Centralia

History

The area was first settled by the Upper Chehalis people, who had several villages at the confluence of the Skookumchuck and Chehalis rivers. In 1850, J. G. Cochran and his wife Anna were led there via the Oregon Trail by their adopted son, George Washington, a free African-American. The family feared Washington would be forced into slavery if they stayed in Missouri after the passage of the Compromise of 1850. Cochran filed a donation land claim near the Borst Home in 1852 and was able to sell his claim to Washington for $6,000 because unlike the neighboring Oregon Territory, there was no restriction against passing legal ownership of land to African Americans in the newly formed Washington Territory. The town was originally called Skookumchuck after the nearby river, itself named for a Chinook Jargon word meaning "rapids." As it grew, local Upper Chehalis people continued to live there each summer for the harvest, and some took jobs in town. However, their community was devastated by a smallpox epidemic in 1852, and after they abandoned a nearby village, settlers burned it down. Skookumchuck settlers then built and moved into Fort Henness near the site, worried that the Upper Chehalis would attack them during the Puget Sound War. A few settlers remained in town, with one writing that he saw the fort as "injurious to our friendship". The Upper Chehalis did not fight in the war and remained connected to Skookumchuck. Although the Upper Chehalis had not signed the Treaty of Point Elliott due to concerns over the reservation terms, some moved to the Chehalis Reservation when it was created in 1864. Responding to new settlers' concern about a town in Klickitat County with the same name, the town was renamed Centralia by 1883, as suggested by a recent settler from…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, is land and is water. Located off Interstate 5 is Plummer Lake, a small body of water caused by the excavation of glacial rock for gravel purposes beginning in 1910. The lake is named after Sydney Plummer, owner of the quarry and excavating company at the time. , Plummer Lake is privately owned. This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Centralia has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps. Temperatures are usually quite mild, although Centralia is generally warmer in the summer and colder in the winter than locations further north along the Puget Sound.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  3,330
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  3,179
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2,697
• California/Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

  Aphelocoma californica (Vigors, 1839) · Aves
  2,612
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  2,298
• Spotted Towhee

  Pipilo maculatus Swainson, 1827 · Aves
  2,269
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,259
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  2,246

Largest nearby schools

• Centralia High School
  High · Centralia · 986 students · 19.3:1 ratio
• W F West High School
  High · Chehalis · 946 students · 20.6:1 ratio
• Orin C Smith Elementary School
  Elementary · Chehalis · 665 students · 18.5:1 ratio
• Chehalis Middle School
  Middle · Chehalis · 635 students · 19.8:1 ratio
• James W Lintott Elementary School
  Elementary · Chehalis · 617 students · 15.8:1 ratio
• Centralia Middle School
  Middle · Centralia · 549 students · 17.7:1 ratio
• Fords Prairie Elementary
  Elementary · Centralia · 448 students · 15.4:1 ratio
• Jefferson Lincoln Elementary
  Elementary · Centralia · 418 students · 14.9:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.73 — 2026-09-05
  20 km E of Castle Rock, Washington
• M 2.61 — 2026-07-31
  18 km NE of Amboy, Washington
• M 2.84 — 2026-05-27
  4 km W of Wauna, Washington
• M 2.52 — 2026-03-17
  7 km SE of Mineral, Washington
• M 2.86 — 2026-03-11
  2 km W of Home, Washington
• M 2.82 — 2025-12-25
  5 km W of Gorst, Washington