The first white settler in the area, Thomas Elliott Rutledge, filed a claim for 160 acres (65 ha) in 1854 and named his settlement "Black River".

The minimum security facility was built in 1954 with a capacity for 480 minimum-security male inmates, housing them in two areas, the Cascade and Olympic units.

Offenders at Cedar Creek Corrections Center are also provided anger and stress management counseling, an intensive outpatient substance abuse program, moral recognition therapy, and cognitive behavioral treatment.

Inmates can work institutional jobs providing support services to the prison in custodial maintenance, laundry, and food preparation.

Offenders also work maintaining trails, planting trees, and fighting forest fires for the Washington Department of Natural Resources.