[1] Additional sourcing reports that Scottish immigrant James Urquhart, in platting the area, named the settlement Napavine from the Indian word "Napavoon" meaning "small prairie".

[a] The pair were fugitives after escaping from the Oregon State Penitentiary weeks earlier, traveling into Southwest Washington.

Merrill was found to have been shot in the back and his body, in a state of decomposition, was discovered by a local Napavine woman and her son while picking berries.

[6][7][8][9] The woman, known as Mary Waggoner,[b] later sought to claim the $1,500 reward money based on a dead or alive decree for Merrill by the state of Oregon, but was denied.

[16] The city annually hosts a one-day Napavine Funtime Festival which was created in 1973 by a local Jaycees club and has been organized afterwards by two original founding members.

The one-day event, which includes a parade, was headlined by a teenage "Princess Napawinah" and was based on an 18th-century Newaukum Tribal leader, Napawyna.

Petitions and concerns cited that the displays of Native American customs and clothing created a sense of Pan-Indianism and caricature.

[16] In 2024, the parade and festivities were cooperatively organized by the original founding members, a local Lions Club, and the city.

The event went without a Native American motif but rather the theme, "Tiger Pride", after the local high school mascot.

[23] Napavine was considered, in 2009, as the site for the Southwest Washington Regional Equestrian Center, originally planned for Winlock.

[25][26] The REQ plan was abandoned, replaced with a proposal for a $15 million multipurpose facility that maintained the focus of an equestrian center.

Bozarth banned city workers from taking extended lunch breaks and removed a controversial police chief.

[31] Bozarth intended to be a one-term mayor, and chose not to run for re-election, citing that public servants should not be long term office holders.

[citation needed] The Napavine high school boys football team won the WIAA 2B state championship in 2008, 2016[33] and 2022.

[34] The girls basketball team won the 2B state championship in 2024, overcoming Okanogan by a score of 41-40 on a 3-point shot with 16 seconds left to play in regulation.