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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1854 | 53 |
| 1858 | 1 |
| 1859 | 6 |
| 1860 | 12 |
| 1861 | 58 |
| 1862 | 65 |
| 1863 | 44 |
| 1871 | 1 |
| 1872 | 14 |
| 1876 | 9 |
| 1877 | 11 |
| 1878 | 7 |
| 1879 | 3 |
| 1882 | 3 |
| 1883 | 35 |
| 1884 | 11 |
| 1885 | 18 |
| 1886 | 10 |
| 1887 | 9 |
| 1888 | 6 |
| 1889 | 57 |
| 1890 | 8 |
| 1891 | 212 |
| 1892 | 184 |
| 1893 | 105 |
| 1894 | 17 |
| 1895 | 111 |
| 1897 | 2 |
| 1899 | 1 |
| 1902 | 1 |
| 1903 | 23 |
| 1904 | 5 |
| 1905 | 1 |
| 1908 | 1 |
| 1909 | 94 |
| 1910 | 7 |
| 1911 | 11 |
| 1912 | 4 |
| 1914 | 11 |
| 1915 | 8 |
| 1916 | 11 |
| 1917 | 3 |
| 1919 | 1 |
| 1922 | 1 |
| 1923 | 13 |
| 1924 | 2 |
| 1925 | 10 |
1,280 stories
- Andrew Carnegie’s Advice to Washington
The steel magnate urges the state to showcase its vast iron ore deposits at the upcoming World’s Fair.
- The Editor Who Fled to Seattle: An Olympia Newspaper War Turns Personal
The Tribune accuses Col. Thomas Henderson Boyd and a 'political combination' of running a second-hand press to purge anybody — Republican or Democrat — who won't think their way, and gleefully reprints the Skagit Valley insult that called him a cowslip in trousers.
- The Publisher Who Forged a Telegram
In 1892, the Morning Olympian’s publisher was accused of sending a fake dispatch under another correspondent’s name—then caught by his own handwriting.
- The Women Who Packed Washington Into a World's Fair
At the Olympia Hotel, local women joined two state commissioners to plan wood carvings, wildflowers, art and industry for Chicago's 1893 Columbian Exposition.
- Olympia to Boston: 'The Athens of the Northwest' Makes Its Case
A Unitarian minister's letter to Eastern readers insists that the capital city, older than Seattle or Tacoma, is no backwater — and that the whole Sound country is bound to Boston by blood and history.
- Colonel Turner's Stand: A Property Owner Blocks the Electric Railway
Ben Turner obtains a restraining order to halt the Olympia Light Power Company from grading through his donation claim, vowing no road shall pass.
- A Downtown Church Outgrows Its 1856 Home
Olympia's Methodists are quietly preparing to raise a new church at Fifth and Adams, honoring the pioneers who built the old one on Fourth — and the 375 souls who now fill the pews.
- The Governor’s Daughter Weds Beneath Ivy and Calla Lilies
Olympia’s St. John’s Episcopal Church filled with hundreds as Lizzie Ferry married Hon. John Leary, then a steamer carried the wedding party to the governor’s mansion and on toward Japan.
- Council Trims the Streetcar Franchise
Olympia’s aldermen refused the franchise on Union Street and Maple Park Avenue, barred local freight hauling, and demanded free use of the company’s poles for the city’s fire alarm.
- The Boat Builder and the Missing Cornerstone
Courtland Ethridge arrived in Olympia in 1851, built some of its earliest landmarks, and left behind a Masonic hall with a mystery buried under it.
- Forty Thousand Bricks Rejected at the New Courthouse
Superintendent Rogers refused to let nearly 40,000 soft bricks from a Westside yard go into Olympia's new courthouse, warning contractors that the specifications would be enforced.
- Olympia’s ‘Miserable’ Street Railway Is Holding the City Back
An 1891 editorial demands that the city cancel the Olympia Street Railway’s charter and clear Main and Fourth streets for electric cars, arguing the two rickety horse cars are a disgrace and a drag on growth.
- The School Law That Existed Only in the Enrolled Bill
A $3,700 school-fund dispute in Spokane exposed a legislative clerk's error—and left Washington's superintendent asking whether the enrolled bill or the journals were law.
- The Trolley That Had to Buy a Gulch
A streetcar line blocked by a ravine gets its way to Harrison Avenue — for the price of a $1,630 strip of C. M. Moore's block 48.
- Twenty-Four Officers Wanted the Adjutant General Gone
A petition against Adjutant General O’Brien reached the governor, who refused to demand a resignation—prompting a theatrical outburst from Tacoma’s “Little Corporal.”
- A Taxpayer Tries to Stop the City From Writing Checks It Can’t Cover
Francis Hoffman and the Olympia Hardware Company ask a judge to block further city warrants, arguing Olympia has blown past its debt limit.
- Olympia Turns Off the Streetlights to Save $500 a Month
Facing a budget squeeze, Olympia’s city council voted to darken the streets and save $500 a month. Public-spirited citizens organized a private subscription to keep the lights burning rather than let the city go totally dark.
- The Sunday Search of Olympia's Chinese Gardens
A newly sworn customs inspector found opium hidden among vegetables and buried in boxes, arrested one man, and left the city's Chinese market gardens under guard.
- The Respectable Olympia Doctor Who May Have Been a Missing Iowa Treasurer
After Dr. S. C. Smith died in Olympia, an old army comrade wrote to ask whether the beloved physician was really Dr. S. C. Thompson, who vanished from Leon, Iowa, in 1872.
- Olympia's 1891 City Election: Ward Caucuses, Backroom Maneuvers, and a Fight Over Fair Play
As the Third Ward nominates a councilman and candidates jockey for mayor and treasurer, a taxpayer protests a plan for a mass convention that would sideline ward delegates.
- Olympia Puts Its Bond Mess on Ice—and the Mayor Objects
A council committee recommends leaving the 1891 bond tangle to the next administration; the mayor warns the city is “in a mud hole” and wants the courts to force a decision.
- The Baker Who Walked Up Fourth Street and Vanished
Herman Schwarzbach, proprietor of Olympia's city bakery, left work one Thursday afternoon and was never seen again — leaving a small debt, a failed property sale, and friends who feared foul play.
- A Sunday-Night Letter Asks Why Olympia Lets Main Street Saloons Run Loud
A reader complains of drinking, dancing and noise in the saloons below Third and demands that police keep young boys out of the crowds.
- Washington Burned the Nursery Trees—Then Came the Lawsuit
The state horticulture commissioner destroyed infected shipments from eastern nurseries. Now the nurserymen say he broke interstate commerce law.
- A Road Along the Water — and a Pitch to Merge Olympia and Tumwater
A Tumwater booster argues a beach road is the only sensible link between the two towns, and floats consolidating them into one city to build it.