City of Raymond Pacific County, Washington

Name: City of Raymond
Address: Washington

RAYMOND: A residential lumber town at the fork of the Willapa River on Highway 101. Captain John Vail took a Donation Land Claim on the Willapa River (Riverdale section of Raymond) in February 1853, after his ship, the Willimantic, wrecked off Grays Harbor. The homestead was known as the Home and Orchard of the Vail Family for many years after his death in 1856. In 1865, Dr. Edward T. Balch, retired English army surgeon, established his home on the South Fork of the Willapa River. Captain George Johnson bought the claim of the Perkins Brothers in 1875. Most of the Johnson property was muddy tideland but the high ground came to be known as Johnsons Island while the family lived there. In 1892-93, the Northern Pacific Railroad laid tracks over the mudflats below the island on the way to the terminus at South Bend. Stella (Johnson) Raymond moved back to her fathers property on the island (where she was born in 1875) with her husband Leslie V. Raymond in 1899. In 1902-03, Alexander C. Little (former mayor of Aberdeen 1893) rowed a boat to the tideflats at the forks of the Willapa and decided to promote a town there. He immediately set to work attracting Jacob Siler and W. S. Cram to the site to build a sawmill, and approached L. V. Raymond about selling portions of his father-in-laws old homestead. L. V. Raymond, who was already selling land, liked Littles enthusiasm and formed a company called the Raymond Land and Improvement Company (November 1903) to survey a townsite, sell property, build sawmills and encourage the location of other industries in the town. The post office department established an office Feb. 23, 1904, and named the office Raymond in honor of the first postmaster, L. V. Raymond. Later in the year, the improvement company filed a survey for the town of Raymond (October 1904). An election on August 4, 1907, approved incorporation of the town and A.C. Little was elected mayor. In the early years, Raymonds business section and part of the residential section, was built on stilts five or six feet above the tidelands and sloughs that crisscrossed the site. Elevated sidewalks and streets connected most of the buildings. Twice a day the tides washed away refuse under and around the town. In 1913, Raymond claimed a population of 6,000 and had a reputation as a wild and wooly lumber mill town. City fathers resisted the unwanted recognition with promotions of Raymond as The Empire City of Willapa Harbor, The City That Does Things, and the City of Smokestacks. Raymonds most active years were from 1912 to 1932, when 20 mills and factories lined the waterfront. In 1989, a single, high-technology sawmill dominates the Raymond waterfront and the city built on stilts was surrounded by a dike.

“A Name for Every Place Around Pacific County, from A to Z.” Chinook Observer, 13 May 2013, https://chinookobserver.com/2013/05/13/a-name-for-every-place-around-pacific-county-from-a-to-z/.

Mapped Location

City of Raymond: The mapped location is an approximation and should not be used for navigation or wayfinding.

Information

General information on City of Raymond

Feature Type: Incorporated

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for City of Raymond

A brief list of names that this geographic feature has been named

Name	Description
City of Raymond	Official
Raymond	Official

Origin Notes and History of City of Raymond

References to City of Raymond that document the origin of its place name

RAYMOND, a town in the north central part of Pacific County, named for L. V. Raymond, owner of the townsite. (Postmaster at Raymond, in Names MSS. Letter 455.)

Edmond S. Meany in Origin of Washington Geographic Names

Meany, Edmond S., Origin of Washington Geographic Names, 1923 University of Washington, pp 241 | Origin of Washington Geographic Names

Pacific County

Political Boundaries

Last updated: 2026-09-27