How Our Towns Got Their Names
A historian chronicles the origins of Grays Harbor cities, uncovering the rivalries and local legends behind our map.
Professor Edmond S. Meany of the University of Washington provides an account of the naming of Grays Harbor and its local towns. Captain Robert Gray discovered the harbor in 1792, initially naming it Bulfinch Harbor after one of his ship's owners, but the name Grays Harbor eventually prevailed through English and Spanish mapping. Regarding local towns, Aberdeen was platted by Samuel Benn in 1884, likely named for the Aberdeen Packing Company or the home city of an early resident. Elma was named to honor Elmer Brown, a Union soldier killed during the Civil War. Hoquiam is derived from the Indian word 'Ho-qui-umpts,' meaning 'hungry for wood' due to driftwood deposits. Montesano was chosen by pioneer settlers to replace the name 'Mount Zion' after a local townsite war between the Scammon place and the prairie town.
“Montesano had a more pleasant sound and about the same meaning.”
This history highlights the transient nature of place-naming in the Pacific Northwest, where colonial cartography often overwrote Indigenous geography, and local boosterism shaped the identities of the towns we still occupy.
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