Founded in 1853 on the donation claim of Louis H. Davis, Claquato became the county seat and an important stop-off for travelers between the Columbia River and Puget Sound. Its sturdy little church, built in 1858 with hand-forged nails and lumber sawed in a water-powered mill, also served as a school known as Claquato Academy. The bronze bell in the belfry came around Cape Horn from Boston in 1857. In the 1870s, when the railroad bypassed Claquato, most of the town moved 3 miles east to Chehalis.