Chehalis Downtown Historic District

Chehalis Downtown Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Hotel Washington Building and nearby buildings, Chehalis, Washington.
Location	Roughly bounded by Park, and Front Sts., Washington and Cascade Aves., Chehalis, Washington
Area	10 acres (4.0 ha)
Built	1891 (1891)
Architectural style	Early Commercial, Colonial Revival
MPS	Chehalis MPS
NRHP reference No.	97001407
Added to NRHP	November 21, 1997

The Chehalis Downtown Historic District represents three separate development periods. The community was an important timber hub and freight exchange stop between south Puget Sound and Portland, Oregon. The historic district is located in the northeastern part of town and includes North Market Boulevard, Northwest Pacific Avenue, Northeast Cascade Avenue, Northeast Boistfort, Front Way, and Northeast Division. North Market Boulevard is a one-way street.

The current downtown is a third civic center of the city. It was originally at West Main Street close to the railroads tracks. Elizabeth Barrett Saunders had platted three blocks from her Donation Land Claim of three hundred twenty acres. Three blocks of development were the start of a town. Buildings were constructed around 1870 including the first Lewis County Courthouse.

The second downtown began down West Main Street at the comer of Chehalis Avenue and West Main Street. "Eliza" platted five parcels between 1881 and 1883. By 1891 this center included the city's first opera house (Tynan Opera House), and the Barrett Block housing a bank and hotel. In 1892 two fires destroyed the second city center. The majority of the buildings were wood, arson was suspected.

The third center grew up on Market Boulevard. Buildings had been completed a couple of years before the fires. In 1889 the First National Bank. In 1891 the Chehalis Improvement Company constructed the first of two buildings, the Improvement Block. In 1892 the Columbus Block was completed in celebration of Christopher Columbus landing in the Americas four hundred years earlier. Soon after, construction of a fourth retail office structure, the Commercial Block, established an impressive modern building. Only the original bank building is gone, razed in 1949. Between 1890 and 1894, the Chehalis Land and Timber Company constructed the St. Helens Hotel.

Bibliography

• Chehalis Bee-Nugget. The Chehalis Bee-Nugget: The Historical Souvenir Edition. 1915.
• Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana. Be a Building Watcher: On the Street Where You Live. 1986.
• Lewis County Historical Museum: historical photographs, and newspaper clipping files.
• Washington State Historic Preservation Program. Architectural Description Guide. 1978.
• Washington State Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation. Historic Property Inventory Forms and Supporting Documents.
• Weyeneth, Robert R. Historic Downtown Chehalis: A Public Guide. Lewis County Printing Department, 1992.
• Weyeneth, Robert R. Multiple Property Nomination: Associated Property Types. Historic Commercial Properties.
• Weyeneth, Robert R. Multiple Property Nomination: Statement of Historic Context the Urban Growth of Chehalis. 1850-1950 & The Development of a Resource Economy in Chehalis. 1850–1950. 1991.