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Noon - 4 PM
918 H Street SE
Auburn Comm Campus
Auburn, WA
98002
PH: 253-288-7433




Mary Olson Farm in Auburn, Washington

History:
Few historic sites in the Puget Sound area provide such a tangible and evocative link to the past as the Mary Olson Farm on the east bank of the Green River in Auburn. This well-preserved farmstead, named for a pioneer woman who emigrated from Sweden in 1882, is one of our region’s historical treasures.

Nestled in a quiet canyon where Olson Creek flows into the Green River, the farmstead includes an 1897 hay barn, a 1902 farm house, and several outbuildings constructed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries including a weaving house, smokehouse, garage / ice house, and chicken coop. A year-round stream separates the farmstead buildings from a pasture to the south. To the north, an early wagon road meanders around a century-old orchard and climbs over a low rise to another pasture. To the east lies a steep wooded hillside, and to the west lies the Green River, giving the farmstead a rare sense of timelessness and isolation.

Thanks to the foresight of City leaders, this remarkable historic site was protected from development in 1994. The Olson Farm is owned by the City of Auburn, and leased to the Museum for long term stewardship and restoration. The Museum is hard at work raising funds to restore the farmstead’s buildings and landscape, develop visitor amenities, and interpret the Farm’s rich heritage. Interpretation will focus on stories of immigration, family farm economics, environmental history, and the indigenous landscape.