Founded in 1925, Centralia is the oldest continuously operating community college in the state of Washington.

The college is also home to Michael Spafford's The Twelve Labors of Hercules, a series of murals commissioned in the early 1980s for the House of Representatives' chambers.

[9][10] Murals created by Alden Mason and originally displayed at the Capitol were moved to the college library in 1990.

[13] The following year, the complex was begun to be used as limited and temporary housing for Centralia high school students who are homeless.

The project, named Scholars Haven, enrolls the students into the college's Running Start program.

The mural collection, Twelve Labors of Hercules, by the artist William Spafford that was created in the 1980s for the Washington State Capitol but removed due to complaints, resides at the college.

The site, begun in 1999 through the purchasing of neighborhood lots, was declared completed in 2023 after an official groundbreaking the prior year.