OLYMPIA, WA – For what appears to be fifth time, the state Senate voted Wednesday to make Washington the Evergreen State.
Sen. Jeff Wilson, sponsor of Senate Bill 5000, says he hopes this time the House will go along with it. The Senate has only been trying for the last 133 years.
“I hope our friends on the other side of the Rotunda have had enough time to think about it,” Wilson said.
Washington’s nickname may be known the world over, but the state Legislature has never made it official. Coined by Seattle real estate agent Charles Conover for an 1890 promotional brochure, the phrase caught on quickly. In 1893, Gov. Charles McGraw used the phrase in his inaugural address, and it was advertised far and wide in conjunction with the state’s participation in the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
Legislative records are sketchy for the years after Washington statehood in 1889, but they show resolutions to adopt the nickname were introduced in 1891 and 1893. Newspapers reported the Senate voted unanimously to pass the measure on Feb. 17, 1893. But there is no record the resolution ever passed the House.
For years lawmakers have thought the record of the vote may have been mislaid. But staffers in the Washington Secretary of State’s office have located a reference in an historical account indicating that the resolution faced opposition in the House, meaning it may never have been voted upon. The story goes that Eastern Washington legislators thought “evergreen” was dismissive toward their region of the state.
More than a century later, the House continues to balk. Over the previous three legislative sessions, Wilson has introduced legislation to formally adopt the nickname, shepherding it through the Senate on unanimous or near-unanimous votes. But the House has refused to consider it.
On Wednesday the Senate voted 49-0 and sent the nickname to the House once again.
“I know we have bigger issues to consider – we always do,” Wilson said. “But how many of us remember having to memorize the nicknames of all 50 states? It’s about time we do right by grade schoolers everywhere.”
