Dr. Alden H. Steele came west to Oregon Territory from his native New York in 1849. He enjoyed a distinguished career as post surgeon at three different U.S. Army forts in the Pacific Northwest, and also served as doctor for the newly established Nisqually and Chehalis Indian Reservations. When Steele retired from Fort Steilacoom in 1869, he moved to Olympia with his wife, Hannah, and involved himself in local business and church affairs. He served as an early Regent of the University of Washington and was active in establishing the first Episcopalian Bishopric in Washington Territory.

The Steeles built a house on Franklin Street in 1870. This rare surviving pioneer home has a plain, but pleasing, boxy shape with a covered porch across the front and an Italianate bay window on its north wall. Like many early Olympia homes it was built using vertical plank construction, with walls formed by single boards that run from the foundation up to the roofline. By the late 1980s the Steele House had fallen into disrepair and was threatened with demolition. A small group of local investors stepped in to save this important home, adapting it into apartments while carefully maintaining its historic exterior.

The Steele House is located on the east side of Franklin Street between 10th and 11th avenues. It is listed on both the National and Washington State Registers of Historic Places, as well as on the Olympia Heritage Register. The building contains private residences and is not open to the public.

Steele House. Olympia Heritage Commission photo.

The 1870 Steele House, one of Olympia's oldest surviving homes. ©Jeffers Studio photograph, from the Susan Parish collection.