City of Camas history

Mill incorporates The Columbia River Paper Co. was incorporated at LaCamas on March 14, 1884, and the Washington Territory had its first paper mill.

In 1885, a man named John Nagar opened a brewery just north of the La Camas, and within a short time the town was home to three saloons.

Stearns returned to La Camas in July 1886, taking charge again and returning to the villa he and his late wife had built on Lacamas Lake.

Early map showing Vancouver, Camas, and Washougal, 1887

But on April 18, 1888, the county sheriff shut down the floating saloon, and the temperance forces could claim a temporary victory.

In 1889, just prior to statehood, the Washington State Grange was founded in a meeting held in MacMaster’s building in LaCamas.

Workers at Camas Paper Mill, Camas, 1900

Officially incorporated on June 18, 1906, the city is named after the camas lily, a plant with an onion-like bulb prized by Native Americans.

In 1908, O. F. Johnson opened the Camas State Bank, later to become First National.

By 1910 the mill had doubled its original manufacturing capacity and was turning out four million pounds of paper a year.

Straub’s has always been where it is currently located since 1911.

In 1914, Crown Columbia merged with Willamette Paper to form Crown Willamette, which at the time was the second-largest paper manufacturer in the world.

Then, in 1928, the Zellerbach Corporation bought all the stock of Crown Willamette and created the Crown Zellerbach Corporation.

Stoller Memorial Chapel was founded in 1931 by Fred Stoller.

He sold it to Gordon Brown in 1965 and it became Brown’s Funeral Home.

In later years, Crown Zellerbach Corporations changes ownership and name several times - currently being merged, but known as James River Corporation, it is now known as Georgia Pacific.2006 The City celebrated its 100 year's as an incorporated city.

In 2008, estimated household median income in Camas was $73,302, more than $15,000 higher than the state average.