CENTRALIA, Wash. (KOIN) — February is Black History Month, and as it comes to an end, KOIN 6 News is bringing readers the story of an African American pioneer who founded a well-known city 90 miles north of Portland. That city is Centralia.
The pioneer’s name was George Washington. He was born to a slave father and an English woman in Virginia. His mother gave him to a white couple named the Cochrans to save him from slavery.
Washington eventually learned to read, becoming a skilled woodsman and marksman.
The family moved to Ohio, then Missouri.
When Washington tried to start a distillery in Missouri, he almost went to prison because of discriminatory laws.
Centralia Bicentennial Committee member Brian Mittge said the town is the largest community in America founded by an African American couple.
“He told his foster parents, who were white, I’m going to find a place. If there’s a decent place, I’m going to find it,” said Mittge.
On the Oregon Trail, with stops in Oregon City and Portland, the family eventually settled near the Chehalis and Skookumchuck rivers.
The Cochrans purchased the land and deeded it to Washington. The state was known as being generous and fair. Centerville eventually became Centralia, incorporated in 1886.
“We walk the streets of Centralia, and people just say this is the friendliest city [they’ve] ever been in, and I think that is his spirit that’s left here,” said Centralia Mayor Bonnie Canaday.
Washington died in 1905 and was buried in the heart of the city he created.
The City of Centralia is planning a bicentennial celebration in August for George Washington’s birth. It’s raising money for a statue of Washington in the city’s main park, appropriately called Washington Park.
