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.[2][3] Located on a branch line of the Northern Pacific Railroad, a post office was named after the mill and established around that time,[a] remaining in operation until 1929.[4][5][6][3] The community's location was situated in forested lands considered to contain the highest quality timber in the county.[3]
The mill was rebuilt after it suffered a near-total loss in 1909.[7] It closed in 1927 as lumber production at the plant had become idle.[8][9] The town began to be demolished, with materials salvaged by a new owner of the company.[10] A tuberculosis sanitorium was opened in 1935 and closed in 1941.[11][12]
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.[13]
Notes
^Various sources differ on the actual year, listing 1896, 1898, or 1899.
