1903 Washington State Legislative Meeting Site

1903 Washington State Legislative Meeting Site. . After plans to replace the wooden Territorial Capitol on the present campus were abandoned in the mid-1890s, the Romanesque-style Thurston County Courthouse (now the “Old Capitol”) was purchased in 1901 to serve as the capitol building. A wing to accommodate the legislative chambers was to be completed in time for the 1903 session. , “The work was delayed and the legislature met instead at the Farquhar Building, which was located here, near 7th and Adams. The legislature had previously been meeting in the 1856 wooden capitol on the present campus, which by 1903 was too dilapidated for use., Funds were appropriated and improvements made to ready the Farquhar Building for the 1903 session, but legislators were not happy with the results. Although the building was warmer than the old 1856 era capitol and had indoor plumbing, lightings consisted of only “32 candle incandescents hung over the members” and was woefully inadequate. Legislators called it, “the Barn” and referred to their desks as “stalls.” Despite the grumbling, the 1903 session convened in January, adjourned in March and was highlighted by debate over the influence of railroads, local option prohibition votes and the election of Senator Levi Ankeny to Congress., When the legislature finally met in the newly enlarged, former Thurston County Courthouse in 1904, the Farquhar Building was not left empty. It was pressed into service as a social center for the legislature, becoming known as “the Lobby,” after the elegant Olympia Hotel on Capitol Way was destroyed by fire in 1904. The building was later used as an armory, public hall, skating rink, and dance hall before it was razed in 1920. , [Captions] , A native of Scotland, who was a flax dresser and weaver by trade, Alexander Farquhar came to Olympia in 1858 with his wife Janet and their family. He first farmed at South Bay and then worked for 15 years at Olympia Hardware Company, which was owned by C. E. Williams. He later owned his own general merchandise business until his death in 1893. Photograph of Alexander Farquhar, courtesy of the Washington State Historical Society. , Farquhar Building, circa 1889. Photograph courtesy of the Washington State Historical Society. , City of Olympia logo.