Washington State Route 8 Washington State Route 8 State Route 8 (SR 8) is a state highway in Grays Harbor and Thurston counties, of the U.S. state of Washington. It extends from U.S. Route 12 (US 12) in the city of Elma, east to an interchange with US 101 about northwest of the state capital, Olympia. SR 8 intersects SR 108 west of McCleary. The route connects Elma and Olympia as part of a corridor between Aberdeen and the Puget Sound region. The highway was part of the Elma – Grand Mound branch of Primary State Highway 9 (PSH 9 EG) from 1937 until
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