East Bay point named in honor of African-American couple
It’s official: A point in Olympia’s East Bay is now called Howard Point in honor of an African-American couple who lived nearby in the 1860s and 1870s and ran a prominent downtown hotel.
The state’s Board of Natural Resources, acting as the Washington State Board on Geographic Names, approved the name Tuesday. Under state law, the board establishes official names for geographic features such as lakes, streams and points.
Rebecca and Alexander Howard operated the Pacific House near what is now State Avenue Northeast and Capitol Way North and lived near what was then a small cape on the east side of East Bay, about a mile southeast of Priest Point.
An 1890 map of Olympia cited in the naming application called it Howard Point.
The Olympia Historical Society and Olympia Tumwater Foundation supported the name change, which was approved by a volunteer committee that advises the naming board in December.
Now that it has been approved, the name Howard Point will be published in the Washington Administrative Code and forwarded to the federal Board on Geographic Names for its consideration.
This story was originally published February 6, 2019 at 11:58 AM.
