia was one of the fastest growing areas in the United States, but much of the development was suburban with shopping malls drawing off the commerce that once went downtown.

Edmund Sylvester – Information from Lacey, Olympia, and Tumwater – A Pictorial History by Shanna Stevenson, The Donning Company/Publishers, 1985. – The picture of Edmund Sylvester (date unknown) is provided courtesy of the Washington State Library.

Budd Inlet – Information from Thurston County Place Names: A Heritage Guide by the Thurston County Historic Commission, Edited by Gayle Palmer and Shanna Stevenson, November 1992)