Honoring (our) George W. Bush and MLK...
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In conjunction with Arbor Day, the folks at General Administration are dedicating a new tree on the Capitol Campus this Friday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Washington pioneer George W. Bush. (And you thought there was only one George W. Bush…)
The star of this Friday’s ceremony is a donated 16-foot sapling. It’s a progeny of the Bush butternut tree, a type of walnut planted by Bush after he brought it with him across the country. The tree is located between the World War II Memorial and the large totem pole across the street from the GA Building in Olympia.
State Senators Rosa Franklin (D-Tacoma) and Ken Jacobsen (D-Seattle) have been proponents for planting a historic tree on the campus to honor King. It’s good to see Bush being recognized as well. Earlier this month, The Olympian ran an editorial saying that the new tree on campus should be dedicated solely to Bush, with another tree selected to honor MLK.
While we all know about Dr. King, fewer know about “our” George W. Bush. According to HistoryLink.org, Bush was born around 1790. He was a key leader of the first group of American citizens to settle north of the Columbia River in what is now Washington. Bush was a successful farmer in Missouri, but as a free African American in a slave state, he faced increasing discrimination and decided to move West.
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In 1844, Bush and his good friend Michael T. Simmons (1814-1867), a white Irish American, led their families and three others over the Oregon Trail. When they found that racial exclusion laws had preceded them and barred Bush from settling south of the Columbia River, they settled on Puget Sound, becoming the first Americans to do so.
Bush established a successful farm near present day Olympia on land that became known as Bush Prairie. He and his family were noted for their generosity to new arrivals and for their friendship with the Nisqually Indians who lived nearby. Bush continued modernizing and improving his farm until his death in 1863. Named George Washington Bush in honor of the nation’s first president, he has no known connection to the family of the two later presidents who share with him the name George Bush.
For more information about the new tree and this Friday’s ceremony, click on GA’s campus updates page here.
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Secretary of State
Steve Hobbs
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