User:Shortiefourten/History of Chehalis

The history of Chehalis, Washington is... (description)

20th century

1910s

The city held a census carnival in 1910 during the decadal population count. With downtown crowded, bands played and an additional 135 residents were added to the census, projected to show approximately 5,000 people in Chehalis.

1970s

A city-wide renumbering of addresses for both residential and business districts took place in 1975. Existing streets were renamed with directions based on a quadrant system centered at the intersection of Main and Market Street. The number system at the time was considered confusing, often leading to misplaced mail and emergency services unable to locate certain homes. Later that year, Main Street was widened and the Burlington Northern crossing over the road was upgraded, providing signals for the first time.

After a city-wide vote to change the city's government, Chehalis converted from a three-person commission to a seven-member council in November 1975. The event also included the election of the first woman mayor of Chehalis, Viviane Roewe.

Discrimination

Chehalis has not been immune to a history of discrimination, including hate crimes, racism, and white supremacy groups. Men working in the timber industry during the early days of settlement in the Chehalis Valley, regardless of culture or race, were often disparaged. However, white men usually received higher pay and benefits as well as better living quarters. An early walkout of white lumberman occurred in 1907 when four men of Japanese descent were hired at a local sawmill. Within the Twin Cities, declarations of Anti-American activity and the questioning of patriotism, often due to severe divisions in class and labor unions, began brewing in the early 20th century, ultimately leading to the Centralia Massacre.

An article written in the Chehalis Bee-Nugget newspaper from 1909 details a letter from a Black man who considered Chehalis a "white man's city" and would not move to the town. While the piece mentions that the people of Chehalis had not exhibited hostilities towards non-White people, the editorial reported that a Black family had never resided in the city although acknowledged a lack of representation for citizens of Asian heritage. An "anti-Greek and Italian" movement existed in Chehalis around 1911 that demanded to abolish the employment of foreigners within the town.

In 1924, a rally for the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was held at the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds and the estimated attendance was recorded between 20,000 and 30,000 members, with some estimates of up to 35,000. During the Great Depression, Chehalis and the surrounding cities and counties would see a rise in the participation of "Silver Shirts", a group that followed similar aspects to the Nazi movement of the era. In a Life magazine article from March 1939, the publication reported regarding hate groups in Chehalis. A trio of female high school students wrote to the magazine, believing that the feature "did not accurately depict the feelings of local citizens", and a follow-up photo article from Life in May showcased the city's actual more varied and "American ideals" atmosphere. It was noted that the leader of that fascist group had left town after the original story had published.

During the early to mid-20th century, stereotyping people of color as a form of entertainment was common in Chehalis. At the beginning of the 1910 Chehalis Gophers baseball season, the club and its ballplayers participated in a minstrel show, receiving positive reviews in a local paper. Minstrel shows were familiar events in theaters within Chehalis, taking place at respected venues such as the Brunswig Grand Opera House. A Brownies award event at the Scout Lodge in 1956 featured a blackface performance by the young girls.

After World War II, the emergence of the John Birch Society (JBS), which opposed the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, began to circulate in and around the community. Active and open participation from county residents in either the KKK or the JBS began to wane in the 1970s and 1980s, and the last activity of either group was recorded as taking place at the end of the century. The city, due to its early history and present-day lack of a Black population, was listed by a researcher in 2023 as a sundown town.

The Uncle Sam billboard was built in the 1960s and featured signage that promoted gender, LGTBQ, and racial animus. As of 2024, the billboard and the posted viewpoints remain. The Dancing Swallows Big Gay Bird Sanctuary and Memorial Pond, located across from the sign, opened in 2020 as a counterprotest.

Residents in the city in more recent years have protested in favor of the Black Lives Matter movement, holding two demonstrations in 2020 at the Lewis County Courthouse after the murder of George Floyd. The second event was attended by approximately 300 people who knelt for 8 minutes 46 seconds in protest against police brutality. Notwithstanding a brief interruption, the assembly remained peaceful.

A rise in hate crimes against LGBTQ people in the 21st century also affected Chehalis, usually perpetrated or led by non-Chehalis residents. In the 2020s, a billboard in Chehalis supporting LGBTQ and racial equality movements, a precursor to the Dancing Swallows Big Gay Bird Sanctuary, was vandalized. A drag show held in June 2023 at the Chehalis Theater was a site of controversy when a nearby Lewis County Republican Party fundraiser referred to drag performers as "groomers". A similarly protested Pride event had been held in Centralia earlier that day. The discriminatory actions at both events were condemned shortly thereafter by local leaders. A few weeks later, an overnight hate crime act occurred that targeted LGBTQ charities and symbols within various locations of the city, which included the vandalization of the Chehalis Friendship Fence in the Pennsylvania-Westside Historic District. The fence was repainted days later through a volunteer effort. The fence was targeted again in February 2024 after a group of three people, all connected to a variety of hate groups as well as previous hate crime acts, splashed the artwork with black paint. The perpetrators, who were not from Chehalis, were chased down by a local resident and caught; fellow neighbors were able to wipe the paint off before it dried but the damages were severe enough that parts of the local attraction needed to be repainted.

Although racial and LGTBQ acceptance has grown in Chehalis in the 21st century, exampled by the creation of the Lewis County Dignity Guild, a non-profit group created to "increase the visibility of marginalized communities", growing openness of disparagement by members of the local Republican Party has offset many gains. The party is considered to have shifted farther right, with elected officials openly questioning Black rights movements and demeaning LGBTQ individuals, at times comparing such people to animals or without proof, declaring gay and transgender people to be groomers. Local officials and businesses charged with the accusations of racism and prejudice have declared that no such animosities exist in Chehalis and the surrounding communities.

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