McCleary Community History
Please note: This is a draft document. The brackets [] indicate
material being researched. Quotation paragraphs are excerpts from Family
Trees - Simpson's Centennial Story by Robert Spector. Copyright 1990 by
Simpson Investment Company. Steve Willis, McCleary Historical Society, provided
some corrections.
Early White Settlers
During the 56 years following the discovery of Grays Harbor by Captain
Robert Gray in 1792, the McCleary area was visited only by trappers. In 1848,
settlement began when men with an optimistic outlook and pioneering spirit
entered the Chehalis River area, on foot or by ship, and began developing this
area. The millions of acres of timber appeared to be inexhaustible. A few
families settled along the Chehalis River.
In 1864, the vicinity of McCleary was under the ownership of the
Northern Pacific Railroad Company, obtained through a land grant given by
President Harrison, and several homesteads including the Jake Anderson and
Andrew Beck tracts. The Beck farm was located on what is now occupied by the
McCleary Hotel and the town park.
The Early Township |
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"Summit was the first town in the McCleary area north of
present-day McCleary. Summit had a general store, a post office, and a saloon
(photo at right). The Summit School, which boasted of classes through the
eleventh grade, is presently the McCleary grange. Early family names were Beck,
Mommsen, Sine, Mohney, Tornquist, and Craft."
Although the Sine family could be counted in Summit, in fact they
lived across the present freeway and had their own town, Sine. Sine had their
own post office and school district. Henry McCleary made an agreement with the
postmasters of both Sine and Summit before he arranged for the McCleary post
office.
In 1897, the abundant supply of local Western Red Cedar lured Mr.
Henry McCleary from Guernsey County, Ohio, to start
a small cedar lumber mill. The success and subsequent expansion of this mill,
coupled with the milling of Douglas Fir and ship spar production, created the
concentration of people in the area known as McCleary Camp. |
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Note: Henry did not come to SW Washington direct from Ohio. He
originally left Ohio for Montana, then lived in Pierce County for awhile, where
he worked with Foy. He had been in Washington for a few years before coming
here.
"Henry McCleary had started a mill with Edward Foy in the Garden City
area in 1897. One year later they moved their cedar mill to the present town
site, which has been described as a cedar swamp. Mr. Estes, who had a mill at
White Star, had earlier established a mill at this site. Logs and lumber were
hauled to the railroad at Summit."
Soon a community, composed of people drawn by employment opportunities,
developed around the McCleary mill operations. Postal service was available in
the vicinity as early as 1878; however, it would not be until 1910 that
McCleary would boast its own post office. Telephone service was available in
the McCleary Camp area in 1899, and the following year saw the invasion of the
railroad and automobile.
In September, 1901, a one-room school with space for 60 students was
opened. Later, the McCleary School on the hill was constructed with an
enrollment of 180.
The first public building in the McCleary Camp community was the "New
Dance Hall" and was built in 1903. It has served the community for every
imaginable purpose, including the once "Missionary Alliance Church", and exists
today as the McCleary Community Church at its original location on Main
Street.
"A school district was established in 1909. The post office was moved
from Summit to McCleary in 1910. The same year Henry McCleary took over a
bankrupt door plant in Chehalis and moved the machinery to McCleary. The town
quickly became a bustling mill town attracting workers and new families from
surrounding communities. Several businesses, churches, and rooming houses were
established. McCleary was a company-owned town until 1941, when Henry McCleary
sold to Simpson." NOTE: According to A special edition (12/4/58) of The
McCleary Stimulator, ". . . the world's largest fir door plant
moved to McCleary in 1912".
In the summer of 1910 further expansion of the mill was accomplished by
clearing 40 acres to build a 900-foot-long door plant, a plant destined to
become the largest door factory in the world.
The 10-year period following the start of the door plant proved to be
that of rapid construction and growth and much of the town as we now know it
came into being. The door company began building houses, numbering them
consecutively from No. 1 up into the 90s. These houses were rented to the new
company employees moving into the area. Many of these people became permanent
residents and their family names appear in the telephone directory today.
Hard Times
Growth continued until the depression of 1929. The setback was followed
two years later by the closing of the saw mill, due to lack of local timber.
Some difficulties were encountered during the 1930s until the bleak days of
1941 when the timber was completely gone and the door plant was scheduled to
close its doors.
Meanwhile Simpson Timber Company was seeking plants with which to mill
its timber. During World War II the price of timber was frozen at a low
rate while the price of finished wood products was frozen at a high price.
Simpson's Executive Vice President Chrysogonus H. "Chris" Kreienbaum "was
convinced that 'within a few years, we were going to get some kind of
legislation that would allow for cooperative management of national forest and
private lands.' "
"Kreienbaum received a telephone call on the morning of December 31,
1941, from Montesano attorney W. H. Abel. Abel numbered among his clients many
forest products corporations and individuals, including Henry McCleary, the
colorful octogenarian owner of the fir lumber, plywood and door manufacturing
operations that bore his name - in the town that likewise bore his name. Henry
McCleary was ready to sell - but there was a catch.
"Earlier, in the summer of 1941, Carl Macke, manager of the Olympic
Plywood Plant, told Kreienbaum that McCleary intended to sell or junk his
operations before the end of the year. Kreienbaum was interested in acquiring
them and keeping them going because Simpson and the Shelton economy had grown
dependent on the McCleary properties. The McCleary Door Plant used green stock
lumber shipped in from Shelton, and the McCleary Mill was a partner in the
Joint Power Operation Plant.
Sell the Town?
"Acquisition of McCleary's plywood mill and door plant would allow the
Company to integrate its entire operation. Simpson could utilize its fir logs
for plywood or door-plant cuttings or sell them on the open market. The
purchase would give Simpson a large manufacturing payroll in eastern Grays
Harbor County, enlarge its Shelton Working Circle, and add what Kreienbaum
described as '6,000 acres of beautiful, restocking, cutover land.' It would
also bolster Simpson's chances for working out a sustained yield arrangement
with the Forest Service because it would move Simpson holdings farther into
Grays Harbor County and justify more Forest Service timber for the Company in
the Olympic National Forest.
"The board approved Kreienbaum's recommendation, provided that a
reasonable deal could be struck with McCleary. At several meetings over the
course of the summer of 1941, little progress was made. Simpson was interested
only in the door and plywood plants in McCleary and the sawmill in Shelton.
McCleary wanted to sell the entire town, including the houses, the utilities,
the hotel, the bank and the community church - which he also owned.
"Kreienbaum already knew that the three plants were in 'terrible
condition because McCleary hadn't spent a nickel on them for a long period.
They were all run down. The houses were in deplorable condition; the streets
were all dirt (dusty all summer and muddy all winter) and there were no
sidewalks in residential areas; the hotel was empty, and a bunch of bums were
sleeping there at night.'
"When the talks broke down, a relieved Hillier [] told Kreienbaum that
Simpson was 'damn lucky you didn't get hold of that junkpile.'
"On the morning of December 31, 1941, attorney Abel phoned Kreienbaum
with the news that Henry McCleary intended to sell out that day, and if Simpson
didn't buy him out, he would just 'junk out' his operation. For a variety of
reasons, including income tax purposes, the decision would have to be reached
by midnight that night, New Year's Eve.
Talks and Terms
"Bill Reed [] immediately drove down from Seattle to Abel's office in
Montesano for the negotiations. After much haggling about such matters as plant
inventories (which were worth almost as much as the plants themselves) and
supplies, the agreements were signed and Bill handed over a check for $600,000
(covering the first payment for the plants) to Henry McCleary at 11 p.m. - one
hour before the deadline. In a matter of hours, the Simpson Logging Company had
grown from a few hundred employees to 1,400.
"Alas, Henry McCleary had little time to enjoy his retirement. He became
ill and died on May 8, 1943, at the age of 82."
"Along with McCleary's other holdings, Simpson acquired a run-down
town. McCleary needed a new water and power system, and its main road was more
chuckholes than street. Simpson made the necessary improvements, then sold the
town to its 1,200 residents. Simpson Logging Company had no interest in
becoming a landlord to McCleary residents, and the Company arranged for titles
of homes to be transferred to those who had been Henry McCleary's tenants as
soon as they had paid 18 months' rent." [caption on page 73]
"Kreienbaum quickly discovered that, more than a plywood mill and door
plant, Simpson was actually running a town - and a ramshackle town at that. The
winter of 1942 was one of the coldest in memory, wreaking havoc on water lines,
telephone lines and electrical wiring. With the municipal problems piling up,
Hillier [] suggested that Simpson sell the town to the 1,200 citizens of
McCleary, who would incorporate it and run it. Simpson placed all of the vacant
property in the town with a real estate agent (Frank Smith) in exchange for the
agent's arranging the transfer of ownership of the houses and lots to Henry
McCleary's tenants as soon as they had paid 18 months' rent.
"Simpson repaired McCleary's water system, which originally had been
located in the door plant itself. Kreienbaum recalled, 'The people in the town
were drinking the same water that we were afraid to drink when we were down
there.' Simpson arranged for the town water system to be cut off from the
plant, and built a new reservoir, cleaned out the creek, enlarged and improved
the dam, and put the plants and the town on their own separate chlorinated
water systems. The water system was sold to the town for less than the cost of
the improvements. The Company repaired the light system, installed a large
transformer station and constructed a new power plant, which it also sold to
the town. In order to provide a stable tax base for the newly-incorporated
town, Simpson requested that the plywood and door plants be included within
McCleary's boundaries.
"The purchase marked a rebirth for McCleary and a turning point for
Simpson, which launched an unprecedented era of improvement and expansion."
New Year, New Town
On January 1, 1942, instead of permanent closure, a notice appeared on
the office door advising of the sale of the plant and announcing that the new
owners, Simpson Logging Company, now Simpson Timber Company, requested that all
personnel continue as usual. On this historic date we find the end of one era
for McCleary and the start of a new and brightening era for the future.
During the early months of 1942, it became apparent that the Simpson
Logging Company was not interested in retaining the responsibility of
administering the utilities, including light and water plants, which served the
more than 300 families making up McCleary. Simpson officials were knowledgeable
of tragedies which had occurred in the past due to inadequate utilities,
especially those caused by fire. Prior to their ownership, the school had
caught fire in 1926, incurring substantial damage including the loss of over
2,000 books, and the door plant was destroyed by fire in 1928. Because of their
close relationship with the previous owners, they knew that within a few years
both sanitary and storm sewer facilities would have to be constructed.
It took several meetings between Simpson staff and the community leaders
to develop a plan that would enable the Timber Company to get exclusively in
the wood product business and allow the community to stand on its own feet.
On December 5, 1942, voters approved incorporation, and McCleary was
incorporated as a Town of the fourth class with a population of 1,200 citizens
on January 9, 1943. Like many similar communities, the articles of
incorporation provided the formation of a taxing base from which the necessary
revenues were generated to purchase the utilities and meet the expenses of the
town Government. The concept became a reality when Simpson officials insisted
the plant site be included in the town limits.
The first city fathers elected in the Town of McCleary were: Lee Wills,
Mayor; and William Rodgers, William Soller, Oscar Pearson, H. G. Sherwood and
Ralph Roser, councilmen. Vernon Powell was elected treasurer.
Because of the past status of "Company Town" tagged on the community,
the homes and buildings had not been "kept up" to normal standards. With the
opportunity to purchase and the security offered by the new owners, however,
the impetus was provided not only to clean up the town and houses, but to
instill community pride still evident today.
"Fortunately, through the application of Sustained Yield legislation
enacted by Congress in 1944, the forest resources were restored." The McCleary
Stimulator, 12/4/1958.
Another important business transaction vital to the Town of McCleary,
which almost guarantees the town's survival, occurred in the year 1946 when the
Shelton Cooperative Sustained Yield Unit was formed by Simpson. This was an
agreement with the U.S. Forest Service for joint management of company and
federal forest lands supplying continual harvest of logs as raw materials in
the plants of Shelton and McCleary, for a period of 100 years.
Although Simpson Logging Company improved the utilities prior to selling
them to the Town, the need for adequate fire protection and a new sewer system
soon became apparent. In 1952, a complete two-stage sewage treatment plant
together with new water mains and a storage tank were constructed at a cost of
$500,000.
The 1950s might be described as the new building era in the history of
McCleary as it was in these years that the town constructed a new school,
hospital, fire and police station, library and city hall. A new post office was
built in 1962. Many of these buildings are the measure of success of "Operation
Second Growth", a town community study initiated in 1955. Its purpose was to
identify the Town's problems and plan for further economic stabilization and
growth.
In 1962 Simpson Timber Company donated a locomotive to the town which
had been purchased by Henry McCleary in 1905. It stands across from City Hall
in a seven-acre park - a testament to the role both McCleary and Simpson have
played in serving the community.
Sources
- Narrative provided by Helen Lake, McCleary Real Estate.
- Narrative about McCleary in the PTI Communications Directory compiled
by the Chehalis Valley Historical Society.
- Family Trees - Simpson's Centennial Story by Robert Spector.
Copyright 1990 by Simpson Investment Company.
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This page was prepared by InFocus. Last
Updated 4/30/03.