Editing Thurston County, Washington (section)

==History==

The southern end of Puget Sound is the homeland of several indigenous [[Coast Salish]] groups, including the [[Nisqually people|Nisqually]], [[Squaxin Island Tribe|Squaxin]], and [[Upper Chehalis people|Upper Chehalis]].<ref name="Olympian-Tribes">{{cite news |last=Thompson |first=Lorrine |date=January 31, 2002 |title=Tribes play key role in county's history |pages=[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-olympian-tribes-play-key-role-in-cou/157713774/ 36]–[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-olympian-tribes-play-key-role-in-cou/157713794/ 37] |work=[[The Olympian]] | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-olympian-tribes-play-key-role-in-cou/157713774/ |via=[[Newspapers.com]] | accessdate=October 23, 2024}}</ref> Archeological remains at [[Tumwater Falls]] date back to 2,500 to 3,000 [[years before present]]; the area around the falls included a settlement with several [[longhouse]]s. The first European exhibition to the southern Puget Sound was conducted by [[Peter Puget]] and [[Joseph Whidbey]] on the British-led [[Vancouver Expedition]] in May 1792. The [[Hudson's Bay Company]] established a [[trading post]] at [[Fort Nisqually]] in 1833 on the east side of the [[Nisqually Delta]] while the [[Oregon Country]] was under joint administration by the British and American governments.<ref name="HistoryLink">{{cite web |last=Dougherty |first=Phil |date=November 15, 2006 |title=Thurston County — Thumbnail History |url=https://www.historylink.org/File/7979 |work=HistoryLink |accessdate=October 23, 2024}}</ref> Permanent European (and later American) settlement of modern-day Thurston County began with the arrival of a pioneer party led by [[Michael Simmons (pioneer)|Michael Simmons]] and Black pioneer [[George Bush (pioneer)|George Bush]] in 1845. Several families settled near Tumwater Falls at a site they named "New Market", which became the first European settlement in [[Western Washington]].<ref name="HistoryLink"/>

The area north of the [[Columbia River]] was originally under the jurisdiction of the [[Vancouver District]] (later renamed Clark County) until 1845, when [[Lewis County, Washington|Lewis County]] was created from the area west of the [[Cowlitz River]]. The entire region was ceded to the United States with the signing of the [[Oregon Treaty]] in 1846 and organized into [[Oregon Territory]] two years later.<ref name="Olympian-Birth">{{cite news |last=Stevenson |first=Shanna |date=January 31, 2002 |title=Petitions, meetings led to county's birth |pages=[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-olympian-petitions-meetings-led-to/157713687/ 6], [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-olympian-petitions-meetings-led-to/157713699/ 8] |work=The Olympian |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-olympian-petitions-meetings-led-to/157713687/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=October 23, 2024}}</ref> A petition by 54 residents of [[Olympia, Washington|Olympia]] and surrounding communities was submitted to the [[Oregon Territorial Legislature]] in December 1851 to create a new county from Lewis County. The proposed name of Simmons County, named for Michael Simmons, was changed to Thurston County by the legislature at the suggestion of [[Asa Lovejoy]] to honor [[Samuel Thurston]], the first delegate to the [[U.S. Congress]] from Oregon Territory.<ref name="Olympian-Birth"/> Thurston himself had never visited the area.<ref>{{cite news |last=Longoria |first=Ruth |date=January 31, 2002 |title=County's namesake never visited here |page=35 |work=The Olympian |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-olympian-countys-namesake-never-vis/157713296/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=October 23, 2024}}</ref>

Thurston County was created on January 12, 1852, by the Oregon Territorial Legislature and Olympia was designated as its [[county seat|seat]].<ref name="Olympian-Birth"/> It included the entire [[Olympic Peninsula]] and [[Puget Sound region]] up to the northern border with [[British North America]] and went as far east as the [[Cascade Mountains]].<ref name="HistoryLink"/> On December 22, the northern areas of Thurston County were divided to form [[Island County, Washington|Island]], [[Jefferson County, Washington|Jefferson]], [[King County, Washington|King]], and [[Pierce County, Washington|Pierce]] counties.<ref name="Olympian-Birth"/> A portion of the county south of the [[Chehalis River (Washington)|Chehalis River]] was ceded to Lewis County in February 1853, a month before [[Washington Territory]] was created with its capital in Olympia.<ref name="HistoryLink"/><ref name="Newberry-Atlas">{{cite web |editor-last=Long |editor-first=John H. |year=2007 |title=Washington: Individual County Chronologies |url=https://digital.newberry.org/ahcb/documents/WA_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm |work=Atlas of Historical County Boundaries |publisher=[[Newberry Library]] | accessdate=October 23, 2024}}</ref> [[Sawamish County]] (now Mason County) was created in March 1854 from the northwestern portions of Thurston County and [[Chehalis County, Washington|Chehalis County]] (now Grays Harbor County) was established a month later from the remaining western half of Thurston County. Several exchanges of land between Thurston and neighboring counties were made during the 1860s and settled into the modern boundaries by 1873.<ref name="Olympian-Birth"/><ref name="Newberry-Atlas"/> An attempt to move the county seat from Olympia to [[Tumwater, Washington|Tumwater]] or [[West Olympia, Washington|West Olympia]] was defeated by voters in 1861.<ref name="Olympian-Birth"/>

Olympia was retained as capital of Washington after it was granted [[statehood]] in 1889; the city did not win a majority in the first referendum after [[Ellensburg, Washington|Ellensburg]] and [[Yakima, Washington|North Yakima]], but defeated both in a second vote. Local residents built a branch line to connect with the [[Northern Pacific Railroad]] and approved a harbor-dredging operation to promote Olympia as a trade hub as the area fell behind Seattle and Tacoma in population growth.<ref name="HistoryLink"/> The {{convert|150|ft|m|adj=mid}} [[Old Capitol Building (Olympia, Washington)|Thurston County Courthouse]] was completed in 1892 and was purchased by the state government in 1901 for use as the state capitol building to replace a temporary wooden structure built in 1856. The modern [[Washington State Capitol]] commenced construction in 1923 and was completed in 1928 alongside a campus of government buildings and monuments.<ref name="HistoryLink"/><ref>{{cite web |last=Nicandri |first=David L. |date=November 26, 1974 |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form: Thurston County Courthouse/Washington State Capitol Building |pages=2, 5–9 |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/cac23cbd-001c-42bb-8f26-ea47d9358c38 |publisher=[[National Park Service]] | accessdate=October 23, 2024}}</ref> Thurston County remained predominantly dependent on the logging industry until the state government became the county's largest employment sector in the 1950s. Several state government agencies had attempted to move their offices to Seattle until a 1954 [[Washington Supreme Court]] ruling mandated that their headquarters remain in the Olympia area.<ref name="HistoryLink"/>

The first section of [[Interstate 5 in Washington|Interstate 5]] built in Thurston County was the {{convert|6.5|mi|km|adj=mid}} Olympia Freeway, which opened in December 1958 to bypass the city's downtown. Other sections opened over the following decade, extending access through [[Lacey, Washington|Lacey]] and Tumwater, where it destroyed portions of the historic downtown;<ref name="Olympian-Freeway">{{cite news |last=Batcheldor |first=Matt |date=December 7, 2008 |title=I-5 at 50: It's changed the face of the region |pages=[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-olympian-i-5-at-50-its-changed-the/119394703/ A1]–[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-olympian-i-5-at-50-part-2/119584850/ A2] |work=The Olympian |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-olympian-i-5-at-50-its-changed-the/119394703/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=October 23, 2024}}</ref> a proposal to build the freeway further away from Olympia was rejected to preserve rural areas.<ref>{{cite news |last=Gough |first=William |date=February 8, 1987 |title=Olympia traffic mess to end—eventually |page=B2 |work=The Seattle Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=November 21, 1968 |title=Found: A Missing Link (And It's Open) |page=1 |work=The Olympian |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-olympian-found-a-missing-link-and/157726593/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=October 23, 2024}}</ref> The completion of Interstate 5 enabled the growth of [[bedroom community|bedroom communities]] around Thurston County, which saw its population rapidly increase from the 1950s to 1970s.<ref name="HistoryLink"/><ref name="Olympian-Freeway"/> The first suburban shopping center in the county, the [[South Sound Center]] in Lacey, opened in October 1966; it was followed by Lacey's incorporation as a city. The [[Evergreen State College]], a public [[liberal arts college]] in western Olympia, opened in 1972.<ref name="HistoryLink"/>

Thurston County, like many of the other counties in Western Washington, has a racially restrictive past.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Restriction maps - Racial Restrictive Covenants Project |url=https://depts.washington.edu/covenants/counties.shtml |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=depts.washington.edu}}</ref> Racial [[Racial segregation|segregation]] in Washington was different from the well-known accounts of Southern segregation during the [[Jim Crow laws|Jim Crow]] era. While Southern states required racial segregation in public facilities by law, much of the racial segregation in Washington was accomplished through [[Covenant (law)|racial restrictive covenants]] which were legally binding agreements between private parties.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Understanding Restrictive Covenants - Racial Restrictive Covenants Project |url=https://depts.washington.edu/covenants/segregation.shtml |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=depts.washington.edu}}</ref> These covenants were often included in property deeds between individual buyers and sellers, who agreed to never sell the property to specified racial or religious groups. In some cases, large groups of property owners would come together to implement racial restrictive covenants on entire [[Subdivision (land)|subdivisions]] or neighborhoods, which are called petitions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Understanding Restrictive Covenants - Racial Restrictive Covenants Project |url=https://depts.washington.edu/covenants/segregation.shtml |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=depts.washington.edu}}</ref> In Thurston County specifically, many covenants excluded any Black, mixed race, Chinese, Japanese, or Indian individuals from purchasing, renting, leasing, or occupying specified properties.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Restricted Properties - Olympia and Thurston County - Racial Restrictive Covenants Project |url=https://depts.washington.edu/covenants/map_cov_thurston.shtml |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=depts.washington.edu}}</ref> In rarer cases, Italians and Jewish individuals were also excluded from homeownership. <ref name=":0" /> The late 1930s to the early 1950s saw the largest number of racial restrictive covenants enacted.<ref name=":0" /> This history of segregation has had generational effects that are still felt today as people of color were systematically denied the ability to purchase homes and in turn were denied the ability to accrue [[Old money|generational wealth]] that comes with owning a home.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mapping Race and Segregation in Olympia and Thurston County, Washington, 1980-2020 - Civil Rights & Labor History Consortium |url=https://depts.washington.edu/labhist/maps-race-olympia.shtml |access-date=2025-04-10 |website=depts.washington.edu |language=en}}</ref>