Editing Fords Prairie, Washington (section)

==History==
===Native American settlement===
The area was originally called "Tasunshun", meaning "resting place", by the [[Upper Chehalis]] tribe, the Quiyaisk.<ref>{{cite news |last1=McDonald |first1=Julie |title=Descendant of Pioneers Shares Living History in Free One-Woman Play |url=https://www.chronline.com/stories/julie-mcdonald-descendant-of-pioneers-shares-living-history-in-free-one-woman-play,6979 |access-date=December 12, 2021 |work=The Chronicle |date=October 28, 2019}}</ref><ref name="SCSWW">{{cite news |last1=Graham |first1=Julie M. |title=Small communities surrounding what would be Centralia come and go |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/centralia/centralia-chronicle/2002/04-06/page-50 |access-date=February 27, 2025 |work=The Chronicle |date=April 6, 2002 |pages=14—15}}</ref> The tribe kept a permanent village on the lands, often used during the winter. Dwellings were usually huts in a [[tipi]]-style construction of cedar planks.<ref name="CTFFY">{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Herndon |title=Centralia: The First Fifty Years, 1854-1900 |date=1942 |publisher=The Daily Chronicle, F.H. Cole Printing Company |url=https://archive.org/details/centraliafirstfi00smit |access-date=March 6, 2025}}</ref>{{rp|4,78}}

===Beginnings of Fords Prairie===
Fords Prairie was named after Judge Sidney S. Ford, Sr. and his wife Nancy, who were among the earliest white pioneers who settled north of the [[Columbia River]] in 1846 in what was then a part of [[Oregon Territory]]. The Fords followed the wagon trail created by Michael T. Simmons, founder of what would become [[Tumwater, Washington|Tumwater]] and George Waunch, of [[Waunch Prairie, Washington|Waunch Prairie]]. Receiving permission from the Quiyasik, their {{convert|640|acre|adj=on}}{{efn|The Ford family land donation claim varies in size based on the source, in some cases listed as {{convert|620|acre|ha}}.<ref name="CTFFY"/>{{rp|15}}}} [[Donation Land Claim]] abutting the [[Chehalis River (Washington)|Chehalis River]] became the center of what became known as Fords Prairie, for a time an important travelling stop between the Columbia River and [[Puget Sound]].<ref name="CTFFY"/>{{rp|15}}<ref name="SCSWW"/> Other notable settlers during the time were Patterson F. Luark,  J.K. Lum, and Charles Van Wormer.<ref name="CTFFY"/>{{rp|15, 21-22}} Van Wormer became postmaster in the area, his home serving as a post office for a brief time in the early 1860s.<ref>{{cite news |title=First Postoffice Was Opened Here in 1857 |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/centralia/centralia-daily-chronicle/1941/08-26/page-38 |access-date=March 6, 2025 |work=The Centralia Daily Chronicle |date=August 26, 1941 |page=6}}</ref><ref name="CTFFY"/>{{rp|38}}

The location of the Ford family's home has been lost though it was described as being on a bank of the Chehalis River, in view from the wagon road.<ref name="CTFFY"/>{{rp|24}} Foundation stones of the Ford home were reported as still visible by 1927.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bush |first1=Dan W. |title=Interesting History of Early Courthouses in Lewis County, Including Pioneer Political Moves |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/washington/chehalis/chehalis-bee-nugget/1927/06-17/page-4 |access-date=March 6, 2025 |work=[[The Chehalis Bee-Nugget]] |date=June 17, 1927 |page=2}}</ref> The [[log cabin]] home was two-stories, with an exterior stairwell to the top floor, and boasted a rock fireplace large enough to burn {{convert|4|foot|abbr=off}} logs. Ford owned an indigenous slave, purchased for a pony that saved the person's life; Ford released the unnamed man from servitude two years later. Ford's relationship with local tribespeople were friendly and he was called "Sintah" or "Mr. Poots"; other family members were given Chehalis language monikers as well.<ref name="CTFFY"/>{{rp|76-78}} The first governor of the Washington Territory, [[Isaac Stevens]], stayed at the Fords home on his travels to Olympia in December 1854.<ref name="CTFFY"/>{{rp|79}}

The Ford home was used as a courthouse, with documentation showing county and territorial meetings as early as October 4, 1847. The status of the first official courthouse, between the Ford home and the [[Jackson House State Park Heritage Site|Jackson Courthouse]] on Jackson Prairie, remains in dispute.<ref name="CTFFY"/>{{rp|80}}<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=Pat |title=Lewis County Courthouse celebrates its rich history |url=https://www.chronline.com/stories/lewis-county-courthouse-celebrates-its-rich-history,221619 |access-date=March 6, 2025 |work=[[The Chronicle (Centralia, Washington)|The Chronicle]] |date=May 27, 2006}}</ref>

During the [[Puget Sound War]] in 1855, over 200 residents moved to Fort Henness in [[Grand Mound, Washington|Grand Mound]] for 16 months. A temporary school was started at the fort.<ref name="SCSWW"/> Ford remained on his homestead, converting two homes on the property into a [[blockhouse]]. Ford worked as an [[Indian agent]] between settlers and the Native American population and offered his acreage for use to indigenous families as a place for safety during the contentious time.<ref name="CTFFY"/>{{rp|86-87}} Settlers built and opened a waystation and inn known as the Halfway House, due to the community's middle location on the wagon trail. Constructed in either 1852 or 1854, it was demolished in the late 1880s to make room for a modern building.<ref name="CTFFY"/>{{rp|188-192}}

===20th century===
A cherry tree, considered the largest remaining in the state, died in the early 1920s, it's remains collapsing in a windstorm years later. Though the year it was planted is unknown, by 1888 the tree was measured with a circumference of {{convert|69|in|cm}} and a {{convert|32|foot|abbr=off}}-wide canopy.<ref name="CTFFY"/>{{rp|185}}

Fords Prairie has slowly been annexed by [[Centralia, Washington|Centralia]] with the first annexation beginning in 1946. A proposal to incorporate Fords Prairie as a city failed in May 1982. Residents voted 85% against the proposition, an action reported as going "down like a submarine with screen doors".<ref name="SCSWW"/><ref>{{cite news |title=Voters Reject 'City of Fords Prairie' in '82 |url=https://www.chronline.com/stories/voters-reject-city-of-fords-prairie-in-82,211348? |access-date=February 27, 2025 |work=The Chronicle |date=May 18, 2007}}</ref>

===21st century===
The community was notified in late 2024 by the city of Centralia and several Lewis County departments that drinking water within Fords Prairie may be unsafe. [[Nitrate]] levels had been recorded as increasing in [[well]]s in 2023, leading to additional testing of private well water which confirmed a regional issue. No official announcement of contamination was issued but potential causes that were considered included seepage of bird manure from a local game farm and leaking septic systems.<ref name="CCSCT">{{cite news |title=Centralia, county staff continue testing Fords Prairie neighborhood wells; cause of nitrate contamination yet to be identified |url=https://www.chronline.com/stories/centralia-county-staff-continue-testing-fords-prairie-neighborhood-wells-cause-of-nitrate,370676 |access-date=January 6, 2025 |work=The Chronicle |date=December 20, 2024}}</ref>