This statue honors Marcus Whitman (1802-1847), who was the first American to settle in what is now Washington state.

The Marcus Whitman statue was dedicated in 1953. It is located inside the Legislative Building, next to the front desk at the north entrance. This statue is one of Washington's selections to be duplicated in the National Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C.; the Mother Joseph statue (located across the room from the Marcus Whitman stature) is the state's second selection by the Legislature in 1980.

Marcus Whitman was a medical missionary and early pioneer of the Oregon Territory. He is remembered mostly for helping to lead the first large party of wagon trains along the Oregon Trail, establishing it as a viable route for the thousands of emigrants who used the trail in the following decade. Whitman's mission site, established in 1836, is located near present day Walla Walla. Whitman College and Whitman County are named after him.

The statue was designed by Avard Fairbanks, who also sculpted the George Washington Bust that's on the second floor of the Legislative Building.