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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.

Olympia within Thurston County

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

Every listing in Thurston County

Population over time

2 figures

Olympia 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.

YearPeople Change
201046,478
202055,605+9,127 (+20%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 18 printed sheets

Matched 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.

What the histories say of this town

11,947 words

1 chapter about Olympia from the published histories of the county, public domain and reproduced complete.

ChapterFrom Length
Olympia, the Capital City of the State of Washington, and the Seat ofOlympia, 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 1992

Regional 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/undetermined34
Recreation and ceremony19
Debris and open burning12
Equipment and vehicle use5
Arson/incendiarism5
Fireworks4
Misuse of fire by a minor2
Smoking2
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Other causes1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
8 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersI-5 TRAIL SE
8 September 2011Arson/incendiarismunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersMALL FIRE
8 September 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
6 September 1993Debris and open burningunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
5 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersTROSPER LAKE
30 September 1993Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources Headquartersnot named
3 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersEXIT 108
3 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWashington State Department of Natural Resources HeadquartersORGANIC

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Thurston County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 21 shown

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Tumwater Sand & Gravel PitStone, Dimension, Stone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Delphi QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Mottman QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Webber QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
29th Street PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Ames Huntly Road PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Capitol Lake PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Decatur St. PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Mottman PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Thurston County

Storms near this place

2 since 2001

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
January 2006Heavy RainOlympia$30,000no account filed
May 2001Funnel CloudOlympia-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Thurston County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Marshville (historical)1.2 miles18
Tumwater2.2 miles18
Lacey4.1 miles18
South Bay4.1 miles18
Lamberts Corner4.2 miles18
Bush4.2 miles21
North Olympia4.6 miles18
Belmore4.8 miles21

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 OlympiaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q42735The 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.