Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1919-01-24

Since the passing from our midst
last October of General Hazard Stew
ems, thoughts of many sOlympians
have turned to the old Stevens man
sion on the block of land situated on
Eleventh and Main streets, and many
sincerely wish that some means could
be devised by which this historic edt
| flee could be preserved for ell time.
With this in mind, the Generals SIS
ter, Mrs. Kate Stevens Bates, was
asked to write a brief story of the
historic edifice. This she has done,
the article being:
General Stevens put the house in
thorough order a little over a year
ago, having in mind, it may be, the
idea that by thus doing it would stand
for at least half century longer
and eventually be taken over by the
state.
AS we all know, the General was
profoundly interested in old historic
landmarks, and it was largely owing
to his efforts that the venerable state
house in Boston was saved from the
encroachments of the Boston Transit
commission while here in Washing
ton, from his intimate knowledge of
the history of the country, he was of
invaluable aid to the Daughters of.the
American Revolution in locating the
precise spots on the Oregon trail and
other places where. monuments were
to be erected.
The Stevens mansion dates back to
1856, prior to which time Isaac In
gals Stevens, our first governor and
the organizer of Washington territory
selected the land where now the house
stands. because of its eminence and
of the commanding view obtained
from it, when the intervening timber
could be taken away, of beautiful
Puget Sound, backed by the snow-clad
Olympic mountains. At that date the
land on every side of the block. rs
far north as where the Masonic Tenn
pie on Eighth and Main streets now
stands, was covered with a dense
growth of native trees and under
brush.
Once owner Of the property, Cover
nor Stevens had the great tres COW
ering it and two hundred feet addi-
tional land on every side of the block
cut down. to prevent any trees from
falling on his land, and the huge
stumps eradicated and the land thor
oughly cleared. He next planted an
extensive vegetable garden, had q
we'll 80 feet in depth dug at one side
of the present back piazza and began
the building Of the residence.
This was completed in time for
the family. which consisted of the
Governor and Mrs. Stevens, and their
four children, Hazard, Sue. Maude
and Kate, to move into 1t for the
winter. In commemoration of this
event a great house warming was
given to which the whole town was
invited and. the officers and their
wives from the United States garri-
son at Steilacoom. Among the guests
were some young women, who had
infants, SO these, rather than forego
the pleasure of attending the party,
brought their babies with them and
Z hui tACm W oACOP lu 0uO VI tnO OCu-
rooms, which left them free to dance
until the wee sma' hours to their
hearts content. The little house
which now stands on the southeast
corner of the block was originally
built for an Office at the same time as
the mansion and used to be on the
northeast corner.
The governor and his family made
their home in the mansion for about
two years and after they left Olympia
1t was occupied successfully by va
rious people. Prominent among these
were: William Pickering, governor
of the territory from 1860 to 1864,
during the crucial period of the Civil
war, and Elisha Pierre Ferry, sur
veyor general of the territory. then
its governor. and later, when in 1889
Washington attained statehood, it's
first state governor. The Ferry fam