Olympia Real Estate
The area which would become known as Olympia, Washington, has been inhabited for thousands of years. Its original inhabitants were the Lushootseed people, a Native American tribe that lived in the Puget Sound area. The first Europeans to the area appeared with the arrival of the Hudson’s Bay Company in the mid nineteenth century. Hudson’s is the oldest company in North America, and is still trading today. Originally specializing in the fur trade, often with First Nations tribes, it now focuses its commercial attention on the traditional retail trade.
The Puget Sound area was discovered in 1792, when the British Columbia expedition party landed there. The party was quickly followed by an American excursion, led by Lt. Charles Wilkes. The area that is now Olympia was initially the property of two men, Edmund Sylvester and Levi Smith. Hailing from Maine, Sylvester attempted to create New England town in the heart of the Pacific Northwest, designing the town to have a Masonic town hall and tree-lined streets.
Americans began settling in the Puget Sound area soon after, lured by the beautiful scenery, abundant wildlife and by the commercial potential of what is now known as Tumwater Falls. In the 1840s, the Catholic Church set up missions in the area, which also helped to populate the region, and one of the first Catholic schools was foudned in the Pacific North West. Olympia had its own Custom House by 1851, and within two years, there were almost one thousand residents living in the fledgling town. The town also became the county seat for Thurston County in 1852. The area continued to grow, until it was sidetracked by the railroad. The small village was forced to finance its own railway, to remain connected to the outside world.
Olympia experienced a rebirth when it was named the state capital, when Washington received statehood in 1889. Its new prosperity was reflected in its new opera house, sewer system, and streetcar line. The capital continued to grow and during the First World War, it established itself as a logging capital and the city grew building new waterfront properties and developing its residential areas.
Sadly, an earthquake in 1949 damaged many of the city’s downtown buildings, and Olympia was forced to rebuild. Many of the original buildings were re-designed using Victorian-style facades to complement the remaining historical buildings. Since then, the city has continued to expand, and in 1967, Evergreen State College was chartered.
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