Third Street becomes William McCleary Road

Oct. 10, 2016. The old 410, the former main road to Olympia.

C.B. Mann, Apothecary, Olympia, WT

Mar. 31, 2012. Turned up in a plowed field outside of town, on a farm once owned by J.T. Hicklin

No matter the season

Dec. 8, 2010. The view from Cedar St. up on Rabbit Hill, no matter the season, reveals McCleary to be a town carved into the forest. We are independent from sprawl, out here in the twilight zone where the Aberdeen and Olympia spheres of influence do not touch. McCleary is a dangerous town to underestimate, as so many of our more urban neighbors have done.

The McCleary Mansion

Nov. 17, 2012.

Built in Olympia in the 1920s. The large foyer was designed to accommodate the expected social gatherings due to Ada McCleary's high position within the DAR. Unfortunately, Ada died before construction of this building was complete. The two trees in front are actual cedars of Lebanon. The back yard, where a newer building now resides, was once a beautiful and large garden. The McCleary bedroom, which was basically an enormous apartment, was on the upper floor to the left.

After Henry McCleary's death the building was cut up into apartments, but by the 1960s it was an office building and included an orthodontist. In recent times it has become the headquarters for a lobbyist group.

Sunday morning

Aug. 14, 2016, looking east from the Community Center.

I don't believe it is an exaggeration to say it is possible on a very early Sunday morning to lie down in the middle of Simpson Avenue and take a little nap without being disturbed by vehicles.

Over 50 years ago this was the old 410, the main highway between Olympia and the Coast.

Simpson Door Plant

July 28, 2016

Henry McCleary purchased the Chehalis Fir Door Co. in 1910 and moved the entire operation from Lewis County, including most of the workers, next to his mill (which was in present day Beerbower Park). When the door plant was constructed it was the last word in modern technology. The next 20 years would be a real boom period for the company town. McCleary also owned lumber operations in Shelton and Olympia.

Henry sold his one-man town to the Simpson Co. on the last day of 1941, including the company houses and utilities. The town incorporated in Jan. 1943.

Junuary sky over the smokestack

June 30, 2012

That smokestack, which has not been used in years, used to occasionally and happily belch black smoke which the Pacific winds quickly carried to Olympia, where it settled fetid and stagnant like in a bowl. It was our gift.

Entering Grays Harbor County

May 15, 2013

Coming from Thurston County it can frequently be sunny, until you hit the Grays Harbor County border 3 miles before you reach McCleary. The boundary for the Grays Harbor/Puget Sound drainage basins is about at this point. There are a few homes here in Thurston County that have a McCleary mailing address and are part of the Grays Harbor PUD.

This 3 mile cut from the county border on SR 8 to McCleary didn't exist until about 1910. Prior to that, wagons went over the Hicklin Hill to the north and connected to the present Tornquist Road. It took a wagon from Olympia all day to reach this point and in this area there stood a two-story inn  known as the Halfway House, since it was halfway between Olympia and Grays Harbor. J.T. Hicklin, who lived in this area and settled when U.S. Grant was President, was an early settler who constructed the road.

Hicklin's name still exists today on part of the road. Some of the street signs humorously say "Hickland" Road.

Main Street

Looking north. Those hills belong to Mason County, the southernmost lower vestiges of the Olympic Peninsula. McCleary sits near where three counties meet, Grays Harbor, Mason, and Thurston. When you call 911 you never know which county is going to answer. I like to think McCleary sits in the twilight zone where the Aberdeen and Olympia spheres of influence don't quite touch. Mar. 10, 2013.