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B+History
History · Olympia

Olympia’s post office opened in 1850, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 70% of U.S. towns · #25 of 285 in Washington. What drives it

38 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 538 buildings between them. Below: 17 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1870.

1850first post office
38on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
17old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Olympia’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Olympia began

When was Olympia founded?

1850

The Olympia post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1859.

First census: 1,203 in 18702020 census: 55,605176 years

How historic is Olympia?

B+

More historic than 70% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Olympia post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1859.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Olympia’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Olympia is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #25 of 285 in Washington. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Olympia’s overall grade.
Founding era1850, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194011.6% of homes (±1.8) · typical WA town 4.3% · U.S. 8.4%B−National Register38 listings, 572 historic buildings, 102 per 10,000 residents · typical WA town 0.1 · U.S. 2.4A+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 70%
NewerOlder
Washington towns of 2,500+ (285)Ahead of 92%

Few Washington towns list much on the Register (a typical Washington town has 0.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Olympia’s 102 sits above most of its state (96% of Washington towns have fewer) while its 572 historic buildings outnumber those of 98% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share (±1.8 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1859 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Olympia’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A historic districtThe South Capitol Neighborhood Historic District takes in 482 historic buildings.Landmarks on the Register38 places on the National Register.Mapped building by building6 fire insurance maps, 1884 to 1924, drew every building in Olympia.A town in old photos17 old photos, postcards and papers, 1845–1872.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

38 listings protect 572 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
38
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
572
each building in a district counts
first listed
1975
Old Capitol Building
Old Capitol Building, built 1892Charles Patnude House, built 1893Cloverfields, built 1914Henry McCleary HouseWashington State Capitol Historic DistrictDaniel R. Bigelow HouseU.S. Post OfficeC. J. Lord MansionThurston County Courthouse, built 1930Olympia Public Library, built 1914Mottman Building, built 1888Calvin and Pamela Hale HouseMeyer House, built 1910Frank Rudkin House, built 1905Reinhart-Young House, built 1891LOTUS (motor vessel)Allen House HotelAmerican Legion Hall, built 1921Jeffers Studio, built 1913Olympia National BankElks Building, built 1919Alden Hatch Steele House, built 1869F. W. Schmidt HouseSAND MAN (Tug Boat)Olympia Downtown Historic DistrictGeneral Administration Building, built 1956Georgia-Pacific Plywood Company Office, built 1952Trueman and Virginia Schmidt House, built 1950Washington State Library, built 1958Stoecker, Richard & Lydia, built 1925Capital Savings and Loan Association, built 1963Women's ClubFunk HouseTown SquareSouth Capitol Neighborhood Historic DistrictTugboat ParthiaRadio Station KGYNational Guard Armory - Olympia
BuildingsDistrictsSitesStructures

Architectural styles listings

Queen Anne5
Late Victorian4
International3
Neo-Classical2
Commercial Vernacular2
Mission Revival2
Old Capitol BuildingVictorian · Built 1892
Charles Patnude HouseBuilt 1893
CloverfieldsDutch Colonial Revival · Built 1914
Henry McCleary HouseEnglish Renaissance
Washington State Capitol Historic DistrictDistrict
Daniel R. Bigelow HouseBuilding
U.S. Post OfficeNeo-Classical
C. J. Lord MansionCalifornia Mission
All 38 listings
Thurston County CourthouseBuilding · listed 1981Olympia Public LibraryBuilding · listed 1982Mottman BuildingBuilding · listed 1983Calvin and Pamela Hale HouseBuilding · listed 1984Meyer HouseBuilding · listed 1985Frank Rudkin HouseBuilding · listed 1987Reinhart-Young HouseBuilding · listed 1987LOTUS (motor vessel)Structure · listed 1987Allen House HotelBuilding · listed 1987American Legion HallBuilding · listed 1987Jeffers StudioBuilding · listed 1987Olympia National BankBuilding · listed 1987Elks BuildingBuilding · listed 1988Alden Hatch Steele HouseBuilding · listed 1992F. W. Schmidt HouseBuilding · listed 1995SAND MAN (Tug Boat)Structure · listed 1998Olympia Downtown Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2004General Administration BuildingBuilding · listed 2007Georgia-Pacific Plywood Company OfficeBuilding · listed 2007Trueman and Virginia Schmidt HouseBuilding · listed 2015Washington State LibraryBuilding · listed 2015Stoecker, Richard & LydiaBuilding · listed 2015Capital Savings and Loan AssociationBuilding · listed 2018Women's ClubBuilding · listed 1979Funk HouseBuilding · listed 1987Town SquareSite · listed 1987South Capitol Neighborhood Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1991Tugboat ParthiaStructure · listed 2023Radio Station KGYBuilding · listed 2024National Guard Armory - OlympiaBuilding · listed 2025

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Every building

Olympia, building by building, 1884–1924

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Olympia fire insurance map, 1884, sheet 11884Sheet 1 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

The story

How Olympia came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Olympia.

Read it all →

For thousands of years, the site of Olympia has been home to the Lushootseed-speaking people known as the Stechass (Lushootseed: st̕əč̓asəbš), who are today part of the Squaxin Island Tribe. Other Native Americans regularly visited the head of Budd Inlet, including the other ancestral tribes of the Squaxin, as well as the Nisqually, Puyallup, Chehalis, Suquamish, and Duwamish. The peninsula on which Olympia was built was named bəsčətxʷəd, meaning 'black bear place,' and a Stechass village was located at the site of Olympia. The modern city of Olympia has come to be called st̕č̓as in the Lushootseed language; originally the name referred to all Budd Inlet.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Olympia in 1916

Passages that mention Olympia, cut from the printed page as they were published.

The town of Olympia was incorporated January 29, 1859. the election to be held in April following. The Act designated G. A. Barnes, T. F. McElroy, Jas. Tilton, Jos. Cushman and Elwood Evans as Trustees. Jos. Cushman was elected President of the Board.
Early history of Thurston County, Washington1916 · page 38Read the page →
Read the text

The town of Olympia was incorporated January 29, 1859. the election to be held in April following. The Act designated G. A. Barnes, T. F. McElroy, Jas. Tilton, Jos. Cushman and Elwood Evans as Trustees. Jos. Cushman was elected President of the Board.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
legislative halls made a very lively town out of the Capital, then a village of 500. So bitter was the feeling that personal encounters were frequent in the saloons and about the town of Olympia. The Marshville bridge to the Westside was completed this year.
Early history of Thurston County, Washington1916 · page 47Read the page →
Read the text

legislative halls made a very lively town out of the Capital, then a village of 500. So bitter was the feeling that personal encounters were frequent in the saloons and about the town of Olympia. The Marshville bridge to the Westside was completed this year.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Olympia, 1845 to 1937

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1845In the archiveCyanotype of of building used as first schoolhouse in Olympia, approximately 1850
  3. 1850Post officeThe Olympia post office opens
  4. 1853In the archiveSurvey Plat, Township 018-0N, Range 002-0W, Willamette Meridian (Olympia, Washington), Se…
  5. 1860In the archiveOlympia, ca. 1860
  6. 1870In the archiveWest Side Bridge, Olympia, 1870
  7. 1892BuiltOld Capitol Building is built
  8. 1893BuiltCharles Patnude House is built
  9. 20th century
  10. 1914BuiltCloverfields is built
  11. 1930BuiltThurston County Courthouse is built
  12. 1937On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Olympia, decade by decade

4 decades in the archive, from the 1840s to the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1840s–1850s6 items
Cyanotype of of building used as first schoolhouse in Olympia, approximately 18501845Cyanotype of of building used as first schoolhouse in…Survey Plat, Township 018-0N, Range 002-0W, Willamette Meridian (Olympia, Washington), September 9, 1853 (cropped)1853Survey Plat, Township 018-0N, Range 002-0W, Willamett…Survey Plat, Township 018-0N, Range 002-0W, Willamette Meridian (Olympia, Washington), September 9, 18531853Survey Plat, Township 018-0N, Range 002-0W, Willamett…Survey Plat, Township 018-0N, Range 002-0W, Willamette Meridian (Olympia, Washington), February 11, 1854 (cropped)1854Survey Plat, Township 018-0N, Range 002-0W, Willamett…Survey Plat, Township 018-0N, Range 002-0W, Willamette Meridian (Olympia, Washington), February 11, 18541854Survey Plat, Township 018-0N, Range 002-0W, Willamett…Olympia, Washigton Territory, looking north to Budd Inlet, by James Madison Alden, 18571857Olympia, Washigton Territory, looking north to Budd I…
1860s9 items
Olympia, ca. 1860c. 1860Olympia, ca. 1860Olympia, ca. 1860c. 1860Olympia, ca. 1860Swantown Bridge, Olympia, Washington, circa early 1860s1860Swantown Bridge, Olympia, Washington, circa early 186…Survey Plat 398330, Williamette Meridian, Thurston County, Washington, January 31, 18631863Survey Plat 398330, Williamette Meridian, Thurston Co…William Oaks Thompson lot, Survey Plat 398330, Williamette Meridian, Thurston County, Washington, January 31, 18631863William Oaks Thompson lot, Survey Plat 398330, Willia…Survey Plat 398334, Williamette Meridian, Olympia, Washington, February 29, 18641864Survey Plat 398334, Williamette Meridian, Olympia, Wa…Businesses on Main St., Olympia, n.d1868Businesses on Main St., Olympia, n.dMain Street, Olympia, 18681868Main Street, Olympia, 1868Scully's second-hand store1868Scully's second-hand store
1870s2 items
West Side Bridge, Olympia, 18701870West Side Bridge, Olympia, 1870Olympia, Washington looking North to Budd Inlet, circa 18721872Olympia, Washington looking North to Budd Inlet, circ…
On the map

Olympia on the map, 1937 to 1997

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Olympia. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Olympia on the 1937 USGS mapOlympia on the 1949 USGS mapOlympia on the 1959 USGS mapOlympia on the 1968 USGS mapOlympia on the 1973 USGS mapOlympia on the 1981 USGS mapOlympia on the 1997 USGS map1937Olympia sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Olympia.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Cyanotype of of building used as first schoolhouse in Olympia, approximately 1850
Retake this viewCyanotype of of building used as first schoolhouse in Olympia, approximately 1850, 1845

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Olympia’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Olympia, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00030,00035,00040,00045,00050,00055,00060,0001880190019201940196019802000202055,605

Grew from 1,203 people in 1870 to 55,605 in 2020, more than tenfold.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Olympia’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Old corners and burying grounds

Olympia’s post office has been open since 1850.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Marshville
1cemetery inside Olympia
Mount Tabor

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Finish Olympia’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewCyanotype of of building used as first …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Tumwater4 historic placesC+Lacey2 historic placesC

Questions about Olympia’s history

What year was Olympia founded?

The Olympia post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1859.

How does Olympia rank for history?

Olympia is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns, #25 of 285 in Washington. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Olympia?

38 listings: 31 buildings, among them the Old Capitol Building (listed 1975, the first), 3 historic districts, the Washington State Capitol Historic District, the Olympia Downtown Historic District and the South Capitol Neighborhood Historic District, with 538 contributing buildings, 1 site, and 3 structures. 572 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Olympia?

12% of Olympia’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.8 points), against a typical 4.3% for a Washington town; the median home was built in 1982.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (17), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (38), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.