[3] Named for its wooded setting by Christopher Columbus Bozarth, the community's first merchant and postmaster, at the suggestion of his wife.

Other early settlers include Columbia Lancaster, Milly Bozarth (wife of Squire), McKenzie and Jane Caples, and Brandt and Hans Kraft.

Pekin continued as the trading center until the Woodland store and Post Office were established.

[7] On March 26, 1856, the only recorded Indian attack occurred when some members of the Yakima tribe came down to burn out the settlers.

Indian Zack, one of the few surviving Cowlitz tribe members, had already warned the settlers who evacuated to the Block House in St. Helens until the Yakimas returned to east of the Cascade Mountains.

At that time, there were daily stops by the steamers the Alarm and the Lucy Mason, as well as railroad service from Kalama to Portland.

The present bridges where Interstate 5 crosses the Lewis, and the dike creating Horseshoe Lake were begun in 1940.

[8] Woodland experienced another great flood in 1996, which mostly affected the Northeast residential section of the city.

President Bill Clinton visited the city during the flood of 1996, using the Woodland High School football field as a landing pad for his helicopter.

She immigrated from Germany to Wisconsin in 1865, when she was just two years old, and came West when her family bought a farm in Woodland.

When a friend gave her a book about Luther Burbank, she began creating flowers, hybridizing new varieties of roses, dahlias, even apples, and lilacs in particular.

By 1950, at the age of eighty-seven, Klager, who loved flowers and who had been honored by the state of Washington as well as such organizations as the nationally famous arboretum at Cambridge, Massachusetts, again opened her home for Lilac Week.

Planter's Days, first held in 1922, is the longest continuously running civic celebration/community festival in the state of Washington.

Planter's Days is a four-day festival celebrating the completed construction of the dikes along the Columbia and Lewis Rivers, preventing the annual flooding in the Woodland area.

[14][15] The major events include: Coronation of the Planter's Day Court, a parade through "Old Town" Woodland, the Firefighters' BBQ, the Frog Jump, amusement rides at Horseshoe Lake Park, and a car show on the last day of the Festival.

The city is located near the Cedar Creek Grist Mill, a National Historic Landmark.

Under this form of local government, the mayor has executive power, providing the day-to-day administrative functions, as well as presiding as chairperson at city council meetings.

[16] Woodland is also served by several boards and commissions that play an advisory role to the city council.

Local citizens are able to play an active role in their government by serving as board or commission members.