The Looming Birth of a State
As Washington prepares for statehood, the race is on to secure housing and logistics in Olympia for a surge of arriving politicians and militia.
The board of canvassers met on Monday to canvass the election returns, which have gone forward to the president, and the indications are that the inauguration will take place on Monday, November 4th. The Seattle Press says the returns should reach the president on Monday, October 28th. As the president is understood to have already examined and passed upon an unofficial copy of the constitution, it will only remain for him to see that there is no vital difference between it and the official copy to be sent him. He could therefore easily issue his proclamation of admission on the same day. Should a delay occur in mailing the proclamation, it would have to be sent by telegraph in order to allow the inauguration to take place on November 4th. Already there are signs that Olympia will be overcrowded on inauguration day. Many members of the legislature are already there, the militia have hired quarters, and at this early day there is not a room to be had in the town for the night of the inauguration.
“Already there are signs that Olympia will be overcrowded on inauguration day... there is not a room to be had in the town for the night of the inauguration.”
In 1889, the frantic scramble for a hotel room in Olympia mirrored the logistical growing pains of a territory becoming a state. Today, the struggle to house residents in Yakima and Olympia remains a central civic tension, though the stakes have shifted from inaugural attendance to long-term affordability and supply.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.