How does a town get a name like Yelm. Funny you should ask. It wasn’t alwats that that way. The town was originally called Shelm, the name given by the Nisqually Indians, to the shimmering heat waves which dance and play above the prairie when the summer sun shines hot. Impatient Euro-American settlers, tired of pronouncing the name with a drawn out S, according to Nisqually custom, eventually shortened this to Yelm. After the late 19th century and into the early 20th century business and residences grew along the intersection of the Northern Pacific railroad and the old east/west Bald Hills Trail.

Judges

Hon. Thomas L. Meyer