City of Hoquiam history

In 1891 Alex and his brother Robert combined their logging interests into the Polson Brothers Logging Company, which, 12 years later, after affiliating with the Merrill and Ring Corporation, was renamed the Polson Logging Company.

The first logging mill was built in 1894 and eventually the dense forests supported an additional 36 lumber mills.

In fact, by 1897, only one additional mill -- the E. K. Wood Company -- was built in Hoquiam.

Although the Northern Pacific did not extend its line into Hoquiam until 1899, rumors that Hoquiam might become the railroad's Western terminus attracted immense settlement and investment.

There were at least 20 Grays Harbor County publications founded before 1900.

In 1906 Hoquiam had eight labor unions, and during the annual Labor Day Parade, the combined Hoquiam-Aberdeen labor movement regularly turned out well over a thousand marchers.

When the Hoquiam branch of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks formed in 1907, its membership consisted primarily of Hoquiam's elites, including Frank Lamb, George Emerson, and Robert Lytle.

On May 1, 1909, the Hoquiam Finnish Workingman’s Association was incorporated with the State of Washington, its declared purpose being: “to educate, elevate and improve mankind, and particularly the workingman, mentally, morally, and socially” (“Articles of Incorporation,” May 1, 1909).

On June 1, 1910, John A. Wise, a Hoquiam sawyer, died after his head was split open by a cut-off saw.

In 1922, her mills cut more than one billion board feet of lumber.

In 1923, IWW William McKay was shot in the back of the head by a company gunman at the Bay City Mill in Aberdeen.

In 1927, a pulp mill was established under the name of Grays Harbor Pulp Company and a year later Hammermill Paper bought stock in the company and built a paper mill that later became the Grays Harbor Pulp & Paper Company.

According to Grays Harbor historian Ed Van Sykle in his book, They Tried to Cut it All, production levels continued at a high level until 1929, at which time “loggers were working 30 – 50 miles back in the hills.”

Also during 1932, one group organized a cooperative lumber mill and repair garage to provide jobs for the unemployed, while fresh food was secured for distribution among those who could not afford to purchase such goods.

During the great lumber strike of 1935, somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 workers marched between Aberdeen and Hoquiam on July 8, 1935, in a massive protest against the use of state troops to break the strike.

World War IIThe road to warThe United States at warWar productionFinancing the warSocial consequences of the warThe 1944 electionThe new United States role in world affairs

The peak Cold War years, 1945–60The Truman Doctrine and containmentPostwar domestic reorganizationThe Red ScareThe Korean WarPeace, growth, and prosperityEisenhower’s second termDomestic issuesWorld affairsAn assessment of the postwar era

Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge (1988), a sanctuary for migratory shorebirds, lies just west of the city.

And then, in 1990, folks began to realize there was such a thing as a northern spotted owl.

Grays Harbor unemployment was 19.5% and climbing in 1993, just 2 years after the moratorium on logging.

In 2005, the stadium was filled by 10,000 spectators for the 100th installment of the Aberdeen-Hoquiam High School football contest, the oldest such rivalry in Washington state.