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2267884

Winlock, Washington

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2267884

Winlock, Washington

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Winlock, Washington

Winlock (/wɪnlək/) is a city in Lewis County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,472 at the 2020 census, and was estimated to be 2,515 in 2024. It was named after territorial army general, William Winlock Miller, who briefly resided there. Winlock is mostly famous for having the World's Largest Egg, reflecting its former status as a major producer of eggs. Early in its history, Winlock attracted many immigrants from Finland, Germany, and Sweden.

Winlock began as a Northern Pacific Railroad construction camp called Wheeler's Camp in c. 1871. The railroad was then in the process of extending its line from Kalama to Tacoma, Washington. Dr. C. C. Pagett, an early resident, donated the land for the townsite. In 1873, he named it for General William Winlock Miller of Olympia, a man of some renown in the area. Miller had promised to give a school bell to the town if it were to be named after him. The town was incorporated on February 28, 1883.

Lumbering was the initial economic driver. A number of sawmills were established beginning in the late 1800s. In the late 1920s there were four mills in operation, employing 350 men and producing over 30 million board feet of fir lumber annually.

Agriculture developed in the early 1900s with the impetus on the raising of poultry and the production of eggs. A branch of the Washington Cooperative Egg & Poultry Association located in the town constructed a large building in the north end of town, near the railroad tracks, around 1920. It housed grain storage bins and poultry processing facilities. The building remains standing today. Several hatcheries were located in the town. More than 750,000 baby chicks were produced during the 1928 season.

In 1922 it was noted in a local newspaper that the only American city that produced more eggs than Winlock was Petaluma, California. In a single weekend in 1923, Winlock shipped 38,400 dozen eggs to New York state. Winlock at that time was touted as the "Egg and Poultry Capital of the World".

A fire in Winlock's downtown area consumed the city's historic Warne's Drug Store building in late 2022. The structure was built in 1911 but burned down the following year. Rebuilt soon thereafter, the building housed the now-defunct Winlock News and Winlock Phone Company, as well as other various businesses for the next century. At the time of loss, the location was used as a hostel for six years.

An annexation proposal by the city to incorporate Winlock's urban growth area (UGA) was dismissed in 2023 by the Lewis County Supreme Court over a combination of protests from residents in the UGA and the questions of statutory and filing periods and connected legal authority. The UGA, formed from a county contract in 2006, is recorded as containing 1,335 acres (540 ha) with a population of 335 residents. A citizen-led petition for the proposal to be reviewed by the Washington State Boundary Review Board for Lewis County exceeded the minimum voting requirements and a subsequent unanimous approval of the annexation by the board occurred in August of that year. The annexation was adopted by a majority vote of the Winlock city council that autumn.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.381 square miles (8.76 km2), of which 3.381 square miles (8.76 km2) is land and 0.000 square miles (0 km2) (0.00%) is water. The city grew an additional 1,355 acres (2.1 sq mi) after the 2023 UGA annexation.

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