Best Web Design in Olympia, WA (2026)

Web Design for Olympia, Washington

Olympia is Washington's capital, a city of roughly 55,000 at the southern tip of Puget Sound where the Deschutes River meets Budd Inlet beneath the snow-capped Olympic Mountains that gave the town its name. It blends political power with countercultural energy -- home to the state legislature and the unconventional Evergreen State College, and the 1990s birthplace of the riot grrrl punk movement. Artesian springs bubbling up downtown once made it famous through Olympia Beer's 'It's the water' slogan.

AppWT works with Olympia, WA businesses from Livonia, Michigan, mostly online and travelling as needed.

About Olympia

Also known as. Oly.

History. The first American settlement north of the Columbia River began nearby when Michael Simmons settled at Tumwater Falls in 1845. Edmund Sylvester and Levi Lathrop Smith jointly claimed the downtown townsite in 1846; after Smith's death in 1848, Sylvester platted the future town. The name 'Olympia' was adopted in 1850, suggested by Col. I.N. Ebey for the Olympic Mountains on the horizon; Coast Salish peoples knew the area by a name meaning 'place of the bear.' Olympia was chosen as the territorial capital in 1853 and remains the only capital Washington has ever had as both territory and state. Thurston County is named for Samuel R. Thurston, the first congressional delegate from Oregon Territory in 1849. On February 28, 2001, the magnitude-6.8 Nisqually earthquake struck about 30 miles beneath the area, causing on the order of $4 billion in damage and roughly 400 injuries.

Local economy. State government is the largest employer, followed by city and federal government -- Olympia is a classic capital-city government town. For the county's first century, lumber and its byproducts led the economy, with coal and sandstone mining to the south. Oyster farming in south Puget Sound was a historic economic pillar; the native Olympia oyster was cultivated commercially from 1859. Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters, operating since the mid-1980s, is a longtime local institution in a strong coffee culture.

Culture and community. Riot grrrl: Kathleen Hanna's band Bikini Kill launched the feminist punk movement in Olympia in 1990, and the city has a deep independent music scene (home of K Records). The Procession of the Species, held since 1995, is the largest Earth Day celebration in the Puget Sound area -- a costumed arts parade that bans motorized vehicles, live pets, candy, and even written words. The Olympia Farmers Market (Thursday-Sunday, April-October) and the Wooden Boat Fair at Percival Landing are seasonal fixtures.

What makes Olympia distinct. Olympia Beer's famous 'It's the water' slogan referred to local artesian springs, and downtown still has a free public artesian well where people fill jugs. The Procession of the Species forbids motors, live pets, candy, and words of any kind. The Capitol dome's masonry -- over 1,400 stones weighing about 30.8 million pounds -- was completed in 1926. Olympia is the birthplace of the riot grrrl movement.

Olympia Landmarks and Local Life

• Washington State Capitol / Legislative Building (opened 1928) -- its 287-foot dome is the tallest self-supporting masonry dome in North America and among the tallest in the world.
• Percival Landing -- about 0.9 miles of boardwalk along Budd Inlet at the very southern tip of Puget Sound - with an amphitheater and playground
• Capitol Lake -- an artificial reflecting lake formed by a dam on the Deschutes River - popular for walking and birdwatching
• Artesian Commons and the downtown artesian well -- a free public spring; the Well 80 Brewhouse sits atop one of downtown's roughly 96 artesian wells.