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.
People who are always wondering, and never trouble themselves to find out, are continually complaining because nothing is being done toward the erection of capitol buildings in Olympia. Something is being done, but no results can be reached until the legislature meets in January next. The public building committee at the last session devoted some time to the acquisition of a site, but without success. Upon the admission to statehood Congress granted for the erection of a capitol at Olympia 132,000 acres of land. Of this number, 19,776 acres have been selected by the state land commission. It will average in value, probably, $15 or $20 per acre. When the legislature meets again, provisions for the sale of this land can be made, and a fund established for the erection of a state building that will outrank any west of the Mississippi. It will cost $3,000,000.
“a state building that will outrank any west of the Mississippi.”
Washington’s capitol campus would take decades more to complete, but this 1892 item shows the same tension between civic boosterism and legislative delay that still shapes public projects. The land-grant financing model—sell public land to build a monument—is a reminder that statehouse construction was also a real-estate deal.
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