Centralia Tragedy
November 11th, 1919 attack by American Legionnaires on the Centralia IWW hall, and the violence that followed
The Centralia Tragedy, also known as the Centralia Conspiracy and the Armistice Day Riot, was a violent and bloody incident that occurred in Centralia, Washington, on November 11, 1919, during a parade celebrating the first anniversary of Armistice Day. The conflict between the American Legion and Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or "Wobblies") members resulted in six deaths, others being wounded, multiple prison terms, and an ongoing and especially bitter dispute over the motivations and events that precipitated the event. Both Centralia and the neighboring town of Chehalis had a large number of World War I veterans, with robust chapters of the Legion and many IWW members, some of whom were also war veterans.
The ramifications of the event included a trial that attracted national media attention, notoriety that contributed to the First Red Scare in 1919 to 1920, the creation of a powerful martyr for the IWW, a monument to one side of the battle, a mural for the other side, and a formal tribute to the fallen Legionnaires by US President Warren G. Harding.
Background
Prior conflicts
Washington State
Throughout late 1800s, Washington IWW organizing efforts illuminated the friction between the vision the initial settlers had for the Northwest and the evolving needs of the denizens of the urban and industrial centers. In late 1908, Wobblies protested Spokane agencies that fraudulently recruited workers for jobs that did not exist. In response, the city passed an ordinance banning street meetings and public rallies. When that ordinance was amended to allow specifically the Salvation Army to speak and hold meetings in public, the Wobblies took to the streets to defend their right to free speech. Within a month, 500 protesters had been arrested including 19-year-old Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. The fight ended with the ordinance revoked, with both sides declaring victory.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Centralia Tragedy” as november 11th, 1919 attack by American Legionnaires on the Centralia IWW hall, and the violence that followed. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as november 11th, 1919 attack by American Legionnaires on the Centralia IWW hall, and the violence that followed. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5062182. The Library of Congress control number is sh00008674. Authority coordinates are 46.721, -122.961. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1919, 1920 and 1908.
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This entry incorporates text from “Centralia Tragedy” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.