McCormick, Washington

McCormick is an unincorporated community off Washington State Route 6 in Lewis County, in the U.S. state of Washington.

McCormick, Washington
Unincorporated community
McCormick is located in Washington (state)
McCormick
McCormick
McCormick is located in the United States
McCormick
McCormick
Coordinates: 46°33′13″N 123°19′34″W
CountryUnited States
StateWashington
CountyLewis
Elevation
[1]466 ft (142 m)
Time zoneUTC-8 (Pacific (PST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-7 (PDT)
zip code
98572
Area code360

The town is west of Pe Ell and 1.8 miles east of the extinct town of Walville, Washington and the Pacific County line.[1] The Willapa Hills Trail bisects the area.

History

The town was built in 1897 around a mill for the McCormick Lumber Company, which began operations the following year.[2] A post office, named after the mill's owner, Harry W. McCormick, was established around that time [lower-alpha 1] and it remained in operation until 1929.[3][4][5]

The mill would be rebuilt after it suffered a near-total loss in 1909.[6] It closed in 1927 as lumber production at the plant had become idle.[7][8] The town began to be demolished, with materials salvaged by a new owner of the company.[9] A tuberculosis sanitorium was opened in 1935 and closed in 1941.[10][11]

Considered a ghost town afterwards despite continual habitation, most of the property would be bought out beginning in 1954 by George Fraser, a retired tailor from Centralia.[12]

Notes
  1. Various sources differ on the actual year, listing 1896, 1898, or 1899.

References
  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: McCormick, Washington
  2. "Busy Up West". The Chehalis Bee. Vol. 14, no. 43. March 18, 1898. p. 1. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
  3. "Post Offices". Jim Forte Postal History. Retrieved August 14, 2016.
  4. Meany, Edmond S. (1923). Origin of Washington geographic names. Seattle: University of Washington Press. p. 154.
  5. "Lewis County - McCormick". jtenlen.drizzlehosting.com. Lewis Co. WA GenWeb Project.
  6. "$250,000 Goes Up In Smoke". The Chehalis-Bee Nugget. Vol. 27, no. 3. July 9, 1909. p. 18. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
  7. "Techers Are Announced For The Pe Ell Schools". The Chehalis-Bee Nugget. August 12, 1927. p. 15. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
  8. McDonald, Julie (January 12, 2018). "Vader Octogenarian Wants Public to See Giant Fir in Pe Ell". The Chronicle. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
  9. "McCormick Mill To Be Dismantled". The Chehalis Bee-Nugget. Vol. 49, no. 13. August 21, 1931. p. 1. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
  10. Fund, Edna (October 29, 2010). "Today in History: Governor Dedicates Sanitarium in 1935". The Chronicle. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
  11. "McCormick Is A Lonely Place". The Centralia Daily Chronicle. August 26, 1941. p. 4. Retrieved December 14, 2021.
  12. "Ill, Retired Tailor Owns Ghost Town". The Daily Chronicle (Centralia). October 5, 1957. p. 7. Retrieved December 14, 2021.


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