At its largest extent, it also included the entirety of modern Idaho and parts of Montana and Wyoming, before attaining its final boundaries in 1863.

[3] A group of prominent settlers from the Cowlitz and Puget Sound regions met on November 25, 1852, at the "Monticello Convention" in present-day Longview, to draft a petition to the United States Congress calling for a separate territory north of the Columbia River.

"[9] The decision was contrary to the wishes of residents, and local papers reported mixed feeling from citizens,[10] though the general reception of the renaming was positive.

The original boundaries of the territory included all of the present day State of Washington, as well as northern Idaho and Montana west of the continental divide.

Among the top contenders for the title, besides Olympia, were Steilacoom, Vancouver, Port Townsend, and Ellensburg, which was devastated in a major fire shortly before statehood.