Former Chief Justice Gerry Alexander points to an image of the 1889 telegram announcing President Harrison had signed the proclamation declaring that Washington had become a state. (Photos courtesy of Laura Mott)

Former Chief Justice Gerry Alexander’s distinguished career in law and the court system has spanned nearly half a century, making him one the the state’s best-known jurists in state history.  On Tuesday, he delighted a Capitol audience with another of his passions — state and local history — giving a historian’s loving tale of Washington’s long and bumpy road to statehood.

Secretary of State Kim Wyman’s office was packed and SRO for a master’s class in state history from Justice Alexander. He traced the earliest days of the settling of the West by pioneers from the East. He showed slides of old maps that showed Washington’s transformation from being part of the Oregon Territory, covering much of the Northwest from the Pacific to the Rockies, to being the Washington Territory for 36 years, and finally to the big push that led to statehood in 1889.

The large gathering listens as Alexander talks about Washington’s Capitol in 1889.

Alexander, who has been honored by state and local historical groups for his work on heritage issues, also talked at length about the progressive/populist influences on the new state constitution and the state’s suspicions of “concentrations of power.” He also covered the fight for the right to be the state capital city, the struggle for women’s suffrage, and how state went “dry” before the nation turned to Prohibition.

TVW occasionally will air Alexander’s presentation in the coming weeks, as well as make it available to watch online.

The talk was part of Wyman’s office celebration of 125 years of statehood, led by Legacy Washington, the office program that produces oral histories, biographies, historic exhibits and more.  Women’s history expert Shanna Stevenson gave a presentation recently on the long fight for women’s suffrage, culminating in the male voters of Washington approving it in 1910.

The programs were co-sponsored by the AAUW and the League of Women Voters of Thurston County.