This article was published in the historical society's newsletter

From the  October 2011   Volume 6 Number 1

It was the summer of 1908 when the Centralia Eastern railroad laid tracks to Packwood Station.  They ran a spur up Packwood Creek to provide train access to the coal mines in that vicinity.  It was some years later the Station was dropped and the place became just Packwood on the 1948 Metzker’s map.

Actually, the log cabin school at Packwood was built as early as 1870 – or perhaps 1875.  It, too, was probably located near the mouth of Packwood Creek.  The original school was sold in 1911 and moved to another site, where it existed as late as 1989.  Another school must have been built and ran for many years, because newspaper articles state that Florence Mardicott was teacher in 1930 and 1931, and Kate Peterson was teacher in 1933.  It is not known at this time how long the Packwood School remained open, but it was used as a polling place during the 1944 election.

There’s not much left in the area today.  The Centralia Steam Electric Plant was constructed a mile west of the mouth of Packwood Creek in 1971, and the creek itself has rather lost its identity due to coal mining.  The land has been reclaimed and a good many ponds dot the course of Packwood Creek, but it is not the same free-flowing stream it was when Rufus Packwood homestead along the stream back in 1876.  Actually, it is said the creek was named for Rufus’ father, “William Packwood, (who) settled there in 1883 and he and his descendents farmed there for many years.  That citation from 1 1953 issue of the Daily Chronicle may be erroneous because the nearest of William Packwood’s three homesteads in Washington was located some three miles further east along Hannaford Creek.

The discerning reader will note that this Packwood is not the Packwood we know today.  In fact, this Packwood is no longer on the map, but it is certainly interesting to see the 1948 Metsker’s map in the 5^th Grade room (on loan from Jim and Joyce Beslow) that has two Packwood’s in Lewis County.

Another interesting fact is that in the Geographical Names Information System there are 50 references to the name Packwood in the United States.  The Packwood on Hannaford Creek is not listed at all, but historical Packwood’s are listed in a Tampa neighborhood of Florida, and in the coastal mountains of central California.  The sole remaining town of Packwood is in Iowa, and the only unincorporated community of Packwood is here in Washington.

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