McCormick, Washington

The town was built in 1897 around a mill for the McCormick Lumber Company, owned by George and Harry McCormick, which began operations the following year.^[2][3] Located on a branch line of the Northern Pacific Railroad, a post office was named after the mill and established around that time,^[a] remaining in operation until 1929.^[4][5][6][3] The community's location was situated in forested lands considered to contain the highest quality timber in the county.^[3]

The mill was rebuilt after it suffered a near-total loss in 1909.^[7] It closed in 1927 as lumber production at the plant had become idle.^[8][9] The town began to be demolished, with materials salvaged by a new owner of the company.^[10] A tuberculosis sanitorium was opened in 1935 and closed in 1941.^[11][12]

Considered a ghost town afterwards despite continual habitation, most of the property was bought out beginning in 1954 by George Fraser, a retired tailor from Centralia.^[13]