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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1891 | 170 |
| 1892 | 154 |
324 stories
- Workingmen Open a People’s Forum—and Hear That Olympia Sits on a Volcano
Two hundred residents packed Columbia Hall for the first of a series of public-question meetings, where speakers warned of hard times and one declared the city was on the edge of an eruption.
- The Streetcar Builder Who Refused to Buy His Own Right of Way
J. R. Chaplin tells Olympia's council that asking his Westside Railway to purchase Block 48 would insult the enterprise promising the city its first mile of track.
- The Colonel, the Adjutant-General, and the Olympia Hotel Lobby
A state militia court-martial adjourns without deciding whether Colonel Haines was a civilian or a soldier when he assaulted Adjutant-General O’Brien—prompting a newspaper suggestion that O’Brien wear a baseball mask.
- The Bucket Brigade That Saved a Block
Two brothers woke to smoke and falling embers in a Third Street lodging house, then doused the roof fire before the department could even join the fight.
- Mossbackism in Olympia: The Club, the Hotel and the Saloon Men
Board of Trade members proposed folding the Washington Club into the Olympia Hotel to settle liquor complaints and give the board a cash stake—then the club's defenders blamed saloon keepers and 'picayune politicians.'
- The Reporter in the Belfry: A School Scandal Ends in Resignation and a Rope Slide
A closed-door investigation at Olympia's Collegiate Institute ended with a professor's resignation and two students dismissed—and a newspaperman who tried to eavesdrop from above.
- The Handmade Naphtha Car That Was Going to Revolutionize Olympia
At a stable on Puget and Third, George Marvin Savage's crew is building a one-off motor car—part streetcar, part joke—for Main Street.
- Defective Brick in the Courthouse? The Former Superintendent Says Yes
Former superintendent W. A. Rogers says the county courthouse contains defective brick that can be crushed by hand, disputing the county attorney's claim that only the architecture is at fault.
- The Court-Martial That Laughed Up Its Sleeve
In closed sessions at Olympia, Col. J. C. Haines faces charges of foul and abusive language—but his supporters say the fix is already in.
- A Mayor, a Rigged Lottery, and the Fight for Olympia's City Hall
A month out from the municipal election, the Tribune accuses Mayor J. C. Horr of quietly fixing his fences for a second term — and the drawing of lots that handed one councilman a longer seat looks to a good many people like a put-up job.
- The Doctor Wasn't Who He Said He Was
Found dead along the Northern Pacific tracks near Olympia, Dr. C. S. Smith was unmasked by his own will as S. C. Thompson, an Iowa county treasurer who had fled a defalcation in 1872.
- Bypassed by the Railroad, Olympia Grabbed a Shovel
When the Northern Pacific chose Tacoma, Olympia’s citizens turned Thursdays into railroad-building days—then remade their town as a bustling capital of 8,500.
- A City on the Brink: Olympia’s 1891 Debt Crisis and the Fight Over Jobs
Facing a constitutional debt limit, Olympia’s city council considers firing the deputy clerk, assistant city attorney, and city engineer—while a motion to revoke the street railway franchise fails by a tie.
- Washington Women Send Their Case to the Nation’s Capital
Olympia’s Equal Suffrage Association names delegates to the national convention and seeks Robert Ingersoll for a Supreme Court appeal over women’s voting rights.
- A Civil War Veteran Vanishes Between Saloon and Lodging
Charles Honige, a 71-year-old Olympia character known for selling hot weinerwurst after dark, left Hosneider's saloon at 10 p.m. and was never seen again.
- Olympia’s Booster Year: Brick, Bridges and a 50,000-Person Promise
As 1891 closed, the capital city counted $3 million in new buildings, a record bridge, electric lights and new rail lines — and predicted 50,000 residents within a decade.
- The Streetcar Company That Asked Olympia for Land—and Promised the Moon by July 4
In 1892, the Olympia Light & Power Company pitched an electric railway to Tumwater as a bargain for landowners: donate a strip or an acre, and watch city-limit land double in value. The trust deed gave them until Independence Day to make it real.
- The Women of Olympia Organize for the World's Fair
Local women form a committee to ensure Washington's presence at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.
- The Women of Olympia Organize for the Poor
A local group of women forms a relief society to provide food and clothing to the city's needy during the winter months.
- The White-and-Gold Trolleys That Would Link Olympia and Tumwater
In February 1892, Olympia Light & Power awarded a $70,000 contract for a four-mile electric street railway from Ayer's Hill to Tumwater—built with local labor and Pullman-style cars.
- Thirteen Carloads of Rail and Four Miles of Track: Olympia Gets Its Electric Streetcar
Delayed by a blizzard back East, the rails are finally in Tacoma and due tonight — and a crew will start laying them down the middle of Fourth Street tomorrow morning.
- The Fight to Keep Olympia's Public Works Money in Olympia
A local editor takes credit for shaming the city council into hiring home labor — and warns that out-of-town contractors are bleeding the capital dry.
- The Court That Took Away Washington Women's Vote
Holding up Wyoming's eighteen years of women's suffrage as proof of its benefits, the Tribune condemns the territorial supreme court for reversing Washington women's right to vote.
- Where Is D. P. Ballard? The Lawyer Who Vanished With the G.A.R. Fund
A well-known Olympia attorney disappears leaving debts, a destitute family, and a fraternal post asking what happened to its money.
- Four Years, Then a Federal Appeal: Lybarger Ordered to Walla Walla
Convicted in Thurston County of a sexual offense against 13-year-old Elsie Patnude, John G. Lybarger loses his state appeal; his wife and father-in-law had posted $3,500 bail while the case dragged on.