Olympia is situated at the extreme southern tip of Puget Sound on Budd Inlet. The site of Olympia was home to Lushootseed-speaking peoples for thousands of years. The abundant shellfish in the tideflats and the many salmon-spawning streams entering Puget Sound at this point made it a productive food-gathering area. Many tribes shared access to these resources, including Squaxin, Nisqually, Puyallup, Chehalis, Suquamish, and Duwamish. According to early settlers' accounts, natives called the present site of Olympia "Schict Woot", meaning "place of the bear."

The first recorded visit by Europeans was in 1792 when Peter Puget and a crew from the British Vancouver Expedition charted the site. In 1833, the Hudson's Bay Company established Fort Nisqually, a trading post at nearby Sequalitchew Creek (now Dupont). The U.S. Exploring Expedition under Lt. Charles Wilkes came to the future site of Olympia in 1841 and named the bay Budd Inlet after expedition member Thomas A. Budd.

At the request of the Hudson's Bay Company, French Catholic missionaries established Mission St. Joseph of Newmarket and school in the 1840s at Priest Point near the future townsite for the conversion of natives to Catholicism.


American settlers also came to the area in the 1840s, drawn by the water-power potential of Tumwater Falls and established nearby "New Market," now known as Tumwater, the first American settlement on Puget Sound. The site was the northern end of the "Cowlitz Portage," the overland trail between the Cowlitz River and Puget Sound. In a time when water travel was the easist form of transportation, Olympia's location on the main north-south route through the region made it a crossroads for regional trade.

Edmund Sylvester and Levi Smith jointly claimed the land that now comprises downtown Olympia. Smith's untimely death in 1848 left Sylvester the sole owner of the land on which he platted the future townsite. Early names for the settlement included "Smithfield" and "Smithter" in honor of Levi Smith. In 1853 the town settled on Olympia due to its view of the Olympic Mountains to the north.

In 1851, the U.S. Congress established the Customs District of Puget Sound for Washington Territory and Olympia became the home of the customs house. In 1854, the customs house moved to Port Townsend at the opening of Puget Sound to better monitor shipping activity. In 1852, Olympia became the county seat of the newly organized Thurston County.

A campaign by settlers to separate the territory north of the Columbia River from Oregon resulted in Congress creating Washington Territory. Isaac I. Stevens served as its first governor. Upon his arrival in 1853, Stevens declared Olympia capital of the territory.


In 1873, the Northern Pacific Railroad bypassed Olympia, choosing Tacoma as its west coast terminus. Annoyed by the slight, Olympia residents set to work building their own spur connector to the main line at Tenino. Citizens completed a narrow guage spur line in 1878 that served as Olympia's only rail connection until the Northern Pacific built a spur to Olympia in 1891.

After Washington achieved statehood in 1889, Olympia continued as the state's capital city. Construction of the current Washington State Capitol began in 1912, with the prominent Legislative Building completed in 1928.

Aside from its role as the seat of state government, Olympia was a fairly typical Pacific Northwest town. Early on, extraction industries such as logging and oystering were the basis of much of the economy. By the twentieth century, sawmilling, fruit canning, and other industrial concerns comprised its economic base. Olympia also served as a shipping center for materials produced from the surrounding countryside, including sandstone, coal, and agricultural products.

Scandinavian immigrants founded two cooperative plywood mills after World War I. During World War I and World War II, there were also increased influxes of labor attracted by wartime industries including shipbuilding.

By the 1970s, the local industrial concerns that supported working class families were on the decline. Downtown businesses struggled to survive when former downtown "anchor" businesses relocated to newly built shopping malls in Lacey and west Olympia.

Periodic earthquakes rock the Olympia area. The 1949 earthquake damaged many historic buildings beyond repair, and they were demolished. Others were retrofit with new facades to replace the damaged Nineteenth Century wood and glass storefronts. Subsequently, much of Olympia's downtown reflects mid-twentieth century architectural trends. In 1965 and 2001, Olympia suffered damage from significant temblors. It was the closest major city to the epicenter of the 2001 Nisqually earthquake.

In 1967, the state legislature approved the creation of The Evergreen State College near Olympia, mostly due to the efforts of progressive Republican Governor Daniel J. Evans. Evans later served as president of the college, leaving Evergreen in 1983 when he was appointed to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by Senator Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson's death.

Because of the college's presence, Olympia has become a hub for artists and musicians (many of whom have been influential in punk, post-punk, anti-folk, lo-fi and other music trends (see Olympia music scene). Olympia was recently named one of the best college towns in the nation.Outside Magazine, September 2003

Olympia hosts the state's largest annual Earth Day celebration, Procession of the Species, a community arts-based festival and parade. Olympia is also known for its farmer's market, the second largest in Washington as well as the Washington Center for the Performing Arts.

Olympia is located at (47.042418, -122.893077).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 48.0 km² (18.5 mi²). 43.3 km² (16.7 mi²) of it is land and 4.7 km² (1.8 mi²) of it (9.77%) is water.

The city of Olympia is located at the southern end of Puget Sound on Budd Inlet. The Deschutes River estuary at Olympia has been dammed to create Capitol Lake. Much of the lower areas of downtown Olympia is reclaimed land.