In 1873, he named it for General William Winlock Miller of Olympia, a man of some renown in the area.

In the late 1920s there were four mills in operation, employing 350 men and producing over 30 million board feet of fir lumber annually.

[8] In 1922 it was noted in a local newspaper that the only American city that produced more eggs than Winlock was Petaluma, California.

[10] A fire in Winlock's downtown area consumed the city's historic Warne's Drug Store building in late 2022.

[11] An annexation proposal by the city to incorporate Winlock's urban growth area (UGA) was dismissed in 2023 by the Lewis County Supreme Court over a combination of protests from residents in the UGA and the questions of statutory and filing periods and connected legal authority.

A citizen-led petition for the proposal to be reviewed by the Washington State Boundary Review Board for Lewis County exceeded the minimum voting requirements and a subsequent unanimous approval of the annexation by the board occurred in August of that year.

[13][14] According to the 2010 United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.29 square miles (3.34 km2), all of it land.

[14] Olequa Creek, a main tributary of the Cowlitz River, runs through the center of town from north to south.

A notable landmark about four miles west of town is Sam Henry Mountain, elevation 1,492 feet (455 m), named for an early section superintendent of the Northern Pacific Railroad.

The first Winlock Egg Days Festival was held in 1921 after a paved road, Washington State Route 505, was completed between the town and the extinct community of Cowlitz.

The festival focuses on the use of stringed instruments, particularly the banjo, and are incorporated into various musical genres including Americana, bluegrass, and jazz.

[21][22] Situated near Olequa Creek in a residential area west of the downtown core is the Sacred Heart Catholic Church which was built in 1908.

The first egg was built for a celebration of the opening of the Pacific Highway Bridge over the Columbia River between Washington and Oregon.

[9] During that time farmers in Winlock were shipping as much as a quarter million cases of eggs to market a year.

Weighing in at 1,500 pounds (680 kg), the fiberglass egg was 15 feet (4.6 m) in length[9] but there were concerns that it was shaped too much like a football.

The new 1,200 lb (540 kg) sculpture was part of the Winlock Egg Day Parade before it was placed in the Vern Zander Memorial Park on top of a 10 feet (3.0 m) steel support.

The egg, in the 21st century, has been painted to reflect certain interests or events, including being depicted as a red, white, and blue American flag after the 9/11 attacks and decorated with the Seattle Seahawks logo in the 2010s.

As of 2024[update], approximately 450 ornaments containing a collection of the names of Winlock residents who have died are hung on the tree as to honor "those who are gone but will never be forgotten".

[27][28] An official site was chosen in 2008[29] but the center's placement in Winlock was cancelled that same year after a project manager and a developer were fined after pleading guilty to illegally filling approximately 100 acres (40 ha) of wetlands at the location.

The mayor, elected by the citizens of the city, also functions as Winlock's chief administrative officer.

[35] The Winlock high school football team won Class B state titles in 1955, 1958, and 1959.

[36] Annually, a senior player is chosen to receive the Otis Roundtree Award, name after a local resident who played football for the University of Washington in the 1890s.

The tradition started in the 1920s to honor the most inspirational footballer on the team and is considered one of the oldest high school awards still in existence within the state.

[37] Washington State Route 505 begins in Winlock and runs east to Interstate 5 and beyond to the town of Toledo.