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Amtrak's Coast Starlight stops at the refurbished 1912 rail depot in downtown Centralia. In the 1920s, no fewer than 44 passenger trains passed through this station each day, bringing business to 14 hotels and 24 taverns.

Washington's hub

Centralia and Chehalis are full of quirky surprises

By John Gottberg Anderson •
For / The Bulletin

CENTRALIA, Wash. — Serendipity always seems to welcome adventurers who venture off the beaten track and immerse themselves in unfamiliar communities.

Had I not exited Interstate 5 halfway between Portland and Seattle, I never would have discovered the neighboring towns of Centralia and Chehalis, which share a rich railroading history and harbor one of the Northwest's major antique districts.

Moreover, I would not have stumbled upon the largest gathering of zombies in the Pacific Northwest. Nor would I have met Dick “Richart” Tracy at his open-air gallery of self-created folk art.

Most I-5 travelers probably know these towns best for what they can see from the freeway: a right-wing political billboard near the southern entrance to Chehalis, an outlet shopping center at the north end of Centralia. But few venture farther than a stop at a Standard station or a Starbucks coffee shop.

In fact, there's a lot of see, starting just a stone's throw off the interstate at Exit 82.

Historic Centralia

Back in the 1850s, when early settlers began homesteading near the confluence of the Skookumchuck and Chehalis rivers, they built a crude log blockhouse as a stanchion of defense against possible Indian attacks. As it turned out, Fort Borst served them better as a place to store their grain. But today it's at the heart of Fort Borst Park, an expansive Centralia city park whose entrance is just a couple of blocks south of the outlet malls.

When Joseph and Mary Roundtree Borst completed their home in 1864, it was considered the finest dwelling between Fort Steilacoom, to the north, and Fort Vancouver, to the south. The Borsts loved children and built a one-room schoolhouse next to their home. But they were tragically unfortunate in growing their own family. Between 1863 and 1871, they lost five children in infancy or early childhood. A poignant sight is that of five tiny graves surrounded by a picket fence not far from the front doorstep of the Borst House.

This autumn, the house is open for holiday tours every other weekend (next Nov. 14 and 15) or by special arrangement with Centralia Parks and Recreation,

Centralia (originally Centerville) was officially established in 1875 by a man named George Washington, the son of a freed slave. In 1881, he designated a broad public square as the focal point of the new town, and today Washington Park still holds that distinction.

Incorporated in 1892, Centralia grew rapidly as a rail center. By 1920, due largely to its midway location between Seattle and Portland, it had become known as the “Hub City.” Forty-four passenger trains stopped each day at Centralia Union Depot. Travelers brought nonstop business to adjacent Tower Avenue, its 14 hotels and 24 taverns.

Today, Centralia has a population of about 15,000. Amtrak and other trains still ramble through town several times a day. And the 1912 train station has been fully restored as the centerpiece of a $4.4 million, 12-block downtown Centralia revitalization. The entire Downtown Historic District, with a score of commercial structures built of brick in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Making old times new

One of those buildings, taking up half a block just around the corner from the station, is the Olympic Club. Opened in 1908 as a “gentleman's resort” (a sign above the front door declared “Ladies Patronage Not Solicited”), it had a cafe and bar, a card room, pool room, barber shop and cigar stand.

Beginning in the early 1920s, the Vogel family ran this establishment and the adjoining Oxford Hotel, unabashedly carrying them through the Prohibition-era with bootleg liquor from Canada (although, of course, they advertised only soft drinks). Such trappings as mahogany woodwork and Tiffany lamps provided a sense of luxury to the miners and loggers who came to town with a week's pay in their hands.

In 1996, Portland's McMenamin brothers bought the Olympic Club from the Vogels. As it has done with other historic properties in Washington and Oregon, including Bend's own Old St. Francis School, the McMenamins group gave the property a full overhaul and shortly reopened with a restaurant, two bars and a refurbished seven-table pool room. In place of the card room is a movie theater; on walls throughout the Olympic Club, historic photographs tell early Centralia's story.

On the sidewalk just outside the Olympic Club, I met 79-year-old Don Thompson. “Yes, I used to play cards here,” he told me. “Of course, then it was mostly just a card room and a pool hall. There was a lot of people drinking too much.”

Thompson told me about his son, who is in the muffler business, and his daughter, who lives in Alaska. “I've pretty much been around here since I was about 10 years old,” he said. “I can't say I'd really want to live anywhere else.”

To the north and south, up both sides of Tower Avenue and along a few side streets, antique shops line the blocks. An astounding number of antique dealers — more than 250 of them — have shops in downtown Centralia or exhibit within area antique malls, according to the Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce. I stopped by several stores — some of them sprawling through two floors, others not much larger than coat closets — and decided that if I chose, I could easily furnish an entire home with what I found.

Among my favorites, all in the 100 through 300 blocks of North Tower Avenue, were Painted Lady Vintage, Across the Street Antiques, Up the Creek Antiques, Shannon's Antiques and Timeless Treasures. I also liked The Shady Lady, between Tower and the depot on East Magnolia Street.

Artistic expressions

There are a couple of wonderful small galleries on North Tower Avenue, as well. HubBub is quirky and colorful, with an eclectic variety of gift items I haven't seen even in larger Northwest cities. And then there's the Jupiter Arts Center & Gallery, which sponsored Centralia's first-ever Hearse Cruise and Zombie Tromp, two full weeks before Halloween.

On this Saturday night, the downtown streets were full of costumed zombies, also known as “the undead.” Jupiter's goal in mobilizing the zombies, according to organizer Michelle Moline, was to attract more than 4,026 zombie impersonators. That would have set a world record currently held by a city in England, she said.

Jupiter Arts is a small gallery with big ideas. A long line filed through its door to officially register for the event and to have a team of macabre artists paint their faces. Many other erstwhile zombies, ranging in age from toddlers to elderly, had applied their own makeup and donned shredded clothing. Outside, several ghoulish undertakers posed with coffins beside their hearses.

As it turned out, only about 500 zombies stalked Centralia's streets that night. But Moline wasn't disappointed. “It usually takes about three years to build up enough publicity to break the world record,” she said. “Our objective is to become the premier destination for all things Halloween in the Pacific Northwest.”

Even more eccentric is Richart Tracy's Art Yard, at the corner of Harrison Avenue and M Street about halfway between downtown Centralia and the outlet malls, and three-fourths of a mile off the interstate. I did a double-take as I drove past the private residence: As it is not publicized by the local chamber, my discovery of the Art Yard came as a complete surprise.

A carefully orchestrated jumble of pipes, wires, bicycle wheels, bowling pins, plastic and Styrofoam balls, chairs, doors, dishes and what-have-you, the Art Yard welcomes visitors each afternoon to wander its half-acre of passages, taking in eclectic sculptures, unique mobiles and a variety of odd contraptions. Squirrels scamper through the exhibits and over the crude wooden walls that frame the yard.

Tracy told me he started his folk-art project in 1983 “when I was 50. And I'm 76 now. And I add something every single day that I'm here.” He said a television station from Seattle had done a spot on his collection, and an anthropology student from Eugene had paid a visit. He said he was fascinated with the way Styrofoam balls disintegrate after a few years, and was amazed at the texture of a particular maple-seed pod that dangled in front of him as he toured the yard with me.

“I've never seen one quite like this,” the artist said, placing it carefully atop a brick where, perhaps, some other art aficionado might spot it and have the same reaction.

Visiting Chehalis

The distance from downtown Centralia south to downtown Chehalis, its sister city, is about four miles. National Avenue follows the railroad tracks past the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds and emerges at a town that is only about half the size of Centralia (7,000 population), yet which is the Lewis County seat and has cornered the market on local museums.

The historic train station, built in 1912, has been restored as the Lewis County Historical Museum. Its four galleries have displays on American Indian culture, pioneer settlement, and the rail and logging industries upon which this town grew in the 1870s.

Nearby, open weekdays by appointment, the Vintage Motorcycle Museum has a collection of antique bikes dating from the late 1800s.

Across town, just off I-5, the Veterans Memorial Museum contains a private collection of servicemen's personal artifacts from the Revolutionary and Civil wars to present day. An adjacent rail siding is home to the 90-ton Chehalis-Centralia Steam Train, from which Locomotive No. 15 offers nine-mile excursions every weekend from Memorial Day through September.

The oldest continuously occupied residence in Washington is the Obadiah McFadden House, built from squared logs in 1859. Visitors can drive past and see it at 475 S.W. Chehalis Ave. Two other historic Chehalis neighborhoods boast a variety of architectural styles popular in the late 19th century, when they provided homes for the town's “urban elite”; the historical museum has walking-tour maps for both the West Side and Hillside districts.

The Chehalis Downtown Historic District, mainly built between 1890 and 1927, is not as large as that of Centralia, but it has two restaurants that may be the best in the Hub City area. The Shire Bar & Bistro offers Southern-influenced steak and seafood plates in a historic brick tavern. I opted instead for Mackinaw's Restaurant and was rewarded with a dinner of roasted Muscovy duck with a cherry-and-black walnut sauce, accompanied by a bowl of homemade corn chowder.

It's impossible to write about the Centralia-Chehalis area without mentioning the Great Wolf Lodge, just off I-5 seven miles north of Centralia's outlet malls. This family getaway destination, opened in 2007, boasts a huge indoor water park along with video-game parlors, restaurants, even a lounge where mom and dad can slip away for a respite.

One of a dozen Great Wolf resorts in North America, but the only one in the West, it's worth a visit, if only just to see the Disneyland-esque scope of the project. Great Wolf is art in its own right, and a serendipitous discovery for those inclined to entertain their kids even more than they would themselves.