The site of what is now the City of Toledo was originally held by Joshua Tibeau who squatted on the land in the early 1850s. He built a house near the river on what is presently Cowlitz Street. Christopher Pagett bought Tibeau’s squatter rights in 1854 and filed for a donation land claim.

Pagett and his wife, Urania, were awarded a donation land claim by the U.S. Government on March 6, 1866. Pagett sold the land in April of the same year to Javan Hall for $250, but re-acquired it on March 28, 1871. In 1873 he sold the property for $800 to Augustus Rochon.

Little is known about the actual founding date of the town that was to become Toledo. It is reported that there was a town at the site as early as the late 1860s, but there is no record of the population.  There were no records kept until the town was incorporated in 1892.