The statue of George and Mary Jane Washington sits on the edge of George Washington Park in downtown Centralia.
This sign identifying the Washington Lawn Cemetery in Centralia will be replaced with an archway over the main entrance and a commemorative plaque.
Nearly one year after the unveiling of a bronze statue in George Washington Park to mark the 200th birthday of park namesake and Centralia founder George Washington, his wife Mary Jane and their dog, volunteers continue their work of ensuring the Washington family is properly recognized for centuries to come.
Work was recently completed on a pair of projects at the Washington Lawn Cemetery where the founding family is buried. A concrete observation platform was installed near the Washington family plot by Mudslingers, Inc. of Onalaska. Centralia Monument performed restorative work on the headstones and obelisks within the plot.
They also installed two granite monuments, including one that lists the names of the so-called “First Family of Centralia.” The other focuses on George Washington specifically, detailing his life as a man who traveled from Missouri along the Oregon Trail to become the only black town founder in the Pacific Northwest.
Both projects were funded by a grant of about $25,000 from the state Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation during the 2017-2019 capital budget cycle.
“They did a fantastic job,” said Bob Russell, a Chehalis resident who spearheaded the cemetery project on behalf of the George Washington Bicentennial Committee, which was also responsible for the bronze statue. “The headstones had all settled in the past 150 years and have now all been cleaned at this time. The owner of (Centralia Monuments) really got into the project and did a lot of additional work, too.”
Russell revealed during a Centralia City Council meeting last week that the state decided to extend the Historic Preservation Capital Grant, which was awarded to the committee and administered by the City of Centralia, for an additional year. An additional $8,500 of grant funding was put into that account at the end of the biennium to be used for the creation and installation of an archway above the main entrance to the cemetery off North Washington Avenue.
The archway will sit on top of the two interior obelisks at the entryway with decorative fencing connecting it to the outer platforms. Space for a commemorative plaque is included in the right side of the arch support. Former Centralia Mayor Bonnie Canaday announced during the same city council meeting that a donation by the George Washington committee would cover the cost of the plaque.
The City of Centralia, Centralia Foundation and the Centralia College endowment named after George Washington will each receive donations of $5,715 from the committee, Canaday said. The funds are left over from the money raised for the statue and other events last summer.
Canaday, Brian Mittge and other members of the committee unveiled their own plaque at the council meeting that will be installed next to the statue of the Washington family that sits at the edge of Washington Park. Two quotes by George Washington are inscribed on the plaque.
“The statue was originally envisioned to sit in the center of George Washington park next to the granite monument that tells George’s life story,” Mittge said. “Late in the process, Bonnie and (Mayor Lee Coumbs) suggested, ‘why don’t we put it on Pearl Street where more people will see it?’ I think it’s a fantastic location for the statue, but we realized it’s far enough away from the monument that people visiting might not realize who they are. So, that’s why we put this plaque together.”
