TUMWATER LUMBER MILLS

The Anderson Family owned and operated the mills. Natives of Sweden, Arthur, Sten, Ossian, Edward, Karl, and Olaf, their sisters, Amy and Lilly, and their parents, Anton and Matilda, settled in Olympia. They began logging operations at Mud Bay and in Lewis County. In 1919, Edward, Ossian and Arthur purchased a small sawmill in Tumwater near the present Olympia Brewery and used a dam on the Deschutes River as a log pond.

In 1922, they started Tumwater Ready Cut Homes. Their kits featured pre-fabricated lumber and materials which could be quickly and easily assembled by contractors or homeowners to build homes. The first operation of its kind in the west, Ready Cut Homes sold their pre-cut houses nationally and internationally with great success.

The Ready Cut package included detailed drawings and specially coded building materials, bundled for easy location at the construction site. They provided finishing lumber for doors, windows and built-in features such as cabinetry, fireplaces and wainscoting. They boasted that anyone could build the houses in a matter of days. In fact, the Anderson brothers once demonstrated the framing of a five-room bungalow in one day. A five-room house with lot could be built for a complete investment of $4,000. The company also produced pre-cut barns and out-buildings.

The Andersons eventually moved their mills to West Bay Drive in the 1920s. Rows of their houses are evident all around Olympia and Tumwater, including "Swede Row" along Capitol Way.

Cover of Catalogue Number Two
Olympia Heritage Commission Collection

City of Tumwater Historical Information