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Please read one of our favorite renditions written by in 1955 by Hope Clark (1898 - 1993)
Brief History of Bay Center The early settlement was referred to as Palix or Goose, but when the Post
Office was granted in 1876, the name Bay Center was used. At that time Main Street was extended eastward on a 1000 foot
trestle to a wharf in the channel of the Palix River. This provided deep water access for fishing boats and oyster craft
as well as the twice daily stop by steamboats hauling passengers or freight around Shoalwater Bay.
By the mid to late 1800's Bay
Center was the hub of oyster harvesting, even supplying oysters to San Francisco during the 'Gold Rush'. Later crab
and salmon fishing were added as well as occasional extraction of tuna, bait shrimp, sardines and clams.
Bush Pioneer Park
Originally a Donation Land Claim, the park soon became a public area for meetings and picnics attracting
up to a thousand people. The park area was eventually purchased by A.S. Bush and designated the 'Evergreen Park' in
his 1891 plat of Bay Center. In the 1930s the Pioneer Association began collecting donations for the purchase of the
park from Bush in order to insure it's continued public use.
By 1949 they were able to acquire the site and deed it to the County
with the provision that it would always remain a public park. Pacific County, hoping to make it part of the State Park
system, deeded it to the State. Some improvements were made by the State Parks system and in 1942 additional county tax foreclosed
property was added to the park.
The State Park systems added the kitchen facilities (no longer there), hired a caretaker and in
the 1960's returned the park to the County. Since then it has been managed cooperatively by the County and the residents
of Bay Center.
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Bay Center Association - History
The Bay Center Association
(formerly known as Bay Center Improvement Association) is the local civic organization whose membership includes all residents
of Bay Center. There are no dues. This organization is the 'Chamber of Commerce' equivalent through which the
citizens of unincorporated Bay Center conduct business with such entities as Port of Willapa Harbor, local law enforcement,
County Commissioners, Planning Department, and PUD which is responsible for our water and electricity.
Bay Center Association (BCA)
is also responsible for maintaining a community kiosk and the two cemetaries, one of which is a historical cemetary.
BCA also supports children's activities, including the community annual Christmas Program which includes the arrival
of Santa Claus; also the annual Easter Egg Hunt at the historic Bush Pioneer Park.
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