Centralia City Council postpones Fort Borst Blockhouse repairs to next year

Owen Sexton, The Chronicle, Centralia, Wash.
·2 min read

Oct. 11—During its Tuesday night meeting, the Centralia City Council postponed consideration of an offer from volunteers to perform repairs on the Fort Borst Blockhouse, a pioneer-era structure in Fort Borst Park.

The building's repairs will begin sometime next year.

The blockhouse is currently in a state of disrepair due to timber rot suffered from exposure to the elements. Volunteers, including former mayors Lee Coumbs and Bonnie Canaday, Peter Lahmann, of the Lewis County Historical Society, and resident Chuck Kifer, offered to complete the repairs in the next few weeks. Kifer owns a local construction company.

Though, with the rainy season's arrival, Deputy City Manager Amy Buckler said repairs will have to start in the spring or summer of 2024.

"We just weren't able to meet the time window," Buckler said Tuesday.

A report on the proposal said safety precautions would need to be implemented to secure the work area and minimize hazards for both the construction crew and park users.

"Due to the Borst Park Christmas Lights event — which requires full park staff attention and involves displays and cords on the south loop road from November onward — it would not be safe to conduct construction work between November and December," the report noted.

Originally constructed in 1855 and completed in 1856, the small fort was built near the confluence of the Skookumchuck and Chehalis rivers by Captain Francis Goff, Patterson Luark, James Lum and Joseph Borst. In 1922, it was moved to its current location at Fort Borst Park in Centralia.

Buckler said she expected the issue to come before the council again in December.

Two timbers on the south side of the structure have wood rot. Lahmann, Kifer and the other volunteers have new timber ready to go, and anticipate repairs will take approximately two days to complete, according to the Centralia City Council agenda report.

If approved in December, the city has a dedicated fund for the restoration and preservation of the Fort Borst Blockhouse, which currently sits at $49,000. City staff recommended utilizing those funds to reimburse the volunteers for the cost of renting a lift, which will be required for repairs.

The estimated rental cost ranges from approximately $2,000 to $4,000, depending on the duration of the project.

To learn more about the Fort Borst Blockhouse, visit https://www.cityofcentralia.com/271/Block-House-Fort.