On a presumably gray day in 1875, 150 years ago next Wednesday, a pioneer couple set out from their farm near the Skookumchuck River to the young town of Saundersville. They carried plans and dreams with them — literally.
On a long piece of paper, George and Mary Jane Washington had drawn up the details for the first few blocks of a new town that they were calling Centerville. The idea had been percolating for years. On Jan. 8, 1875, they made it official by filing the plat with the county auditor in the new two-story courthouse in the town known today as Chehalis.
County Auditor William West and his wife, Dora, were the witnesses when the Washingtons filed the paperwork to create Centerville.
It was an exciting era. The sleepy homestead decades that began when George built a cabin near the Chehalis and Skookumchuck Rivers in 1852 had ended with the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railroad on the eastern edge of their acreage in 1872.
George began planning out his city almost immediately. By 1873, a newspaper called The Washington Standard had reported that “a new town called Centerville, has been laid out on George Washington’s farm ... several buildings are already under construction.”
A fellow named Isaac Wingard had built a little one-story frame building that served as his home, a store, post office, and (thanks to a room in the attic) a first hotel. A year later, a proper hotel was built across the way.
George studied and measured out the lots with the dedication to accuracy of a scrupulous surveyor. In fact, he made a point of buying a surveyor’s chain in Olympia to ensure the lots and streets were measured out correctly. He hired several assistants to help him do the work.
His wife and partner, Mary Jane, brought the sensibilities of a poet to naming the streets.
According to the Depression-era history book “Centralia: The First Fifty Years,” Mary Jane’s strong Christian faith likely inspired her to name the streets of the new town after the pearly gates of heaven and the streets paved with gold.
And her travels across the continent from her home in Louisiana likely are the reason we have the the Southern magnolia tree on the street signs here in the Pacific Northwest.
Between the precision of measuring off the streets to the artistry of naming them, George and Mary Jane were of one mind, it seems to me, as they envisioned what kind of a town they wanted to create: one that would be a place where solid, quality people could create a good life together. They didn’t want to sell to speculators. They wanted people who would settle down and build up.
In the documents they filed and signed 150 years ago, they “agreed to Sell lots to Any Person for ten dollars per lot that Want them to enny Actual Settlers.”
He sold a hundred lots in the city’s central business district for $5 each, with the requirement that buyers put up a building worth at least $100. The price was fair and the lots were generously sized.
Rather than making a quick buck, George wanted a town that would last.
George worked hard, building up structures, measuring off more lots, and donating land for a park, cemetery and other civic improvements. He watched his dream come to life over the decades.
Now, a century and a half after Centerville was officially born (it was renamed Centralia in 1883), civic leaders here are planning a year of observances to recognize the town on its 150th birthday.
It’s a great time to celebrate a town born with a notable civic spirit that endures today.
Happy birthday, Centralia. This year, as we honor the past and keep building up a future worthy of George and Mary Jane’s vision, it’s a perfect time to have our cake and eat it too.
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Brian Mittge takes a look at local life in our hometowns every Saturday. He can be reached at brianmittge@hotmail.com.
