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.
George Gelbach of Tumwater, who was in the city yesterday, is always enthusiastic over the prospect of a beach road from Tumwater to Olympia. He deems it the only available thoroughfare between the two places, and the sooner it is built the better.
In speaking on the matter yesterday, Mr. Gelbach said: "The best plan is for Tumwater and Olympia to consolidate, which would be an easy matter at this time, and then let the road be built by the city, with the regular assessment against the abutting property. The many advantages of the road will be readily recognized in the saving of distance, the strain on teams in mounting the heavy grade of the present road, and the direct connection between the two places."
“The best plan is for Tumwater and Olympia to consolidate, which would be an easy matter at this time, and then let the road be built by the city.”
In 1891 Tumwater and Olympia were separate towns weighing whether to merge so they could jointly build a road along the water. More than a century later they remain distinct cities, their old wagon grades replaced by freeway interchanges — but the debate over how the two neighbors share infrastructure and growth is still recognizably the same.
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