Here are a few things you might know about the Eatonville Lumber Company, which operated in Eatonville from 1907 until 1954.
• Tacoma Eastern/Chicago Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad arrived in 1904 — followed by the opening of the mill in 1907.
• T. S. Galbraith (Tom) took over ELCO in the fall of 1909.
• John Galbraith (Tom’s son) took over from his dad in 1930. He was also mayor of Eatonville for 22 years and chairman of the school board for numerous terms.
• The mill employed 200 employees at its height.
• Wages in 1912 – $.17/hr., and an employee worked six, eight-hour days a week.
• Wages in 1952 – $1.85/hr., and employees worked five, eight-hour days a week.
• ELCO store was built in 1908
• ELCO office was built in 1910
• ELCO station and auto repair shop was built in 1907
• T. S. Galbraith built his home in 1925 and it’s still used today.
• T. S. Galbraith built 22 company-owned homes. Most were built in 1910 and were located next to the company store, and some are still family homes.
• The houses on Prospect Street were built in 1913 and the houses on Washington street were built in 1923.
• The mill burned in 1932 and was rebuilt over a number of years. It finally reopened September 22, 1936.
• Galbraith sold the mill to G. E. Karlen in 1941.
Photos courtesy of Pat Van Eaton, the Parnel family and the University of Washington. Facts courtesy of The Eatonville History Project.
Click on images to enlarge.
Eatonville To Rainier 
One response to “Eatonville Lumber Company facts”
In 1932 Eatonville bought the closed Manley-Moore mill at Fairfax and operated it until about 1940 when they sold the mill and logging machinery for scrap.
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