<P> At the request of the Hudson's Bay Company, French Catholic missionaries established Mission St. Joseph of Newmarket and school in the 1848 at Priest Point near the future townsite for the conversion of natives to Catholicism . </P> <P> In 1851, the U.S. Congress established the Customs District of Puget Sound and Olympia became the official customs port of entry requiring all ships to call at Olympia first . In 1854, the customs house moved to Port Townsend at the entrance to Puget Sound to better monitor shipping activity . In 1852, Olympia became the county seat of the newly organized Thurston County which at the time was still part of Oregon Territory . </P> <P> By the early 1850s American settlers began agitating to separate the area north of the Columbia River from Oregon Territory . The agitation resulted in Congress creating Washington Territory . Isaac I. Stevens served as its first governor . Upon his arrival in 1853, Stevens designated Olympia capital of the new territory . The first territorial legislature convened early in 1854 at the Parker and Colter store on Main Street (now Capital Way) between State Street and Olympia Ave . Olympia's Daniel Bigelow represented Thurston County in the first three legislatures . His family home still stands, now known as Bigelow House Museum, Olympia's oldest surviving home . </P> <P> The city grew steadily until 1873, when the Northern Pacific Railroad building a line toward Puget Sound unexpectedly bypassed Olympia, choosing Tacoma as its west coast terminus . Alarmed by the loss of the railroad, Olympia residents set to work building their own rail connection to the main line at Tenino . Citizens formed a private corporation to raise money and build a connection . One of the early contributors was black businesswoman, Rebecca G. Howard, whose contribution of 80 acres of land was used by the committee to encourage like contributions . The corporation used both volunteer labor and contract Chinese workers to complete a narrow gauge line by 1878 . The little railroad served as Olympia's only railroad connection until the Northern Pacific built a spur to Olympia in 1891 . </P>

When did olympia become the capital of washington