Social justice and the environment

Olympia considering renaming Peace and Healing Park after Rebecca Howard

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Olympia’s Parks, Recreation, and Advisory Committee recommended that the city council rename the Peace and Healing Park after Rebecca Howard, one of the pioneering Black women in the city’s history.

During a public hearing last Thursday, Oct. 21, several community members shared their support for the change. The Peace and Healing Park is located at 911 Adams St. SE and covers 0.34 acres. It is just south of the Olympia Timberland Library and is formerly known as The Commons @ Fertile Ground. 

Howard cemented her status as one of the wealthiest residents in the city during the 1800s. She once ran a restaurant and hotel known as the Pacific House Building which stood along Capitol Way. While Howard achieved great success, she was also a pioneer of her time, being the first female business owner in Olympia.

Born as Rebecca Groundage in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1827, she eventually married a barrel maker, Alexander Howard in New Bedford, Massachusetts. A few years later, the couple decided to move to Olympia to open a hotel and restaurant. There, Howard entertained prominent civil war figures and politicians including President Rutherford B. Hayes, and William Tecumseh Sherman.

In 1862, the couple agreed to take care of Isaac I. Stevens Glasgow, a part native child whose father was mistreating him. The couple eventually adopted Glasgow and changed his name to Frank A. Howard.

Some residents may also recognize Howard as the woman featured on the mural on the 222 Market building at 222 Capitol Way North in downtown Olympia. Painted in 2011, the mural faces a parking lot where Howard’s restaurant once stood.

One of the people behind the proposal, Shawna Hawk, founder of The Women of Color In Leadership Movement and Director of Media Island International, shared that Howard’s narrative breaks a common stereotype against the black community. “Having a park that is dedicated to our Black community members, both past and present, could also challenge some of our community members who can only see Black people as victims, needing to be saved,” Hawk said.

She continued, “Naming the park that is across from our cultural center after such an amazing pioneer, and acknowledging an African American woman such as Rebecca Howard, would mean so much to women of color, especially Black women in this community and beyond. It could set the tone for growth, acknowledgment and respect for the Black community as a whole.”

The recommendation is subject to a vote of the Olympia City Council.

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