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Washington State Capital Location Measure (October 1889)
| Washington State Capital Location Measure | |
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| Election date |
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| Topic State capitals |
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| Status |
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| Type Constitutional convention referral |
Origin |
The Washington State Capital Location Measure was on the ballot as a constitutional convention referral in Washington on October 1, 1889.
Article XIV of the Washington State Constitution provided that the Washington State Legislature could not change or decide the location of the state’s seat of government. Instead, voters needed to determine the location at the election on October 1, 1889. Selecting a capital city required a majority vote. If no location received a majority, the legislature was required to hold a second election with the three locations that received the most votes. If a majority was still not reached, a final election would have been held between the top two locations.
The second election between the top three vote recipients—Olympia, North Yakima, and Ellensburgh—was held on November 4, 1890. Olympia received 72.7% of the vote.
Election results
| Washington State Capital Location Measure (1889) | ||||
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| Location | Votes | Percentage | Outcome | |
| Olympia | 25,490 | 46.20% | 
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| North Yakima | 14,711 | 26.66% |
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| Ellensburgh | 12,833 | 23.26% |
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| Centralia | 607 | 1.10% | 
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| Yakima | 314 | 0.57% |
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| Pasco | 130 | 0.24% |
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| Miscellaneous | 1,088 | 1.97% |
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Source: Washington Legislative Manual, 1889-1990
Support and Opposition
In September 1889, the Sunday Ledger Tacoma stated that due to their overwhelming popularity, only three cities were truly in the running for the state capital: North Yakima (today renamed as only ‘Yakima’), Olympia, and Ellensburg.[1] When the election results were published, while election officials tallied votes for six different cities, those three cities had collectively received 96.1% of the vote.
Debates over the state capital’s location centered on whether geographical centrality or commercial activity should carry more weight. The Olympia Review published an article focused on the importance of the commercial activity of a capital city. It stated, “In selecting a capital more consideration should be given the business center of the state, than the geographic center. In these days of railroads and telegraphs, the latter counts for but little. The business center of Washington is, and will be, west of the mountains. The political center would better be near the business center. All interests and localities can better harmonize on Olympia than any place yet named.”[2]
The Spokane Review published an article recognizing the importance of both attributes of a potential political city. It stated, “That the political center should of necessity be at the business center perhaps few will admit; and that Olympia is anywhere near the business center of the state of Washington certainly all will dispute. On the west side are Whatcom, Seattle, Port Townsend, Tacoma, and Gray’s Harbor. On the east side are Walla Walla, Dayton, Colfax, Ellensburgh, and Spokane Falls. In the center is North Yakima—sufficiently distant from each, sufficiently near to all." [2]
Arguments in support of Ellensburg as the political city focused on a different advantage. An advertisement in the Sunday Tacoma Ledger stated that North Yakima and Olympia were already full of political influence and power, and that only by placing the capital city in Ellensburg would the state be “[setting] up housekeeping in a new house with clean surroundings, entirely free from all time-rooted territorial political ties and entanglements.”[3]
Additionally, the varied spelling of Ellensburg became a point of debate in the election for the capital city. The Walla Walla Journal stated, “So long as Ellensburgh will insist on spelling the name with an ‘h’ at the end, we feel that the superfluous letter will be the straw that will break the camel’s back.”[4]
Proposed cities
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title for State Capital Location Measure was as follows:
| “ | For the permanent location of the seat of government. (Name of Place Voted For). | ” |
Full Text
The full text of this measure is available here.
Path to the ballot
Washington held a constitutional convention in Olympia from July 4 through August 22, 1889. The 75-member convention elected John Hoyt as president. The convention drafted a state constitution, which was referred to voters for an election on October 1, 1889. Delegates also referred two separate constitutional provisions to voters: one on alcohol prohibition and another on women's suffrage. The drafted constitution also required a ballot measure about where to locate the state capital.[5]
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ Newspapers.com, "The Sunday Ledger Tacoma - September 29, 1889," accessed September 23, 2025
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Newspapers.com, "The Yakima Herald, September 5, 1889," accessed September 23, 2025
- ↑ Newspapers.com, "The Sunday Tacoma Ledger, September 29, 1889," accessed September 23, 2025
- ↑ Washington Secretary of State, "Race for the Capital," accessed September 23, 2025
- ↑ Washington State Legislature, "State Constitutional Convention of 1889," accessed February 17, 2025
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