Thomas Williams was the first Olympia Branch president of The Church of Latter Day Saints. He is shown here in 1926 with his wife and son. ~Courtesy of The Church of Latter Day Saints.

Sylvester Park, 1924. ~The Olympian archives.

Woman's Club was formed in 1883 by nine local women. When the club's rented quarters burned they built the Woman's Club in 1906. ~Private postcard collection, Naismith family, published by Fred W. Convery.

The YMCA had a large representation in Olympia beginning in early 1900s. This building included a hall, library, gymnasium, and baths. ~Postcard courtesy of the Naismith family.

Presbyterian Church, ~Chamber of Commerce, 1907.

John Slocum founded the Indian Shaker Church in 1882. A decade later, Mud Bay Louis took over leadership of the church. ~Washington State Historical Society.

Our Culture; continued

Churches

Churches

The early churches played a major role in the social and spiritual lives of the first inhabitants. One of the first churches was a Methodist church built at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Adams Street. It was reported that Clanrick Crosby, mill owner, promised to donate as much lumber as the Reverend John F. Devore could get down to Olympia in one day without help of man or beast. Devore rafted enough for everything except the windowsills. And so it was that Olympia got its first church.

The 1880s was a decade of revolution and change of many non-traditional organizations and religions. John Slocum, a member of the Squaxin tribe, is said to have received some instruction in the Catholic faith from missionaries during the 1840s. Slocum, who operated a small logging camp on Skookum Inlet, was reportedly killed in an accident in the woods. His two half-brothers paddled to Olympia to get a casket, and were gone for several hours when the body began to stir. Slocum sat up and began to speak, claiming he'd been sent back to life with a message for his people to believe in the man called Jesus.

Shortly after Slocum's recovery, he and his new followers built a cedar and tule mat church at the site now known as Church Point. This was the beginning of the Indian Shaker Church at Mud Bay.

Practically all of the leading Christian denominations were represented by the turn of the century. Among the churches were the Catholics, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, Seventh-day Adventists, Methodists and Disciples of Christ.

Since Aug. 23, 1889, the Salvation Army has been preaching and praying in Olympia.

Editor John Miller Murphy wrote in Olympia's weekly newspaper: "The first meeting at the barracks was heavily attended; so heavily, in fact, that the floor cracked and had to be repaired when there was a stampede at the door."

The Christian Church and its social service agency was founded by William Booth in 1865 in London and was one of the first churches to allow women as leaders.

Organizations Emerge

In 1883, Abigail Howard Hunt Stuart founded one of the first women-only clubs on the West Coast. The Woman's Club of Olympia held its first meeting in the home of Clara and Edmund Sylvester. The club shared craft projects and domestic skills, and discussed social and political issues. In 1906, a meeting place for the club was built at 1002 S. Washington St. It is still used today.

The effort to provide people in the area with a public library began in 1869 by Captain D. B. Finch, the owner and commander of the mail steamer operating between Olympia and Victoria. Capt. Finch donated a building to Olympia Lodge of Good Templars, with the sole request that the lodge would maintain a free public reading room. The building was a two-story structure located at Fourth Avenue and Columbia Street. By 1896, the Woman's Club of Olympia had amassed a rapidly growing collection of books. The Andrew Carnegie Foundation helped build the library on Seventh Avenue and Franklin Street in 1914 with a $25,000 donation. Joe Wohleb was the architect.

Health Care

Health care was as important then as it is now. The first hospital, St. Peter Hospital, was built in 1887 on what is today the Washington State Capitol grounds.

Today Olympia has three health care providers with state of the art facilities. Mary Bridge Children's Health Center is the only designated level II children's trauma center for southwest Washington. It was started by a general practitioner nearly 45 years ago in honor of his mother's dedication and belief in children's care. Doctors and staff are specially trained to deal with children and their care. Equipment and instruments have been designed especially for children.

As reported in The Olympian, July 3, 2000, Capital Medical Center, serving Olympia for 15 years, now offers residents a 24-hour nurse line and they added a Web site that features 27 million pages on healthy living, a dictionary defining common and arcane medical terms, research sources, and links to 11 wellness centers. This innovation makes it easy for residents to keep informed of health issues and local providers.

The Olympian Copyright 2000

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