Description
After Olympia became the capitol city of Washington Territory in 1853, the city's founder, Edmund Sylvester, gave the legislature 12 acres of land upon which to build the capitol, located on a hill overlooking what is now known as Capitol Lake. A two-story wood-frame building was constructed on the site, where the legislature met starting in 1854. When work started on a permanent capitol it was soon stalled by poor economic conditions. Meanwhile Washington became the forty-second US state on November 11, 1889. When the state legislature finally approved an appropriation of additional funds in 1897, newly elected Governor John Rogers vetoed it. Eventually a new State Capitol Commission was formed in 1911. This time, the commission was interested in constructing a campus to serve as the capitol rather than a single facility and selected a design that was influenced by the famous Olmsted brothers who served as design consultants from 1911 to 1912. Construction of the campus began in 1912 with the Olmsteds designing and supervising the landscaping. The Legislative Building was completed in 1928. The Capitol Campus was placed on the National Register of Historic Districts in 1974. The campus has some of the most iconic views in the State including the Olympic Mountains, Puget Sound, Mt. Rainier and the Capitol Dome.
