George Washington (Washington pioneer)

George Washington (August 15, 1817 – August 26, 1905) was the founder of the town of Centralia, Washington. He is remembered as a leading African American pioneer of the Pacific Northwest.

Born in Virginia, the son of a former slave and a woman of English descent, Washington was raised by a white couple named Anna and James Cochran.

When he was young, the Cochrans moved west, first to Ohio, then to Missouri. Washington became a skilled rifleman and taught himself to read. He was given full rights as a citizen after the Cochrans petitioned the state of Missouri, except for the right to vote.

Fearing he might lose his freedom after the passage of the Compromise of 1850, Washington moved the Cochrans and himself over the Oregon Trail. Arriving in the Oregon Territory, they found he could not establish a claim land for himself because of his race. The family settled near the confluence of the Chehalis and Skookumchuck rivers, and the Cochrans claimed the land for the family in 1852. When Washington Territory was split from the Oregon Territory in 1853, the new territory's statutes did not preclude negroes from owning land, and the Cochrans sold their land to him for $6000. George cared for his adoptive parents the rest of their lives, and later married local widow Mary Jane Cooness, helping raise her son.

Anticipating the arrival of the Northern Pacific railroad in 1872, Washington platted the city of Centerville on his land, naming the streets after biblical references and setting aside land for a park (now the site of the Carnegie Library) and churches of many denominations. The town was incorporated as Centralia, Washington in 1886 after it was discovered that another town in the territory already bore the name Centerville. This made Washington the only black person to found a town in the Pacific Northwest.

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