Per my conversation last week on “Let’s Talk About It” with Chronicle Publisher Michael Wagar, I feel that the Fort Borst Park blockhouse has been treated like a red-headed stepchild.
It’s been sitting in the same spot in Fort Borst Park for as long as I can remember, but prior to that it was in Rotary Riverside Park from 1915 to 1922, moved as a precaution to flooding on the Skookumchuck River.
A question came up as to its authenticity, and I can tell you with great certainty that it is original. I have an 88-year-old relative in the area whose ancestors settled in Rochester/Grand Mound around 1850 and helped to build the fort between 1854 and 1855.
His great-great grandfather Kirtley hewed the logs. My aunt’s high school honors English class wrote a book in 1941 titled “Centralia, the First Fifty Years, 1845-1900.” In chapter 5, page 57, it states, “The Skookumchuck blockhouse is one of the best-preserved landmarks of the pioneer life in Washington.”
The Borst Village has been built up and added onto in order to make a village of sorts for tourists and school children to learn about Centralia’s early history; the blockhouse belongs back with those buildings where it sat originally to enhance said village.
The Borst Home has been refurbished, the schoolhouse was built as a new structure just a few years ago, and the church was added recently. So why does it matter even if the blockhouse is not completely original?
Yes, it’s had a new roof and some repairs over the years as all buildings do if they’re to stay standing. I seem to recall an Eagle Scout project about 20 or so years ago that involved replacing the roof.
The Borst family was very important to this area and to the state of Washington. In fact, twice the Borsts lived in the fort. It needs to be moved back where it originated before it falls into more disrepair. Then people can see it as part of the village where it belongs, by the Skookumchuck River. It would be good for the tourist trade and it’s important to preserve our history.
Greg Isaacson
Chehalis
