About this building:
The Montesano City Hall and Police Department is housed in a building that whose construction started in 1914 and housed the Montesano Fire Hall from 1917 to 1979 when it moved to another location. When the Fire Hall moved in 1979, the building was updated to become city offices.
Montesano is a city in Grays Harbor, Washington, and has a population of about 4,000 (in 2013). It is located between Aberdeen (which is 10 miles west) and Olympia (which is 40 miles east) and is a popular tourist destination as it is near the ocean beaches and the Olympic Peninsula. The city of Montesano owns nearly 5,000 acres of forest land, which is also used for recreation including horseback riding, hiking, mountain bike riding. Major industries have been agriculture, logging and government (it is the county seat). Currently, Montesano is surrounded by farms which produce a very wide variety of products including corn, herbs, tomatoes, Finnish yellow potatoes, squash, pumpkins, natural raised beef, yak & buffalo, strawberries, blueberries, dairy products like milk, cheese and butter and Christmas trees. Montesano is the county seat and the location of Grays Harbor County Courthouse, an impressive building that can be seen from nearly every location in town.
A bit of trivia is a dent on the front door of the county courthouse, caused by the Sheriff years ago, when he fired at a fleeing felon, and providing speculation that it is the source of the county motto, "come on vacation and leave on probation".
In addition to tourist/outdoor activities, the city is know for its annual Festival of Lights, which has been running for over 20 years, each Christmas holiday.
Notable prior and current citizens of Montesano:
Kurt Donald Cobain of the band Nirvana lived here as a child, Adam Bighill, football player for the BC Lions, Robert "Bob" Gaston Moch, gold medal winner in the 1936 Summer Olympics, he was coxwain for University of Washington, Ruben Hollis Fleet, an American aviation pioneer, businessman and army officer (Montesano's Fleet Park is named in his honor.
Sidenote: the city hall building also has a banquet room for rent, popular for large meetings, private parties & weddings, it is located upstairs and has a kitchen for rent, also.
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