The Blue Mountain Pea Cannery, started in 1936, was significant. It moved to Pomeroy in Garfield County in 1941 and processed peas for the national Green Giant label. The plant closed in 1960.

The residential districts were notable for the number of large and elaborate dwellings. Numerous timber operators, who had grown up with the county and acquired wealth in the process, settled here and built lavish homes. Most striking reminder of these days is the Albert-Schaeffer Estate, covering a city block east of the courthouse. In the 1960s, the house was sold to the city, which in turn sold it back to a private owner shortly thereafter. The house was then moved one block north to make room for the city’s administration building, a modern structure that shares the block with the historic courthouse. The home remains a private residence today.

The present City Hall, an impressive building for a small town, is the result of cooperation between city departments, private clubs, and private businesses. The building was constructed at the initiative of local volunteer firemen. They decided that their building could serve more than one function and considered a combination opera house and fire hall. When the building was completed, it was jointly occupied with firemen using some of the space for their own activity and the remainder, given over to the city government and the Eagles Lodge. Some of the other organizations using the building have been the American Legion, the City-County Library, the Boy. Scouts, and the local water and electric company. Because of the involvement of government, private organizations and business, the building is symbolic of the unity and spirit of co-operation of Montesano. The Montesano City Hall is also significant because of its attractive architecture. It is not unmarred by alterations, however: the original building had only two doorways for fire trucks, and these were arched. A third has been added and the arches have been changed to a more rectangular shape to accommodate higher and wider fire trucks. The main entrance was originally located where the south fire equipment bay is now, and there were arched windows where the present entrance is now located. Arched windows have also been replaced on the south facade. The windows of the second story have been modernized and, as previously mentioned, there are three small additions in the rear. In spite of these changes, however, the building retains much of its original contours and character.

The Grays Harbor County Courthouse, a sandstone-faced building with coppered dome, dominates the town and the wide valley to the south. When the lumbering industry was rich and location of timber property netted heavy tax returns for Grays Harbor County, the citizens built the courthouse, one of the outstanding county structures in the State. It was designed by the late Watson Vernon, Aberdeen architect. Among the murals decorating the interior is one by F. Rohrbeck, a Milwaukee artist, depicting the discovery of Grays Harbor by Captain Gray on May 7, 1792. Flanking it are panels of timber and mill scenes by F. Biderstein. Another Rohrbeck mural Governor Stevens Treaty with the Indians, February 25, 1855, is also flanked by panels done by Biderstein. The courthouse was the scene of the trials in the “Centralia Massacre” case between January 26 and March 12, 1930.

The Mckenzie-Elmer plaque in the courthouse memorializes county deputy sheriffs Colin McKenzie and A. V. Elmer, who were slain by John Turnow (or Tornow), known variously as the “Beast Man,” “The Wild Man of the Olympics,” and the “Human Gorilla.” Between 1910 and 1913 Turnow was a half-legendary figure of terror in the Grays Harbor and Olympic Wilderness country, a muscular giant, 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighing 250 pounds. He is said to have known the woods and its creatures intimately, to have clothed himself in skin and bark, and to have been a dead shot. Turnow escaped in 1909 from an institution for the insane in Salem, Oregon, and a year later killed two young hunters in Grays Harbor County. In March 1912, he was reported to be seen near Oxbow, on the Satsop River. Sheriff McKenzie and deputy Elmerwent after him, only to be found shot to death 13 days later. With a reward of $5,000 offered, and at times a thousand men combing the wilderness looking for him, Turnow baffled his pursuers for many months. On April 16, 1913, deputy sheriff Giles Quimby, Louis Blair, and Charles Lathrop stumbled on his hideout. In the rifle battle that followed, Blair and Lathrop were killed, Quimby’s bullet ended the bearded giant’s life.

An unaltered example of a small-town single-purpose post office. Although the building retains Classical symmetry and proportion, it is a modern building. It is one of the first examples of the Starved Classical design used for a post office in the state. It is also the first and only federally constructed post office in Montesano, constructed during the Depression era.