Olympia, Washington
18 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1937 and the latest in 1997. It stands in the Olympia census division. It lies in ZIP code area 98501. It stands on Moxlie Creek. The Survey maps it on the Tumwater quadrangle. 55,605 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 95 feet above sea level.
On record in Olympia
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 12 of 45 shown
Allen House Hotellisted 1987
American Legion Halllisted 1987
Daniel R. Bigelow Houselisted 1979
Black Lake Schoollisted 1990
Capital Savings and Loan Associationlisted 2018
Cloverfieldslisted 1978
Delphi Schoollisted 1990
Dofflemyer Point Lightlisted 1995
Elks Buildinglisted 1988
General Administration Buildinglisted 2007
Georgia-Pacific Plywood Company Officelisted 2007
Calvin and Pamela Hale Houselisted 1984
Population over time
2 figuresOlympia grew from 46,478 to 55,605 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 46,478 | |
| 2020 | 55,605 | +9,127 (+20%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
8 surveys from 18 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1937 USGS Olympia quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1949 USGS Olympia quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Seattle quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1959 USGS Tumwater quadrangle1:24000, 6 printings
- 1962 USGS Seattle quadrangle1:250000
- 1975 USGS Tacoma quadrangle1:100000
- 1991 USGS Tacoma quadrangle1:100000
- 1997 USGS Tumwater quadrangle1:24000
What the histories say of this town
11,947 words1 chapter about Olympia from the published histories of the county, public domain and reproduced complete.
| Chapter | From | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Olympia, the Capital City of the State of Washington, and the Seat of | Olympia, the Capital City of the State of Washington, and the Seat of Government of Thurston County .. (1905) | 11,947 words |
Fires near this place
85 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 85 fires within 5 miles of Olympia between 1992 and 2020, burning about 28 acres in total. None started naturally. 5 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 34 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 19 |
| Debris and open burning | 12 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 5 |
| Fireworks | 4 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
| Other causes | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | I-5 TRAIL SE |
| 8 September 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | MALL FIRE |
| 8 September 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
| 6 September 1993 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
| 5 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | TROSPER LAKE |
| 30 September 1993 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | not named |
| 3 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | EXIT 108 |
| 3 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters | ORGANIC |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 21 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 21 workings within 5 miles of Olympia: 21 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Stone, Dimension. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tumwater Sand & Gravel Pit | Stone, Dimension, Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Delphi Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Mottman Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Webber Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| 29th Street Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Ames Huntly Road Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Capitol Lake Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Decatur St. Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Mottman Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
2 since 2001Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Olympia in 2 storm reports between 2001 and 2006: 1 funnel cloud, 1 heavy rain. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2006 | Heavy Rain | Olympia | $30,000 | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Funnel Cloud | Olympia | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marshville (historical) | 1.2 miles | 18 | |
| Tumwater | 2.2 miles | 18 | |
| Lacey | 4.1 miles | 18 | |
| South Bay | 4.1 miles | 18 | |
| Lamberts Corner | 4.2 miles | 18 | |
| Bush | 4.2 miles | 21 | |
| North Olympia | 4.6 miles | 18 | |
| Belmore | 4.8 miles | 21 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Olympia | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q42735 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1533353. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.







