Centralia, city, Lewis county, southwest Washington, U.S., near the confluence of the Chehalis and Skookumchuck rivers. It lies midway between Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington. The town site, then in Oregon Territory, was founded in 1852 by J.G. Cochran and George Washington; Washington, the son of an African slave and an Englishwoman, had been denied the right to settle, and Cochran, his adoptive father, had filed the claim for him. Washington purchased the claim from his father when the newly created Washington Territory established different ownership laws. He platted the city as Centerville in 1875; it was renamed Centralia in 1891.

Lumbering is Centralia’s chief industry; the economy depends also on dairying, poultry raising, and fruit farming in the area. Centralia (community) College was established in 1925. Nearby Fort Borst Park contains Borst Blockhouse (1852) and Borst Farmstead (1860). The city centre contains several buildings that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, as well as a monument (1924) to the victims of the Centralia Massacre (1919), an incident in the region’s violent labour history. Inc. 1886. Pop. (2000) 14,742; (2010) 16,336.