Washington State Capitol Washington State Capitol The Washington State Capitol or "Legislative Building" in Olympia is the home of the government of the state of Washington. It contains chambers for the Washington State Legislature and offices for the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and treasurer and is part of a campus consisting of several buildings. Buildings for the Washington Supreme Court, executive agencies and the Washington Governor's Mansion are part of the capitol campus. After Olympia became capital city of the Washington Territory in 1853, the city's founder, Edmund Sylvester, gave the legislature of land upon which to build the capitol, located
Washington (state) territory was to be named "Columbia", for the Columbia River and the Columbia District, but Kentucky representative Richard H. Stanton found the name too similar to the District of Columbia (the national capital, itself containing the city of Washington), and proposed naming the new territory after President Washington. Washington is the only U.S. state named after a president. Confusion over the state of Washington and the city of Washington, D. C., led to renaming proposals during the statehood process for Washington in 1889, including David Dudley Field II's suggestion to name the new state "Tacoma". These proposals failed to garner