McCormick, Washington

{{Infobox settlement

|official_name = McCormick, Washington

|settlement_type = Unincorporated community

|image_skyline = File:McCormick, Washington 1911.jpg

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|image_caption = View of McCormick, Washington, ca 1911

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|pushpin_map = Washington#USA

|pushpin_label = McCormick

|subdivision_type = Country

|subdivision_name = United States

|subdivision_type1 = State

|subdivision_name1 = Washington

|subdivision_type2 = County

|subdivision_name2 = Lewis

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|established_date = 1899

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|timezone = Pacific (PST)

|utc_offset = -8

|timezone_DST = PDT

|utc_offset_DST = -7

|elevation_footnotes =

|elevation_m = 142

|elevation_ft = 466

|coordinates = {{coord|46|33|13|N|123|19|34|W|type:city_region:US-WA_source:GNIS-enwiki|display=inline,title}}

|postal_code_type = zip code

|postal_code = 98572

|area_code = 360

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

The town is west of Pe Ell and 1.8 miles east of the extinct town of Walville, Washington and the Pacific County line.{{GNIS|1511136}} The Willapa Hills Trail bisects the area.

History

The town was built in 1897 around a mill for the McCormick Lumber Company, owned by George and Harry McCormick, which began operations the following year.{{cite news |title=Busy Up West |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee/1898/03-18/ |access-date=14 December 2021 |work=The Chehalis Bee |issue=43 |date=March 18, 1898 |volume=14 |page=1}}{{cite news |title=McCormick Busy 30 Years |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/centralia/centralia-daily-chronicle/1953/06-06/page-84 |access-date=October 24, 2024 |work=The Daily Chronicle |date=June 6, 1953 |page=24C}} Located on a branch line of the Northern Pacific Railroad, a post office was named after the mill and established around that time,{{efn|Various sources differ on the actual year, listing 1896, 1898, or 1899.}} remaining in operation until 1929.{{cite web |url=http://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?state=WA |title=Post Offices|publisher=Jim Forte Postal History |accessdate=14 August 2016}}{{cite book|last=Meany|first=Edmond S.|title=Origin of Washington geographic names|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015027074981;view=1up;seq=170|year=1923|publisher=University of Washington Press|location=Seattle|page=154}}{{cite web |title=Lewis County - McCormick |url=https://jtenlen.drizzlehosting.com/walewis/townsmz.html |website=jtenlen.drizzlehosting.com |publisher=Lewis Co. WA GenWeb Project}} The community's location was situated in forested lands considered to contain the highest quality timber in the county.

The mill was rebuilt after it suffered a near-total loss in 1909.{{cite news |title=$250,000 Goes Up In Smoke |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1909/07-09/page-18/ |access-date=14 December 2021 |work=The Chehalis-Bee Nugget |issue=3 |date=July 9, 1909 |volume=27 |page=18}} It closed in 1927 as lumber production at the plant had become idle.{{cite news |title=Techers Are Announced For The Pe Ell Schools |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1927/12-12/page-16/ |access-date=14 December 2021 |work=The Chehalis-Bee Nugget |date=August 12, 1927 |page=15}}{{cite news |last1=McDonald |first1=Julie |title=Vader Octogenarian Wants Public to See Giant Fir in Pe Ell |url=https://www.chronline.com/stories/vader-octogenarian-wants-public-to-see-giant-fir-in-pe-ell,20221? |access-date=14 December 2021 |work=The Chronicle |date=January 12, 2018}} The town began to be demolished, with materials salvaged by a new owner of the company.{{cite news |title=McCormick Mill To Be Dismantled |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1931/08-21/ |access-date=14 December 2021 |work=The Chehalis Bee-Nugget |issue=13 |date=August 21, 1931 |volume=49 |page=1}} A tuberculosis sanitorium was opened in 1935 and closed in 1941.{{cite news |last1=Fund |first1=Edna |title=Today in History: Governor Dedicates Sanitarium in 1935 |url=https://www.chronline.com/stories/today-in-history-governor-dedicates-sanitarium-in-1935,171531? |access-date=14 December 2021 |work=The Chronicle |date=October 29, 2010}}{{cite news |title=McCormick Is A Lonely Place |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/centralia/centralia-daily-chronicle/1941/08-26/page-28/ |access-date=14 December 2021 |work=The Centralia Daily Chronicle |date=August 26, 1941 |page=4}}

Considered a ghost town afterwards despite continual habitation, most of the property was bought out beginning in 1954 by George Fraser, a retired tailor from Centralia.{{cite news |title=Ill, Retired Tailor Owns Ghost Town |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/centralia/centralia-daily-chronicle/1957/10-05/page-7/ |access-date=14 December 2021 |work=The Daily Chronicle (Centralia) |date=October 5, 1957 |page=7}}

Notes

References

Category:Populated places in Lewis County, Washington

Category:Unincorporated communities in Lewis County, Washington

Category:Unincorporated communities in Washington (state)