Hanaford, Washington

Hanaford, Washington, also known as Hannaford, is a former community and locale in Lewis County, Washington.

The informal farming community was first settled by its namesake, Theophilus Hanaford, and his wife Lucy in the 1860s. The area of settlement remained small and an official post office was never established. By the late 1890s, the Hanaford family's original homestead had been sold to other residents in the valley.

Hanaford contained several schools and a grange. In the aftermath of the Centralia Tragedy in 1919, possible fugitives from the incident were reported to be located in Hanaford; an attempt lasting several days to arrest the accused, suspected to be hiding in an abandoned cabin, led to nationwide news reporting. The community in the valley also gained notoriety for various reports on UFO sightings in the 1960s.

Hanaford and the surrounding valley began to experience an economic increase in the late 19th century with the undertaking of timber harvesting and coal mining, two abundant sources throughout the region. The coal seams led to the creation of the Centralia Coal Mine and adjacent Centralia Power Plant in the 1970s.