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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1891 | 14 |
| 1892 | 23 |
37 stories matching built
- The Church That Was Built by Hand
A pioneer minister recalls the grit and community labor required to build Olympia's first Unitarian church during the city's early boom and bust cycles.
- 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.
- 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.
- Olympia’s Street Railway Is Mortgaged—Horses and All
A $222 chattel mortgage on the track and a lien on the company’s horses expose the shaky finances behind Olympia’s experiment with a naphtha motor car.
- 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 $3 Million Capitol Olympia Was Still Waiting For
Residents grumble that nothing is being built, but the state says it must wait for the next legislature to sell land granted at statehood.
- Olympia's Streetcar Franchise Shell Game
A franchise extension granted on a promise of negotiations turns out to be empty—and the editor wants electric cars for the capital.
- The Town That Grew in Ninety Days—and Then Waited for the Railroad
In 1890, promoters carved Anacortes out of the Fidalgo Island forest, sold lots at galloping prices, and promised a transcontinental rail terminal. Two years later, the trains still stopped short and the company wharf was closed to the public.
- Ten Strangers at the Tunnel: Is the Union Pacific Coming Back to Olympia?
A corps of engineers has been quietly pacing the unfinished Tumwater tunnel, refusing to say who sent them or what they want — while heavy rain eats away at the abandoned work.
- 47 Percent: How a Local Savings Club Put Three Olympia Homes on the Ground
The Olympia Building & Loan Association reports its first six months in business — 450 shares, a steep return for investors, and three new houses built around town.
- 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.
- Olympia's Building-Loan Society Built Three Homes and Paid 4½ Percent
A half-year statement from the Olympia Building Loan Association showed 450 shares in force, a net profit of $634.50, and three new houses—then opened a new subscription series.
- Olympia's Fresh-Water Harbor Dream, Before Seattle's Ship Canal
In 1892, as Northern Pacific lobbyists pushed a Lake Washington ship canal for Seattle, Olympia argued it already had a cheaper place for a sheltered fresh-water basin—between Third Street and Tumwater.
- The Railroad President Who Said No to Olympia
A Great Northern snub prompts the Olympia Tribune to rally the capital city behind its railroad ambitions.
- A Rail-and-Timber Empire Offers Its Workers a Cut
A new corporation tied to former governor Elisha P. Ferry acquires the Mason County Central railroad and Shelton sawmill, plans a Grays Harbor line, and sets aside $50,000 in stock for employees.
- Rapid Transit to Eternity: Olympia's Kerosene Trolley, Minus the Matches
George Marvin Savage's homemade coal-oil motor car is about to carry paying passengers down to the Fourth Street track — if it doesn't explode first. Riders get accident insurance, and their obituary verses have already been written.
- The Road That Would Remake the Des Chutes Shore
Tumwater landowners and boosters want a new beach road to Olympia, promising easier travel, new homes, and higher property values.
- Seven Inches in Ten Days: The Flood That Broke Puget Sound
A warm Chinook melted mountain snow into relentless rain, washing out the Northern Pacific, wrecking the Naphtha launch works, and isolating towns from Tacoma to Seattle.
- Two Small Boys Run Away to Live in the Woods—With Muskets but No Ammunition
A pair of Olympia schoolboys declared independence and set up camp up the bay, but their lack of provisions and a father’s search brought them home.
- 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.
- Who Should Keep Olympia's Money?
On the eve of the 1891 municipal election, a dozen anonymous Olympians argued over the city treasurer's race, a regular nominee, a new brick block, and a saloonkeeper's ten-dollar joke.
- The Town Where Horses Wore Wooden Shoes
La Conner grew slowly on a rocky knoll in the Skagit delta, diked its tidal flats, and shipped out hay by the ton—while its horses clumped through spring mud in wooden moccasins.
- The Railroad Came for the Tenant Farmers
A Washington Supreme Court ruling in Seattle said a railroad owed a tenant for the leasehold, crops and buildings its tracks destroyed—not just the landlord for the dirt.
- 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, the Corporations, and the Session He Wouldn't Call
A leaked cabinet meeting shows Governor Ferry weighing an extra legislative session against the wrath of corporations—and his own officials split over whether the state can wait.