Museum Debuts Centralia Armistice Day Exhibit

An exhibit described as “probably the most controversial display ever” at the Lewis County Historical Museum by Peter Lahmann, president of the Lewis County Historical Society, debuted Thursday night in Chehalis.

Artifacts, photographs and original publications related to the Nov. 11, 1919, Centralia Armistice Day Tragedy (also referred to as the Centralia Massacre) will be shown at the museum through the centennial anniversary of the event this November. A clash between local members of the Industrial Workers of the World and the American Legion resulted in six dead and a legal process that drew the attention of the nation.

Tensions resulting from the tragedy have long simmered in Lewis County. Factions of people who hold fast to differing beliefs over what happened that day have at times squared off in the court of public opinion, including this year as an ad-hoc committee has debated various ways to mark the 100-year anniversary. 

Those differences did not manifest during the reception Thursday at the museum as Lahmann, one of two men in attendance to wear an authentic World War I uniform for the occasion, pointed out items such as weapons allegedly used during the confrontation to dozens of attendees. Booking photos of the seven IWW members convicted of murder during proceedings — which some historians consider to have been tainted — dotted one side of a display board next to newspaper reports on the aftermath.

“I wanted this to be the ‘voters pamphlet’ of displays,” Lahmann said. “Not just the views of the IWW and not just those of the Legion … The story in Centralia is that we don’t talk about what happened. I have at least one relative who thinks we should have just let it lie and leave these things alone instead of doing something like this.”

The first thing museum patrons saw when they walked in the door Thursday was 43 seconds of video of the aftermath recorded on Nov. 12, 1919. The looped footage shows people rifling through debris in downtown Centralia and members of law enforcement marching down the street in a show of force meant to keep the peace in response to rioting the night before.

Jason Mattson, Executive Director of the Lewis County Historical Museum, said museum staff found the video online and purchased the rights to show a digital copy for a limited amount of time. Also on display are photographs taken during the trial of IWW members accused of murdering members of the American Legion and more than 50 photos of downtown Centralia submitted as evidence during court proceedings.

“I think it’s all a pretty nice display,” Mattson said. “I think for someone who even has a light interest in it, they’ll definitely learn some new things and see some things they haven’t seen before. I think even people with a vested interest in the subject will see some new photos other items they might not have known about before.”

Numerous artifacts caught the attention of Marie Jenkins, a 2007 graduate of Centralia High School who participated in a scholastic reenactment of the Centralia Massacre that placed second in a state competition. Jenkins and other students later gave their presentation at a national competition at the University of Maryland.

Jenkins spent a lot of time pouring over the various newspaper pages displayed in the middle of the Armistice Day exhibit. Many bore oversized headlines such as “IWW Confesses Wholesale Murder Plot”, which was splashed across the top of an issue of the Tacoma News Tribune. 

A different issue of the News Tribune published the day after the clash incorrectly identified Wesley Everett, an IWW member who shot Legion member Dale Hubbard and was later lynched off the Mellen Street Bridge by a riotous mob, as local IWW leader Britt “Brick” Smith.

“It was something we originally researched in the sixth grade,” Jenkins said. “We liked the idea of learning more about it, but it’s this big thing that nobody really talked a lot about.”

The museum display will not be the only manner in which residents of the Twin Cities continue to talk about Armistice Day during the lead up to Nov. 11, 2019. A showing of the movie “Labor Wars,” which includes a segment about the incident, is scheduled to be held in September at the Chehalis Theater. The museum will also be publishing a brochure next month that includes a map for a walking tour of historic places connected to the event.

Parties are interested in installing a second monument to the Centralia Massacre in George Washington Park, where The Sentinel statue currently sits as a memorial to the Legion members killed during the tragedy continue to negotiate, Lahmann said, but there isn’t much optimism that a consensus can be reached in time for the anniversary. City of Centralia staff have said they will only approve a design proposal for a new monument that comes with the approval of all parties involved.

Centralia City Council member Max Vogt, who serves on the museum board of directors, said he feels people need to learn more about Centralia’s history with Armistice Day and that he feels there are elements of it that are still relevant today.

“Hopefully this display here is a step where people can learn about a part of local history from both sides of the equation,” Vogt said.